Green chemistry is the utilisation of a set of principles that reduces or eliminates the use or generation of hazardous substances in the design, manufacture and application of chemical products.
This definition is supported by the 12 principles of green chemistry, which were introduced in the book Green Chemistry, Theory and Practice, published in 1998 by the American Chemical Society.
Green chemistry demands that chemists must place a major focus on the environmental consequences of chemical products and the processes by which these products are made, and must consider their chemical ecological footprint.