Labs have a greater environmental impact than offices by at least five times. They use more resources, produce more waste, and consume more energy and water. Bristol participates in LEAF, an innovative Green Lab Certification tool designed by UCL that facilitates and drives improvements in laboratory efficiency. Users complete a set of criteria to sequentially achieve a Bronze, Silver or Gold standard, and in the process see their carbon and financial savings as they progress.

LEAF criteria have been specially selected to cover not just environmental aspects (e.g. waste management, procurement, equipment efficiency, chemical management etc.) but also to target business travel and research quality, addressing the international issues surrounding the 'reproducibility crisis'. LEAF also includes metrics, enabling us to quantify 'actual' environmental and financial savings.

For 2020, the University set an ambition of achieving institutional Green Labs Certification in 100% of our STEMed labs. This will help us to move closer towards becoming a net carbon-neutral campus by 2030 and follows the University’s declaration of a climate emergency. We are now the first University in the world to achieve 100% Green Lab Certification, which you can read about here. 

After our fantastic achievement in 2021, the University has set a new goal: 100% Silver LEAF accreditation across our STEMed labs by 2024. 

Benefits of gaining a Green Lab Certification

• Reduces utility costs and environmental footprint
• Provides the opportunity for direct savings through our financial incentive schemes
• Ensures health and safety compliance within labs
• Increases research efficiency 
• Provides recognition for individual labs and the University on a national stage
• Enables a bottom-up sustainability movement 
• Integrates different labs and departments
• Practice-based learning experiences that improve professional skills and employability
• Strengthens relationships between Estates, lab users and other stakeholders
• Aligns your research with the University strategy and Bristol Futures
• Provides chances of gaining additional research funding
• Improves student experience via volunteering opportunities as Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Volunteers (LEAVs)
• A selling point for prospective students
• Inter-lab and inter-departmental benchmarking
• Creates a better understanding within our community of our science buildings and operations
• Aligns with our commitment to the Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Who can take part?

The scheme is aimed at academic groups or teams of employees. Staff (or PhD students) can organise their own teams and it’s very flexible in terms of what a team is. For example, a team might include all staff in a research group, all staff in a lab or technical staff working in labs. Green Lab Certification isn't designed for whole-buildings so team sizes should cover a lab or a suite of labs. 

Ideally, we will have a range of teams representing the University from across the different schools, including both academic and non-academic staff. Anyone can act as the staff team leader and they are responsible for completing and submitting the workbook of evidence to show what has been achieved. There can be a number of staff team leads and it is important to remember you can recruit students to help you!

How it works

The LEAF teams are given a list of environmental activities on an online platform broken down into Bronze, Silver and Gold categories to complete. Each activity is a clear, easy to implement action. There are also a number of special awards; the categories for these are: Environmental Improvement, Environmental Hero, Innovation for Engagement and Community Action. Throughout the project, support will be provided by the Sustainable Science Manager and other members of staff from the University’s Estates Department.

The project also involves our students by enabling them to become volunteers with special environmental auditing training. Once trained the students then visit LEAF teams to ensure that the activities have been completed to the recommended standard. Involving students in this way provides both training and practical experience in environmental auditing. Teams can also be audited by staff from the Estates department, or by peer assessment as alternatives if they wish.

Green Labs are offering teams the option to complete audits virtually or in-person. Contact your LEAF Project Officer to arrange your audit. 

After the audits, teams will be presented with their bronze, silver or gold awards along with certification badges for display outside the laboratory.

For any questions please contact the Green Labs Team