Sustainable Labs

At the University of Leeds, we are committed to integrating sustainability across education, research, and operations. As places of innovation and discovery, our outstanding laboratory facilities allow research to thrive. However, laboratory activity consumes around 5-10 times more energy per square meter than typical academic spaces and can produce large amounts of waste. There’s a real need – and opportunity – to tackle this and reduce the negative environmental effects of laboratories on campus and beyond.  

Our laboratories play a key role in embedding sustainability across the whole institution, as highlighted in our Net Zero Delivery Plan. Our Sustainable Labs programme aims to support staff and students to improve sustainability in labs, reducing waste, resource and energy use and embedding sustainable behaviours. 

Staff and students at the University of Leeds can access our Sustainable Labs Resource Hub. This comprehensive library of guidance covers a range of topics addressing sustainability in labs, including waste, energy, water, and green chemistry.  

The Sustainable Labs Resource Hub is hosted on Sharepoint and is available to all with a University of Leeds login. Staff can also join our Sustainability Community on Teams which has a dedicated Sustainable Labs channel to share best practice, ask questions, and collaborate with other lab-based colleagues. 

We use the Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF),  a tool developed by University College London, to help researchers, staff and students understand and improve the sustainability and efficiency of their laboratories.

LEAF contains criteria that lab users can implement around areas such as waste & recycling, equipment management, procurement, and energy. The criteria are based on actions that have already been proven to work in other laboratories. A key feature of LEAF is that it allows you to quantify your impact in both financial and carbon savings using integrated calculators. 

LEAF is intended for use in any of our labs, including teaching, research, and NHS areas. Anyone who works in a laboratory can sign up and start working through the criteria; we recommend introducing LEAF at lab meetings so everyone in your group is informed and can contribute to implementation. 

A dedicated team of LEAF Peer Auditors, including technicians, researchers, and students from labs across campus, collaborate to review all LEAF award submissions, and once approved, your lab will receive a personalised certificate to display in your lab. You can find out more about our LEAF Peer Audit team on the Sustainable Labs Resource Hub and please get in touch if you’d like more information about joining us. 

If you would like to learn more about how to sign your lab up to LEAF, please visit the LEAF pages on the Sustainable Labs Resource Hub for more information and to download our Quick Start Guide, or alternatively, please fill in this form and someone from our Sustainable Labs team will be in touch.