Biologists in the Labconscious community ask, “How can we produce the best science with the least environmental damage?” One organization has vaulted this goal to the global stage with support from the scientists they guide; My Green Lab.

Co-hosted by My Green Lab in collaboration with Living Future Europe, the Zero Carbon in Life Science Euro Summit 2022 brilliantly showcases how life science research labs can lead many other labs by example to practice environmental stewardship. It’s worth watching the recording here if you missed it. My favorite parts follow below.

The carbon footprint of science

It’s a breakthrough for eco-conscious scientists as a whole that My Green Lab recently joined the United Nations Global Compact, the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative. The non-profit is based in the United States but helps scientists in over forty countries to achieve lab sustainability goals. The organization participated in the COP 26 climate change conference in Glasgow and released one of the first reports quantifying the carbon impact of the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sector. The report demonstrates that for the UN initiative to succeed, scientific laboratories must reduce their massive carbon footprint.

The stage is set for individual scientists to take action.

demonstrated feasibility at the National University of Ireland Galway helped green labs catch on in over 60 labs across Ireland

The keynote speaker of the Europe summit is the perfect example of how organizing a green labs team can generate successful outcomes which can spread to other labs in turn. When other lab groups see what a program achieves - they are more secure there will be a reward for their efforts.

Una FitzGerald, Ph.D., is a principal investigator and director of the Galway Neuroscience Centre. Her research focuses on neurological disease states such as Multiple Sclerosis. This talk featured how green lab certification takes place, the ripple effect of that work, possible research project opportunities, and the educational potential of a green lab module.

Her interest in sustainability was initially peaked by an illustrated book that she and her daughter found called No More Plastic. (It’s lovely how the curiosity of a child can spark scientific curiosity!) To her dismay, FitzGerald found a Nature commentary on a 2014 study by the University of Exeter that estimated scientists generated around a thousand kilograms of plastic waste annually. She noted that scientists today seem to have developed an allergy to the use of glassware. Glassware that was routinely used in the past has been replaced with convenient plasticware. On top of that, high-quality, noncontaminated lab plastic materials end up in waste streams. The broad environmental consequences drove her to found Green Labs Galway.

This is a case where leadership, structure, and a crew of motivated students and staff made the difference. The Green Labs Galway Initiative team used the My Green Lab Certification program to access their laboratory operations at the CÚRAM building at the University of Ireland Galway. The team consists of scientists, graduate students, and university staff involved in lab support and developing communications. They accessed their baseline sustainability in ten laboratory categories, and turned the questions into improvement tasks to earn a My Green Lab Certification representing real reductions in lab waste and real energy savings. The National University of Ireland Galway is leading with a strategy to certify all labs on campus green by 2025.

This success led to an invitation to FitzGerald to share their experience with the green lab program via meetings held by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. Sharing Green Lab Galway’s experience was valuable to public health sector lab executives. Most excitingly, green labs caught on in over sixty labs across Ireland!

How can we best assist and train researchers and lab workers in quantifying the full environmental impact of each of their experiments and protocols? How can we work it into the design of their experiments? This is really what I've been interested in trying to figure out.

Una FitzGerald Ph.D

Intriguingly, Green Labs Galway has dug into how to take sustainable science work to the next level. They conducted a national audit of the use of single-use plastics within Irish labs that showed an expectation for more eco-friendly options from lab suppliers. Her experience has been that grad students have come up with novel and exciting ideas to go green. A green lab module could benefit science as a whole. A teaching lab can incentivize students by requiring them to report back as part of their credit on their experience of engaging with fellow students and staff who are based in the labs. The need for innovation prompted FitzGerald to leave the audience with questions to ponder. “How can we best assist and train researchers and lab workers in quantifying the full environmental impact of each of their experiments and protocols? How can we work it into the design of their experiments?”

growing a green culture and eco-design

Dr. Rachael Relph, Chief Sustainability Officer of My Green Lab led a panel discussion on building a sustainability lab culture with Ph.D. student Svenja Bolz, Laboratory Health and Safety Manager, Marianne Due, and Pernilla Sorme, global project lead for AstraZeneca R&D green labs program. It was interesting to see how each started their green lab programs and the ways they built momentum. In each case, pilot programs to save energy and reduce lab waste turned into updated lab cultures.

This was followed a panel discussion with Agilent Technologies, Mettler-Toledo Rainin, and Eppendorf – each has targeted product design for sustainability. Allison Paradise, the founder of My Green Lab made it clear in the past that while many scientists often focus on recycling, the greatest gains are possible with sustainable design. Naturally, on the one hand, lab plastics and equipment receive scrutiny, but on the other hand, these industrial materials enabled life science to rise to the challenge of fighting a pandemic incredibly fast. (I’m still catching my breath!) 

When these companies who support life science ask hopefully for ideas from their customers on how they can uphold scientific utilities, meet safety conditions, and improve sustainability I hope the Labconscious community will give them a fair listen. Every researcher knows how tough it is to be a true innovator.

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