Global CO2 concentrations have increased from 319 ppm in 1964, the year EMBO was founded, to over 427 ppm today. Aware of the contribution of resource-intensive research, EMBO convened the multi-stakeholder workshop Mind the lab: including labs in research performing organizations’ sustainability agendas in Heidelberg, Germany, on 30 April.
“At EMBO, our mission is to promote excellence in life sciences. And today, we recognize that excellence in life sciences must include sustainability,” said EMBO Director Fiona Watt. “Our methods, materials and mindsets must not contribute to the problems we aim to solve.”
Labs are key sites of resource-intensive research and therefore for sustainability transition of research performing organizations (RPOs). The workshop brought together sustainability representatives from RPOs, grassroots initiatives, funders, publishers and tool developers from across Europe. Building on last year’s workshop for funders, which led to the Heidelberg Agreement, the recent event explored how lab certification, tools for quantifying and mitigating carbon footprint, and education programmes can support RPOs in setting clear targets and shaping a vision for sustainable lab research.
Discussions highlighted the importance of RPOs in setting ambitious sustainability goals that explicitly address the environmental impact of research activities. Participants agreed on the need for open-source approaches and appropriate governance, and emphasized the importance of cross-institutional alignment.
“Now is a good time for self-reflection, and the workshop EMBO has convened provided a much-needed platform to discuss opportunities and potential risks for RPOs in this rapidly growing field,” said EMBO Member Gisou van der Goot from EPFL in Switzerland. Henri van Luenen from the Netherlands Cancer Institute and EU-LIFE added a note of caution: “Researchers are already under great pressure. Responsibilities for sustainability should primarily lie with institutions.”
The workshop was organized by Philipp Weber, sustainability officer and Sandra Bendiscioli, senior policy officer, at EMBO. Representatives from the following organizations attended: EMBL, EMBO, EU-LIFE, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Green Algorithms Initiative, Green Labs Austria (GLA), Green Labs Netherlands (GLN), Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), Izmir Biomedicine and Genome Center (IBG), Leiden University, Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI), Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), Sustainable European Laboratories (SELs), Science Europe, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH Zurich), UK Research & Innovation (UKRI), UMC Utrecht, University of Cambridge, University of Groningen, University of Konstanz, University of Lille, University of Oxford and University of Vienna.
The outcomes of the workshop will be a set of recommendations and guiding principles for the implementation of sustainability tools and programmes for RPOs. These will be published in the coming months.
