From Pipettes to Pipelines: Greening a Multidisciplinary Research Lab
Experiences from the Modernising Medical Microbiology (MMM) Unit research group on engaging wet lab, computer lab, and office teams on the sustainability agenda.
If you’ve made it to this page, there’s a good chance you don’t need convincing that sustainability is worth your time. With any luck, some of your colleagues might not either. But how many of us actually do something meaningful about it at work, where we spend half of our lives? Or do we leave the ‘green tasks’ to linger as a guilty afterthought at the bottom of our to-do list, to be addressed once all emails are answered, all reports written, and all presentations prepared (i.e. never)?
The scientific term for this phenomenon (because who doesn’t love a bit of psychology jargon?), is the ‘value-action gap’. This is where wider social or physical factors prevent people from acting on their values or attitudes. Or as Prof Dame Marteau put in in the UK Government's enquiry into behaviour change for climate environmental goals[1]:
“People want to do the right thing, but life gets in the way”.
So how do we stop life getting in the way? How do we empower people with the Capability (C), Opportunity (O), and Motivation (M) (aka the COM-B model of behaviour change, for some more psychology jargon) to act in line with climate-orientated values?
This can seem like an overwhelming, climate anxiety-inducing task, especially if, like me, you have no formal social science training and had no idea what a ‘behaviour change model’ was before reading this. The imposter syndrome might pipe up here with “What can I do that would ever make a difference?”
Well, it may be helpful to think about your “climate shadow[2] – a term coined to represent a more holistic view of your climate impact than a carbon footprint. It includes who you talk to, how you invest your money, how you vote, and most importantly, the sustainability-oriented actions you may inspire in others with what you say or do. For example, there are only so many lights you can turn off yourself at the end of the day, but if you can get your colleagues on the case, you suddenly have a lot more people reducing electricity wastage, who may continue with these good habits even if you leave the group. In essence, instead of carrying snowflakes down the mountain one-by-one, try starting an avalanche!
But how do we get the metaphorical (snow)ball rolling?
Below are a few simple (but not easy!) steps to serve as a starting point for your research group, department, or other type of organisation, whether you work in a conventional ‘wet’ lab, computer lab, or office. Clearly it is not a one-size-fits-all solution. The below steps are based on our experiences as the ‘Green Gang’ of the Modernising Medical Microbiology (MMM) Unit. You may well have different strengths to capitalise on, and different challenges to overcome.
What you’ll need to begin:
A research group or organisation with a wet lab, computer lab, or office
Enthusiasm for sustainability
Patience (and lots of it!)
Step-by-step instructions:
Step 1: Talk about sustainability
Asking questions may be the best way to start conversations about sustainability. It can help raise general awareness, and help you find out what would provide motivation for your colleagues to act. Consider asking:
What sustainable practices are already in place?
What aspects of sustainability do your colleagues care about most? Cost-saving for the lab? Preserving nature?
Show sceptics the data: sustainability in the workplace can improve employee satisfaction[3] and retention[4]. 61% of employees think that sustainability in the workplace is essential[5], and 70% of millennials are more likely to stay at an organisation long-term if it has a sustainability plan[6].
Step 2: Set up a Green Team with regular meetings
Regular, dedicated time to address sustainability issues can give you the opportunity to make systemic change. Giving yourself a deadline and accountability to your Green Team can be a good motivation to act.
Sharing ideas and knowledge within your Green Team can also increase your collective capability, i.e. skills to do something about it.
Set dates for the next meeting at the preceding one.
Get your lab manager - or someone involved in procurement- on your side. Your suppliers and waste disposal contractors are an essential part of lab sustainability.
Step 3: Celebrate what you’re already doing, as well as successes
Within your Green Team, as well as your research group more widely.
Leverage platforms like lab meetings, journal clubs, newsletters, and group social media to celebrate all the amazing sustainability-related activities your group may already be doing, perhaps without realising it.
This can motivate people to act by increasing self-efficacy (i.e. the belief in your own capability to make a difference), and by making the problem seem more tractable.
Some examples include:
Cycling to work
Having a culture of turning off lights, computers, and equipment overnight
Doing an annual stock-take of lab reagents/ consumables or IT hardware
Step 4: Add sustainability to the agenda (literally)
Making sustainability a regular part of the agenda for whole group meetings (not just the green team) helps integrate sustainability into workplace culture, and gets everyone to take-on a bit of the responsibility.
It helps increase capability in the wider group, by highlighting potential actions everyone can take.
Consider sharing a short ‘Green Tip of the Week’ before each weekly lab meeting. Some examples of recent Green Tips we have used at MMM are:
Turning down your screen brightness from 100% to 70% can save 20% of energy
Searching on Ecosia instead of ChatGPT can use 10x less energy
Joining the BetterPoints App in Oxfordshire rewards you for sustainable travel with high-street shopping vouchers.
Step 5: Apply for sustainability accreditations
Several sustainability accreditation schemes are available to formally recognise your efforts, for a range of different work environments. Table 1 contains examples of the accreditation schemes we have engaged with at MMM to cover our wet labs, computational ‘dry’ labs, and office spaces.
They are great publicity, and provide a structured framework of actions to take.
Most have Bronze, Silver and Gold levels, and usually involve completing a checklist of criteria and a regular audit.
The paperwork may be daunting, but several of the criteria may cover things that many groups will already be doing!
Written by Dorottya Nagy
References:
1. Environment and Climate Change Committee. In our hands: behaviour change for climate and environmental goals. 2022; Available from: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/30146/documents/174873/default/.
2. Pattee, E. Forget your carbon footprint. Let's talk about your climate shadow. MIC 2021 [cited 2025 10/07/2025]; Available from: https://www.mic.com/impact/forget-your-carbon-footprint-lets-talk-about-your-climate-shadow.
3. Jing, C., K. Keasey, and B. Xu, Environmental sustainability and employee satisfaction. Economics Letters, 2023. 233: p. 111402.
4. Recycling, M. Sustainability and Employee Satisfaction. 2025 [cited 2025 21/07/2025]; Available from: https://methodrecycling.com/gb/journal/sustainability-and-employee-satisfaction#:~:text=More%20and%20more%20employees%20are,turnover%20and%20maximise%20job%20satisfaction.
5. HP. HP Workforce Sustainability Survey. 2019; Available from: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://press.hp.com/content/dam/hpi/press/press-kits/2019/earth-day-2019/HP%20Workforce%20Sustainability%20Survey.pdf.
6. Peters, A. Most millennials would take a pay cut to work at an environmentally responsible company. Fast Company 2019 [cited 2025; Available from: https://www.fastcompany.com/90306556/most-millennials-would-take-a-pay-cut-to-work-at-a-sustainable-company.
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