The Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers, one of the foremost lubricant technical associations in North America, announced the launch of its sustainability committee.
The Biden administration, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are all rolling out climate-change-related regulation, and STLE’s Sustainability Committee intends to have a seat at the table when it comes to new climate policy.
The committee aims to recommend policies and programs to help educate the public, members of the tribology and lubricants community and policymakers regarding the contributions of tribology advances to a more sustainable future, STLE said in a press release this week.
The committee is chaired by Neil Canter, consultant at Chemical Solutions. The committee’s members – who are all STLE members – include company officials from Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co., Perstorp, RSC Bio Solutions, Ergon International and Fuchs Lubricants Co., along with officials from Ames and Argonne national laboratories – both parts of the U.S. Department of Energy – and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the two leading European lubricants associations announced at the same time that they had founded a joint sustainability committee to address the industry’s critical environmental and legislative challenges. The organizations are the Union of the European Lubricant Industry (UEIL) and the Technical Association of the European Lubricant Industry (ATIEL).
It comes at a time when European businesses are under mounting pressure from global competition and environmental legislation.
The joint committee will look at product and corporate carbon footprint issues, the use-phase of lubricants and end-of-life eco-design for sustainable products, according to a press release.
In November 2023, the two associations published the Methodology for Product Carbon Footprint Calculations for Lubricants and Other Specialties. It is the world’s first such standardized methodology and aligns with the goals of the European Green Deal, a raft of interconnected environmental goals for the bloc’s entire economy and society.