Sustainable laboratories
A community-wide movement towards sustainable laboratory practices
How can we carry out scientific research in an environmentally sustainable way, while ensuring research safety, quality and impact?
In 2021 we invited members of the chemical sciences community to share their views and experiences on this topic. Their responses were the basis of our Sustainable laboratories report and inform our ongoing work to support our community in their greener science efforts.
On this page
Our report
In this report, we uncovered what chemists are already doing to reduce the environmental footprint of their research, while at the same time continuing to deliver the ground-breaking discoveries and innovation that make the world a better place. We also shared the barriers and trade-offs they face in making sustainability related changes, and the many opportunities for collaboration and other positive action.
Why is this work important?
Science and technology are key to a more sustainable future 鈥� in everything from tackling disease to developing new technologies for clean energy generation.
Laboratories 鈥� found in universities, research institutes, hospitals and companies 鈥� are essential to research, analysis and teaching. They often bring together several disciplines and involve different configurations and scales of wet, dry and computational facilities.
However, laboratory buildings, processes and equipment can be resource and energy intensive. Safely carrying out high-quality research can require temperature control, ventilation or high sterility. Sourcing, manufacture and disposal of specialised laboratory consumables and instruments also have an environmental footprint. Computational research and data processing also have energy and resource implications.
Our survey's key findings
More than 670 scientists across academia, industry and education, in 70 countries participated in an online survey between December 2021 and January 2022.
The survey findings provided insights into individual perspectives on sustainable practices, which were supported by desk research and input gathered from our community.
We found a huge appetite on the part of researchers to do this, and the majority of respondents were already taking action:
- 79% agreed they know how their actions impact the environment
- 84% agreed they would like to do more to reduce the impact of their day-to-day scientific work on the environment
- 63% had made changes in the last two years to reduce the environmental impact of their research activities, or those of their research group, team or department
Our quantitative and qualitative survey findings include many examples from the research community of what they are already doing to integrate environmental sustainability into their research programmes. Five main themes emerged:
- Daily actions to reduce consumption of energy, water, plastics and chemicals
- Monitoring resource use, sharing equipment and leveraging procurement processes
- Embedding sustainability in research design, planning and reporting
- Sharing knowledge and best practice, and developing skills
- Fostering a culture of sustainability in scientific research
I regularly go through the labs and switch off equipment or close fume hoods and remind my students to do so too.
Experienced researcher, academia, China
Survey participants revealed the following obstacles:
- Organisational culture and attitudes
- Time and money
- The availability of data, along with knowledge and expertise, to enable informed decision making and prioritisation
- Navigating the trade-offs between environmental sustainability and other factors including safety, health, regulation, cost and research or application quality
- "Wasted experiments" due to poor research design and reporting, as well as the duplication of effort in replicating unpublished studies
The challenge is so daunting and multidimensional that I think a lot of my peers feel overwhelmed and don't know where to start. We need to give people actionable information that allows them to make first steps. The sense I have is that in many cases it's "I didn't know that.." which leads to current practices continuing.
Experienced manager, Industry, United States
More data on sustainable practices could be beneficial for motivating people on what judgements to make when investing their time and money. For example, data on energy consumption of producing disposable plastic equipment vs less durable but reusable glass equipment; or a rough order of importance or effectiveness of various sustainable practices.
PhD student, academia, United Kingdom
We explore these actions, barriers and trade-offs alongside opportunities and solutions in more detail within the report.
Our action plan
Our Sustainable laboratories report was the springboard to our long-term work to help our community on its journey to more sustainable labs. We have since provided grants, incorporated sustainability into our conferences and as well as published articles in . We also signpost to useful resources and tools to empower individuals and organisations.
Our work on sustainable laboratories is part of our wider commitment to advancing chemistry and sustainability. Our Sustainability strategy sets out our understanding of the role of chemistry in sustainability and our plans to drive impact towards UN Sustainable Development Goals. It outlines the five key roles we play in driving sustainability impact as an organisation.
Sustainable laboratories grant
In 2023 we launched our three-year Sustainable laboratories grant programme, funding projects to accelerate the chemical sciences community鈥檚 journey to environmentally sustainable research and innovation. We have funded initiatives and activities that achieve one or more of the following aims:
- Advance understanding of environmentally sustainable laboratory practice
- Increase the take-up of environmentally sustainable laboratory practices in the chemical sciences鈥�
- Facilitate sharing of good practices
We funded a total of 59 projects in 2024 and 2025, with the third round of recipients to be announced in 2026. Projects cover a range of topics including water usage, energy and greenhouse gas emissions, single-use plastics, sustainable materials and chemicals usage.
Part of the spirit of the Sustainable laboratories grants is to build capacity and fund projects that bring wider community benefit. Funding was granted to recipients with varying levels of previous engagement with sustainability projects.
We have been supporting our sustainable lab grant recipients to share more about their projects and the outcomes. Hear from experts in sustainable laboratory practices鈥� (including two 2024 Sustainable laboratories grant recipients) in this . Read about four of our funded projects in our making strides towards sustainable labs news article.
Funded projects
Details of projects we have funded are summarised below. The contents show the diversity of topics funded, providing inspiration for future projects or collaborations. Additionally, published project outputs are included in the resource library.
Explore projects by their overarching sustainability area and closest related chemistry discipline. Use the sustainability area and chemistry discipline tags as a guide. Due to the nature of sustainability, there are instances where multiple tags may have been suitable for an individual project. If no projects show, please reset your filtering options.
Acknowledgements
We extend our thanks to members of the Sustainable laboratories grant Decision Panel for their invaluable contributions in selecting projects to fund and helping to improve the scheme between rounds.
- Helen Sneddon, University of York, UK (Chair)
- Rosa Arrigo, University of Salford, UK
- Ian Ball, Johnson Matthey, UK
- Jan-Willem Bos, University of St Andrews, UK
- Federico Brucoli, De Montfort University, UK
- Ben Gray, Sustainable Steps, UK
- Buxing Han, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
- Victoria Hilborne, University College London, UK
- Sheena Hindocha, Innovate UK Business Connect, UK
- Yi-Tao Long, Nanjing University, China
- Shaikh Mobin, Indian Institute of Technology Indore, India
- Ross Stewart, ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, UK
We also thank our Subject Community Councils and their members for their vital input in the initial development of this scheme. Finally, we are grateful to the 番茄社区 Researcher Grants Peer Review Group for providing expert peer review of grant applications.
Networks, reports and tools
Discover examples of global initiatives to help you on your sustainable laboratories journey. Links are correct as of February 2026.
| Networks and communities | Description |
|---|---|
Examples of national programmes | |
Develop and disseminate green chemistry and sustainable science educational resources for educators, students and the wider community. | |
Engage stakeholders to promote sustainable design and operation of laboratories and other high-tech facilities. | |
International forum supporting higher education institutions in the exchange of information and best practices to achieve sustainable campus operations and integrate sustainability in research and teaching. | |
Resources and blog for the life science community to inform and connect researchers aiming to reduce the environmental footprint of their laboratory practices. | |
Run by the UK Institute of Technical Skills and Strategy (ITSS), share best practice and knowledge with UK-wide technical professionals. | |
National network of researchers, technicians, sustainability professionals, and institutions, supporting sustainability across all research disciplines. | |
Advocate for and develop understanding of the importance of research software and how it advances research in the UK. |
| Reports | Description |
|---|---|
Guide prepared by RAND for Wellcome outlining current state of initiatives aimed at reducing environmental impact of health research, including summary of ~140 related tools and initiatives. | |
Represents a shared ambition for the UK to continue delivering cutting-edge research but in an environmentally responsible and sustainable way. | |
Report published by ITSS showcasing the contribution of technical professionals to a sustainable future across UK higher education and research institutes. | |
Evidence-informed briefing from Science Europe providing a comprehensive overview of the environmental impacts of research across disciplines and activities, from infrastructures and laboratories to travel, procurement, and computing. | |
Guiding principles for how environmentally sustainable practices can be embedded in funded research projects, including high-level recommendations. | |
Landscape review commissioned to support the Concordat for the environmental sustainability of research and innovation practice, to establish a benchmark for assessing the concordat鈥檚 impact over time. | |
Report produced from a sustainability conference jointly hosted by the 番茄社区 and The 番茄社区, on sustainability in various aspects of the research and innovation environment in industry and academia. |
| Tools and certification | Description |
|---|---|
Open source software to track emissions associated with code execution. | |
Open source tool to assess the carbon footprint of research. | |
A free-to-use research carbon accounting tool to quantify the carbon footprint of computation. | |
Open access certification framework for research groups and institutions to tackle environmental impacts of their computing activities. | |
The UK鈥檚 National Union of Students sustainability framework for organisations. Supports organisations to embed their sustainability strategy into everyday practices. | |
Searchable portal enabling discovery of research equipment and facilities in academia and research organisations across the UK. | |
Laboratory certification scheme to support laboratories to improve their sustainability and efficiency, providing a framework, calculators and online toolkit. | |
Laboratory certification scheme, including a framework and resources to reduce the environmental impact of laboratory practices. | |
Free and open access resource helping research organisations and teams reduce their environmental impact through practical guidance, certification, and community-led good practice. |
Practical guidance and resource library
Use our resource library to find resources to support your work in progressing laboratory sustainability.
We have collated examples of guidebooks, web resources, peer-reviewed publications and reference documents we are aware of through desk research. The list is not exhaustive. If there is anything missing that you think could be included, please contact our sustainable chemistry team and we will consider it for inclusion in a future update.
Please note that we do not have any responsibility for the content of the resources, nor has the content been assessed for accuracy. Links are correct as of February 2026.
Contact our sustainable chemistry team
Get in touch with any enquiries about our sustainability work.
Related pages
Our sustainability strategy
Advancing sustainability through chemistry
Our vision for chemicals management
Our vision for chemicals management sets out principles and approaches that should underpin any sound chemicals management system.
Disability-inclusive laboratories in the chemical sciences
Explore how inclusive lab practices can unlock disabled talent and drive innovation in the chemical sciences.