Transition to zero pollution

Building a future that is free from human-made pollution will require a complete realignment of almost all aspects of modern industry – coupled with scientists, engineers and economists collaborating on a scale not seen before.

Human-made, or anthropogenic pollution is now essentially ubiquitous on Earth and can be found everywhere we look, and in almost every ecosystem. Toxic metals from industry have been detected high in the Himalayan peaks. Plastic fibres have been found in the deepest reaches of the Pacific Ocean, contaminating tap water across the globe. Air pollution continues to be a major health hazard in urban and rural communities.

The widespread use of pesticides is resulting in massive insect extinctions, carrying with it the threat of ecosystem collapse. And of course there’s the all-encompassing spectre of CO2 levels rising above the threshold that would prevent catastrophic global warming.

Ominously, we’re only just starting to understand the full effects and ramifications of some of these sources of pollution. For example, research at Imperial recently showed that particulate air pollution may impact the development foetuses in the womb; the cognitive development of children; and cognitive decline in the elderly.

Almost since the beginning of industrialisation certain people with foresight, such as the American diplomat and scholar George Perkins, have warned that human activity might be transforming the environment.

Since then, our attempts to address and mitigate the various aspects of anthropogenic pollution have met with mixed success – and have been plagued by a tendency to view different forms of pollution in isolation.

The vision of a zero pollution future

Transitioning to a zero pollution society will require more than just acknowledgement of the interconnectedness of global pollution systems and a general awareness of the danger of unintended consequences.

Addressing these challenges will necessitate radical shifts in consumption, production and economic models, underpinned with ambitious policies and governance. It will also require the creation and delivery of holistic socio-technical solutions, building on developments in the circular economy and zero-carbon energy technologies. It will also likely leverage opportunities created by new biologically-derived materials, the bio-economy (including synthetic biology) and digital technologies (for example advanced modelling, AI and machine learning).

"It’s really about an entire system,” Professor Ryan says. "Thinking about how to address pollution at source and understanding the impact of it in the whole life cycle. As engineers we’d call that a systems method, but a doctor might equally refer to that approach as ‘treating the whole patient’."

Professor Ryan proposes a transformational cross-disciplinary framework for zero pollution research built on pillars of excellence:

• Fundamental engineering and physical sciences research to underpin the transition
• The water-food-energy-production nexus
• Environmental and human health
• Innovative economic and business models

Crucially this framework will require collaboration both within the pillars and between them. For example, air pollution research requires the integration of expertise across a wide range of disciplines from human exposure science, environmental toxicology and epidemiology, atmospheric chemistry and physics, modelling, economics and social and behavioural sciences. Mitigation strategies meanwhile require science and engineering innovation and systems monitoring and control.

"It's easy to get drawn back into talking about siloes – your brain automatically thinks about a small piece of the puzzle. It’s probably useful to start by considering what a zero pollution house might look like, or a factory, or a hospital and what elements would be needed to feed into that and how would it sit within the wider ecosystem or community."

Professor Ryan explains that another major aim of this framework is to instil a holistic, zero-pollution mindset among all researchers working in the areas outlined. Ideally, this also needs to be incorporated into the training of the next generation of scientists, as well as business leaders, entrepreneurs and innovators.

"We need to be wary when, for example, somebody proposes making the most efficient, highest capacity battery that’s ever been made, without a sense of where the raw materials for that will come from and whether it’s recyclable and how that links into a broader infrastructure of power supply. It’s a really interesting materials problem of course, but is that necessarily the problem you should address?"

Leadership and planning for zero pollution

Making the zero pollution vision a reality will require bold leadership in order to create the right environment for research and innovation as well as ambitious policy and governance.

At the institutional level, Imperial has in recent years pioneered a multi-disciplinary approach to global problem-solving through the creation of Centres of Excellence and Networks of Excellence that draw in research groups from different departments and faculties – including those focusing on Air Quality; Human Behaviour and Experience; Ocean Plastic Solutions; Sustainability through Life Cycle Approaches, Synthetic Biology and Industrial Biotechnology.

"The College has an enormous amount of technical expertise in almost every area needed to deliver this vision. The challenge is to bring all those pockets of expertise to bear on some of these problems."

At the national level, the UK government's Environment Bill seeks to address poor air quality; introduce measures to minimise waste, promote resource efficiency and move towards a circular economy; and to ban the export of polluting plastic waste to non-OECD countries. The government has also announced a number of new funds, such as the £1 billion Ayrton Fund to develop affordable clean energy for developing countries.

Clearly momentum is building around the zero pollution space, but there’s even greater opportunity for government, industry and research-intensive universities to work together on problems, Professor Ryan argues.

"Nobody is being ambitious enough,” she says. “We need to inject both more ambition, and importantly hope, into these discussions. Right now there’s a lot of desperation, and yes these are urgent times, but it’s not just about how scientists and engineers should ‘fix the problem’, it’s about how to create the future differently."

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