The Challenge to Science Funders to Increase Research Capacity with Sustainability Savings
Research funding agencies are on the path to providing guidance and incorporating sustainability language into grant applications. On top of the ultimate good to protect our environment and health – best practices reduce costs and increase lab productivity. Shouldn’t biomedical research labs qualify for sustainability-specific incentives, too?
The Million Advocates for Sustainable Science campaign from My Green Lab and the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL) is a letter-signing campaign that issues a challenge to science funders around the world to encourage sustainability best practices in research operations. It’s a way for scientists to directly demonstrate support.
eco-efficiency decreases costs to increase biomedical capacity
It’s impossible to ignore the example being set by one of the world’s top carbon emitters with commonalities to life science, the healthcare sector. The healthcare sector includes hospital care, clinical services, medical structures, and pharmaceuticals. The Covid-19 pandemic has taken a massive toll on its workers and resources. Many hospitals, for example, are struggling financially. They are short-staffed. Supply chains are stressed. The medical world is looking for solutions to provide the best care possible - making the best use of talent and resources.
Sustainability provides solutions for these types of challenges. Cost savings from “going green” can make healthcare more affordable. A decade ago, a study by the Commonwealth Fund estimated hospital interventions could exceed $5.4 billion in savings over five years and $15 billion over 10 years. (1.) The proof of concept is in successful hospital greening projects. Today, over 3,000 hospitals and health centers have committed to halve their own emissions by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions before 2050 by joining the U.N. Race to Zero. The pharma sector is also quickly incorporating sustainability best practices to conserve resources to increase production and research capacity. These enormous sectors see enough evidence of real traction.
The path of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is to partner with clinicians, researchers, and innovators to develop and educate on best practices, provide guidance on incorporating best practices into grant applications, and incentivize broad uptake. John Balbus, M.D., the interim director of the new HHS Office of Climate Change and Health Equity is focused first on providing healthcare to the most vulnerable people. But he has emphasized that the cost of decarbonization will be outweighed by preventing death, disease, and illness globally - a boon to the economy. (2.) Scientists can highlight that the work of biomedical research is integral to this path to improve public health globally.
Life science research is vital to improving public health
The awesome responsibility of funding life science research is to support projects for the public good. It’s exhilarating when research leads to improvements in medicine, food security, or biodiversity. Contentment is achieved by knowing you made the best use of talent and resources in your lab.
Life science research labs should qualify for sustainability-specific funding incentives being developed for clinical lab spaces. It’s true that the carbon footprint of laboratory research isn’t likely to be as large as public healthcare - yet we can be sure it is significant. Regardless, the pandemic demonstrated how even a simple research application like PCR can become vital to the clinic. Biologists are marvelous at technical innovation. Research sponsors that fund projects in academia that incorporate lab sustainability best practices will see time, material, and equipment cost savings. Scientific labs can implement best practices and quantify their efficiencies. While the environmental footprint of academia is smaller than the healthcare and pharma sectors its productivity is absolutely vital to developing medicines and biotechnologies. More than half of academic research in the United States is life science research. (3.) Academic research has contributed to more than a quarter of all FDA-approved medicines from 2001 through 2019. In turn, many medical schools and health providers perform biomedical research along with providing healthcare directly. The science would benefit.
That benefit would only grow over time as scientists trained in academia carry sustainability best practices and mentality into their careers. Right now scientists don’t often have the broadband or funding to take data and discover holistic relationships in lab operations. The relationship between a scientific approach and its eco-efficiency outcome is an emerging science in its own right. A framework is critical to identifying improvement steps. There are emission calculations, energy measurements, and complex material and equipment life cycle analyses to consider. Funding lab sustainability training is critical to effective lab practices expanding in life science.
In the U.S. the Biden administration and the U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) established the Climate Change Pledge for Healthcare in May. The HHS has clearly stated its goal to add sustainability reporting to biomedical research and clinical grants in 2023. You can read it at the top of page nine in the Climate Action Plan. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is, of course, a subsidiary of HHS. The NIH Office of Extramural Research (NIH OER) ensures scientific integrity, public accountability, and effective stewardship of the NIH extramural research portfolio.
It would be helpful to the life science research community for NIH Office of Extramural Research to address the HHS Climate Action Plan in their annual virtual conference which will take place in Feb 2022. It would be game changing to see roles added in the HHS Grants office and NIH OER to partner with the research community!
The goal of the Million Advocates for Sustainable Science
My Green Lab is a non-profit organization with a mission to build a global culture of sustainability in science. The International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL) organization engages all stakeholders in advancing the safety and sustainability of laboratories and other high-tech facilities globally. Both organizations work with academic and industry scientists to foster best lab practices. Their shared campaign goal is for scientists to sign The Million Advocates for Sustainable Science campaign letter to show government and private funding agencies that environmental stewardship and sustainability are welcomed by the science community.
Last fall My Green Lab Certification was named a key player in the UN Climate Change's Race to Zero. (4.) Taking part in greening research is part of “the race to zero” carbon emissions. In the simplest sense, it’s about resource conservation and preventing pollution on a global scale. James Connelly, CEO of My Green Lab, summarized the mission of the Million Advocates for Sustainable Science campaign as “To foster a systemic change in research towards environmental sustainability, we need to target key leverage points – most importantly, how research is funded and the incentives in place for grantees. Through this campaign, we issue a challenge to funders around the world to incentivize and require sustainability in scientific research, and we invite scientists and sustainability advocates across the globe to join us in this movement. We need to go further faster, and this is a critical initiative to drive systemic change.”
Objective Analysis
It’s important to acknowledge discussion points. What if the world’s largest carbon emitters don’t take part? How much responsibility should large well funded organizations take to develop sustainability solutions compared to those with fewer resources? It is possible for sustainability reporting to be standardized in life science? Personally, my take is that greater scientific productivity resulting from fostering sustainability will urge global cooperation. Larger organizations with more resources can lead. Several prominent research sponsors have already committed to sustainable science. It’s important for biologists to read the Million Advocates for Sustainable Science letter.
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