Leuphana participates in freely accessible learning platform for sustainable medicines
2026-03-10 Lüneburg/York/Ghent. The TransPharm consortium has developed a freely accessible educational website. It provides information about the environmental impact of medicines and teaches sustainable practices in healthcare. The platform can be accessed at www.sustainablepharmaceuticals.eu. All content is web-based, free to use, and does not require registration, an app, or license fees. Learning opportunities are supplemented by interactive elements, videos, and clear visualizations.
The content aims in particular at healthcare professionals, researchers, and students of relevant disciplines. Topics covered include environmental risk assessment, green and sustainable chemistry and pharmacy, planetary boundaries, life cycle analyses, quality control, and the use of machine learning to optimize chemical reactions. A particular focus is on the “benign by design” approach, developed by Prof. Kümmerer and his team, at Leuphana University Lüneburg which aims to develop drugs from the outset in such a way that they are effective, safe, and environmentally friendly.
“Sustainability does not start with synthesis, but with the fundamental question of why we need a product or a substance and what function it should fulfill,” says Klaus Kümmerer, Professor of Sustainable Chemistry and Material Resources at Leuphana University Lüneburg. “With this platform, we are fostering this way of thinking accessible to everyone who wants to shape chemical and pharmaceutical innovation responsibly in the context of the environment and society.”
A key feature of the platform is its global orientation. The language of instruction is English. “Sustainable chemistry and pharmacy cannot be thought of in local terms,” emphasizes Kümmerer. “New infrastructures and supply systems are emerging, especially in the Global South. Open educational opportunities make it possible to share knowledge to develop sustainable solutions from the outset and avoid problematic development paths.”
The learning platform was developed in an international collaboration. Professor Avtar Matharu from the University of York was responsible for the didactic management, while the overall project is coordinated by Professor Chris Stevens from Ghent University and hosted by the Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Pharmaceutical Engineering and Manufacturing (CESPE) in Ghent.
Since 2022, Leuphana University Lüneburg has been participating in the EU research project “TransPharm: Transformation to a sustainable European pharmaceutical sector,” which is funded under the Horizon Europe program (Grant Agreement No. 101057816). The aim is to strengthen the European pharmaceutical industry in a way that is both competitive and sustainable. At Leuphana, the focus is on further developing an already developed and patented environmentally friendly antibiotic and researching new sustainable active ingredients.
The platform is available at www.sustainablepharmaceuticals.eu