My Green Lab

Sustainability at our Institute

Sustainability in our research is a major concern. Not only through our research topics, which reflect an integrative approach to health promoting resilience, prevention, and a holistic view of humans and their health, do we contribute to sustainability. The sustainability of the research processes themselves is also important to us.

In 2022, we successfully completed the certification process for „My Green Lab“ and have been striving to make laboratory processes and office workflows more resource-efficient. We are pleased to have again successfully completed the recertification in 2024, achieving the highest level of the certification process, the level „green“.

The "My Green Lab" Initiative

My Green Lab was founded to support and guide scientists, suppliers, designers, energy providers and others in ensuring that all research meets the highest social and sustainability standards. The My Green Lab initiative has been recognised as a key measure within the United Nations Race to Zero campaign and is considered the global gold standard for best practices in sustainability in laboratory facilities.

You can find more information about the My Green Lab initiative here.

Certification process for My Green Lab

The programme offers scientists and their teams feasible options for the implementation of meaningful improvements over the course of six months. These can be made in 14 different areas, including energy, water, waste, chemicals/materials and the engagement of the participants. The measures conserve resources and costs and create a safe, healthy and sustainable environment for science and research. Our laboratory also underwent this process for the first time in 2022 and, upon completion, received the highest certification level, ‘green’.

News about our certification process:

About the start of the certification process

Our successful completion of the certification process

Our actions for greater sustainability

Participation in #LabWasteDay

Among other things, our institute took part in the annual #LabWasteDay on the third of September 2024. The aim of this campaign is to draw attention to the problem of high levels of plastic waste in laboratories. To this end, plastic waste is collected and weighed in the laboratory over the course of a day. Furthermore, the amount of plastic waste generated in a whole year was calculated on the basis of this. The weight of the plastic waste collected in our laboratory was 972 g. Calculated over the whole year with 261 working days, this means 253.7 kg/year.

You can find more information about #LabWasteDay here.
You can find the news report on our results at #LabWasteDay here.

Participation in the Freezer Challenge

In 2022, our laboratory won the annual Freezer Challenge organised by the My Green Lab Initiative in the Academic/Large Size Lab category. This challenge recognises laboratories and research facilities that have made the greatest contribution to energy savings and improving sample storage. This year, 3,724 laboratories from around the world took part in the competition. We also took part in this year's Freezer Challenge again and saved 130 kWh/day in the process.

You can find more information about the Freezer Challenge here.
You can find the press release about our win in the Freezer Challenge 2022 here.
You can find more information about the Freezer Challenge 2022 and all the winners here.

Environmental Medicine