New obstacles, and new allies, for sustainability

Uncertainty has roiled academic research in the US since the Donald J. Trump administration assumed office and cut federal spending. The National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation face significant layoffs . Universities are nervous about how deeply the administration might cut into the NIH’s nearly $48 billion budget, a pillar of basic research in the US, and some have cautioned their researchers against starting new experiments until it is clear if the money will flow from the federal spigot Venture capital firms and pharmaceutical companies are unlikely to pick up the federal government’s slack in funding for risky, early-stage life sciences research. Less publicized, perhaps because the issue hasn’t boiled into a crisis, is how the administration’s policies will affect another important area of research: industrial sustainability. According to the American Chemistry Council, a trade group, US chemical companies spent $12.7 billion on R&D in 2023 ,