Applications close on January 31st next for the second tranche of participants in the new Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Sustainable Laboratory Certification Programme. Operated in partnership with international non-profit organisation My Green Lab, the programme aims to bring best-in-class, sustainable research practices into Irish labs.
“It is widely recognised that research, and the talent it develops, is a crucial part of our national response to the climate change challenge,” says SFI head of research Peter Clifford. “New technologies, ideas and innovations, coupled with the skilled individuals to deploy them, will be central to our economic and societal wellbeing. However, laboratories are resource-intensive spaces, using 10 times more energy than office spaces and four times more water.”
Clifford points to My Green Lab statistics which show that academic research laboratories globally lead to the production of an estimated 5.5 million tonnes of plastic waste each year, equating to around 2 per cent of the world’s plastic production.
The Irish programme is unique, as it is the first time anywhere in the world that a national research funding agency has spearheaded a certification process in lab sustainability.
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Clifford acknowledges the role of other pioneers in the area who have helped to bring the programme into existence.
“When we started out on the journey to develop the programme we talked to some great advisers like Dr Una Fitzgerald of the University of Galway. She has been a great help to us,” he says. “She is one of the founders of Irish Green Labs and has been leading by example by greening her own lab which became the first in Europe to be green certified back in 2019. We had our eyes opened about the impact that can be made by working with Una and others.”
Becoming a green lab is not necessarily a straightforward process, he explains. “It is difficult to define a green lab. Like the answer to most things, it depends. We don’t yet have a certification process that is sufficiently robust to stand up to international scrutiny. We are at the early stages and haven’t reached that point yet.”
At this stage it is more a question of adopting best practices and making best efforts to reduce existing impacts, says Clifford, noting that this is more an incremental process than a “big-bang event”.
“It can be a question of mindset and culture change,” he adds. “Education and training can help there.”
There are, of course, specific areas where more measurable improvements can be made.
“A life-sciences lab would be very different to an ICT lab in terms of environmental impact,” says Clifford. “One would have heavy use of energy while the other would use a lot of glass, plastics and chemicals. You can’t really compare the two.
“Energy use is a big challenge. Where labs use high performance computing they can sometimes put pressure on the providers of the technology to make improvements to its energy efficiency.
“There is innovation happening with chemicals and plastics and other consumables. There is more reuse of plastics and sanitising of glass for reuse. Glass can be disinfected to a level suitable for use in experiments. But those things won’t happen unless someone pushes them. SFI is trying to provide that push through this programme.”
Under the programme, labs go through a structured certification process. It begins with principal investigators and research team members completing questionnaires in relation to existing practices in the lab. This can relate to use of consumables and equipment, and if they are leaving equipment on or conducting experiments overnight. That information is used to obtain a baseline for current practices in the labs.
“We are working with My Green Lab on it,” says Clifford. “They work with labs all over the world, not just in Ireland, and have been recognised by the UN Race to Zero campaign. They will analyse the responses and provide recommendations to labs on how they can become greener.
“Each lab has six months to implement recommendations. After that we carry out an evaluation exercise to see if there has been a measurable improvement in practices. We will also look at how the lab compares to others in their sector. The process is robust and verifiable and will help labs begin the journey to becoming more environmentally sustainable.”
Clifford believes this is an important first step in Irish labs becoming more sustainable.
“We are not yet at a stage where labs could be audited externally for sustainability. That is probably a number of years in the future, when we have access to better data. For the present, certification means the lab has optimised its practices to the best extent possible and has made the best efforts in areas such as reuse of consumables and so on.”
SFI is funding the certification process. “We are not giving money to labs to green themselves,” Clifford points out. “That should be at least cost neutral.
“Bills for energy and for consumables should come down as a result of the actions taken. We are considering running a call for certain labs that would be hit more than others to apply for funding to support some more costly measures where they are required. This is a pilot programme and we are learning by doing to find out what the actual costs involved are and so on.”
He emphasises the importance of the programme. “I think laboratory researchers recognise the gravity of the climate emergency as the crisis of our times. The world is burning around us and 2023 will probably turn out to be the hottest on record. We all have to make a contribution.
“The programme has commenced for the first group of laboratories and we are hoping that a further 50 will participate in the second tranche beginning next year. Applications are open now for that second tranche.”
For more information see Sfi.ie