Challenge winners pioneer eco-friendly sanitary pads and climate resilience in medicinal plants

Researchers win Chemistry for Climate Action Challenge for creating innovative solutions for waste management in India and crop resilience in South Africa

From 2017 to 2021, about 30% of all scientific research had direct ties to the UN Sustainable Dr Pooja Singh of India found a way to transform an invasive aquatic plant into biodegradable sanitary products.

Dr Mokgadi Hlongwane of Pretoria, South Africa, found a way to use beneficial bacteria to enhance the growth and resilience of medicinal plants used to treat wounds, diabetes, cancer and more.

These researchers won the 2025 Elsevier Foundation Chemistry for Climate Action Challenge, which seeks solutions rooted in chemistry that can help mitigate the climate crisis. Each will receive a $25,000 prize to conduct their proposed projects.

This year, the Challenge received 213 applications from 60 countries. Five finalists presented their proposals to the scientific jury at the 9th Green and Sustainable Chemistry Conference, March 4-6 in Pune, India.

“Again, we had many applications of very high quality this year,” said Prof Dr Klaus Kümmerer, Chair of the Challenge’s scientific jury and the Green & Sustainable Chemistry Conference. “This made it both hard to select the winners and a pleasure to do this and to read all these promising ideas and proposals full of dedication to contribute to sustainability. “We had an even broader list of suggested topics, which is another remarkable feature of this year’s challenge.”

From 2017 to 2021, about 30% of all scientific research had direct ties to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, with climate change emerging as the most frequently referenced topic, according to Scopus data. Meanwhile, chemistry and related sciences can play an important role in devising pragmatic solutions to combat climate change.

With a background in microbial technology, Dr Pooja Singh is an Assistant Professor at the Symbiosis Centre for Waste Resource Management of Symbiosis International (Deemed University) in India.

Dr Mokgadi Hlongwane, who received her PhD in Chemistry, is a Lecturer and Work Integrated Learning Coordinator at the Tshwane University of Technology in South Africa.

We spoke with them about their research.

Read the full article on Elsevier Connect: “Challenge winners pioneer eco-friendly sanitary pads and climate resilience in medicinal plants“, Maha Rhannam, 12 March 2024.