Sustainability is the act of using different resources in a way that causes little or no harm to the environment. While there are several labs with research focuses on different methods of increasing sustainability, such as innovating biodegradable materials, developing better waste management technologies, and optimising renewable energy sources, the average lab uses quite a lot of energy, with the annual carbon footprint of a life science laboratory being approximately 20 tCO2e (tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent). Hence, sustainability should be considered in all research fields to minimize the environmental impact caused during day-to-day lab work. However, in bigger labs, it might be overwhelming to figure out where is best to start when trying to increase sustainability.

Green Impact

Green Impact, an award-winning initiative, aims to support anyone trying to make their lab more environmentally friendly, currently working with over 2000 organisations (within 7 countries), including various hospitals and universities, to increase and support sustainable practices. The programme is specifically tailored to each organisation and focuses on uniting students and staff members with the main goal of learning about sustainability. Green Impact also provides “Green Impact Laboratory Accreditation” (GILA), an accreditation to all labs that have implemented a certain number of environmentally friendly changes, as well as different levels of awards on offer.

How does it work?

Once your organisation has signed up, and you’ve either created or joined your lab team, Green Impact provides a custom-tailored “toolkit” which covers several different types of sustainability practices. Here, you can find inspirations for ways you can help to make your lab more sustainable, tick off actions that you’ve implemented, and assign different lab members actions to complete.

Each action comes with a list of criteria that need to be met to consider the action completed, as well as further information on why the action is sustainable, how you’ll eventually be audited on the action, as well as a section to submit evidence on how you’ve implemented it.

How can my lab receive awards and accreditation?

In order to receive the Green Impact Laboratory Accreditation, your lab will need to complete enough actions (of which seven are mandatory) in the “Lab Accreditation” category to earn 175 points, as well as pass an audit. The audits are a great way to build community between staff, students, and wider members of your organisation as they are conducted by Students Organising for Sustainability UK (SOS-UK) trained students within your organisation.

If your lab is interested in building a community of staff and students who care about fostering a sustainable future, consider checking to see if your organisation is part of the programme. If not, you can suggest registration for the year 2026.

The 2024-2025 toolkit cycle has officially closed for now; however, this doesn’t mean you can’t start or continue implementing some sustainable actions before the 2025-2026 cycle opens. So, in the meantime, regardless of whether you choose to participate in Green Impact, here are a few things to focus on when trying to make your lab more sustainable:

1) General equipment – A well-running lab requires several different pieces of equipment and machines, and while each machine might not use a lot of electricity to run, when all are turned on at the same time, a lot of energy may be used. Therefore, consider turning off all unnecessary pieces of equipment when not in use. Additionally, when buying new machinery, make sure you buy the tool that is the correct size for its purpose, as larger machines may use more energy and water.

2) Autoclaves – Make sure to maximise the amount added to autoclaves on each run to cut down on the number of times they need to be used. Prioritise using university-wide facilities to autoclave instead of using benchtop autoclaves that can’t hold as many items.

3) Fume hoods - Fume hoods should be closed and empty, with all sashes down when not in use to decrease energy consumption.

4) Freezers – Changing the temperature of ULT from -80°C to -70°C can significantly reduce energy usage with no effect on any stored samples. Ice build-up in freezers can increase energy consumption by decreasing the efficacy of the freezer door seals, so make sure to maintain freezers by defrosting regularly.

5) Consumables – Try to use more sustainable items, for example, using reusable metal loops instead of single-use plastic ones. There are also several different companies that have recycling services, such as pipette tip rack recycling schemes. See if your organisation uses any of these services, and if not, try to introduce them. Also, try to keep an inventory of all the different consumables and chemicals in your lab, to keep track and reduce multiple orders of items you already have.

6) Lighting – Make sure to only have the lights on in rooms when necessary, and make sure the last user of the day turns off all lights before leaving.

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