Dr Mike Sutton
A leading scientist at the forefront of cutting-edge sustainable chemistry in the heart of Derbyshire has marked Earth Day by saying he is “optimistic” that human beings will continue to find solutions to combat and mitigate climate change – but there is plenty of work that still needs to be done.
Dr Mike Sutton, corporate technical fellow at Lubrizol – a specialty chemistry company whose UK technical centre is based in a country estate in Hazelwood, near Duffield – said huge amounts of work were being done to drive down emissions and help humans live and work more sustainably, while not “sending people back to the stone age.”
Dr Sutton, an honorary professor at The University of Nottingham, who leads Lubrizol’s work on sustainability across the world, said: “Eighty five to ninety per cent of the knowledge we need to get to net zero is knowledge we already have today. We have the knowledge. We just need the will of the human species to finance and implement it.
“We are going to get on top of it as a species. It is scary, yes, but we will come up with the solutions.”
The organization employs more than 8,000 people across the world and its UK research and development centre is in Derbyshire, where Dr Sutton is based.
Lubrizol science delivers sustainable solutions to advance mobility, improve well-being and enhance modern life, serving industries that enable products used by a large proportion of the global population on a daily basis, including toothpaste, shampoo, cars, mobile phones and athletic shoes.
Examples of Lubrizol’s sustainability work include elements as varied as medical plasma technology, immersion cooling technology to help reduce vast CO2 emissions in computer server farms, and investment in innovations to aid the transition from fossil fuels to electricity.
While Dr Sutton said that many solutions to climate change lie in electrification, a more sustainable future also lies in Lubrizol making constant research and development improvements to vehicle fuels, reducing friction and improving efficiency so that CO2 emissions are on a continual downward trajectory while millions of people in the world still require petrol and diesel cars to get around – not to mention trains, planes, tractors and boats.
“In Europe 28 per cent of CO2 emissions are caused by transportation, the majority of which are cars and trucks. Globally, transportation accounts for 16.2 per cent of CO2 emissions, of which road emissions are 11.9 per cent. So if we can reduce those by one or two per cent per vehicle, the effect is huge,” he explained.
Alongside its solutions-based approach, Lubrizol has also conducted extensive mapping research on all its products, looking at their life cycle and where greater environmental gains can be made. Some of the changes made include changing suppliers to those with a lower carbon impact, and investigating the end application for oil-based products to investigate whether more circular solutions can be achieved.
What can the individual person do to help humans navigate the gigantic challenge of climate change?
“For every decision, I would always ask the question: ‘Do I really need to?’” said Dr Sutton. “Do I need to buy that extra thing? We are over consuming and need to think carefully about our waste and what we are buying. I would also advise to electrify as much as possible. If you need to replace your heating, consider a heat pump. If you’re buying a new car, can you go electric?
“The energy industry is a fundamental to the future of a sustainable society,” said Dr Sutton. “I wouldn’t have foreseen back when I did my degree that solar panels, which cost thousands in those days, are now cheaper for many people than fence panels!”
In the meantime, scientists in companies like Lubrizol are breaking the boundaries in their innovation on a daily basis, as we continue to navigate a more sustainable path through the coming decades.
“The cutting edge research we are doing right here in Derbyshire is going to impact right round the world,” said Dr Sutton. “I am an optimist, and always have been. But we need to continue to work together to create the change all of humanity needs to see.”
