Solvents, Freezers, and Pipette Tips: Sustainability engagement in ETH laboratories

Author: Dominik Hauser, ETH Sustainability

The research laboratory and its tools and equipment are emblematic of the scientific world. In the ETH universe, the lab is not only a physical but mostly also a social space. Thus, labs are at the core of the professional identity of many researchers and staff at all career levels and are worth putting into the spotlight for enhanced social and ecological responsibility. 

Being a major part of ETH activities, laboratories today contribute substantially to the indirect emissions of our university's greenhouse gas balance. Machines and freezers are stuffed with resource-intensive components and are power-hungry when in use. The steady supply of chemicals and equipment rack up the so-called scope 3 emission, hidden in the supply chains, both in the production (upstream) as well as in the disposal (downstream). Scientific apparatus and machines as well as laboratories account for a total of CO2eq of 54’000 tons, having a share of roughly 30% in the ETH’s 2024 greenhouse gas balance. 

Greenlabs: A grassroots process

Being a place of innovation as well as resource consumption creates a constant need of negotiation of trade-offs and coming to terms with dilemmata. Intrigued by this, a group of lab professionals banded together to reduce the climate footprint of laboratories at ETH and the University of Zurich (UZH). Together they formed GreenLabs Zürich. This grassroots group approached ETH Sustainability in 2022 to support the initiative. What followed was ETH GreenLabs, a pilot for ETH labs, dedicated to more sustainability in lab practice as well as a scope 3 reduction exploration.

The Lab Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF), developed by the University College of London, is globally widely used by labs – most of the time on a voluntary basis. Its different levels, bronze, silver, and gold, acknowledge increasing degrees of effort and rigour that a lab takes to make its practices as sustainable as possible. Once laboratories have filled out a questionnaire, they are reviewed by GreenLabs volunteers, many of whom work in the lab environment themselves. This peer-review process fosters knowledge sharing and helps building and enlarging the GreenLabs community. As one of the founding members of GreenLabs Zurich says: “The greatest strength of this project is the direct contact with people in the labs—it allows us to identify broader institutional challenges, share practical ideas between groups, and get to know the people behind the scenes. That personal connection fosters real engagement and has opened the door to new initiatives that address what labs need to become more sustainable.”

But the process is not just a self-congratulatory exercise for measures that are already in place. Through the process of filling out the questionnaires provided by the framework, lab members are invited to reflect in detail about their measures and practices, as well as think and negotiate about new potential measures. The reviewers do not just evaluate how many boxes the lab can tick off but also assess whether sustainability is a core consideration in the lab's everyday activities. Only then the gold standard can be achieved.

The Certification Event: Recognizing Commitment and Building Knowledge

At the first edition of the GreenLabs Certification Event in January 2024, 18 labs received a certification. Fueled by the kick-off success of the first review round, GreenLabs Zurich was determined to turn the event into an annual tradition and to keep going until every laboratory at ETH is certified.

With the second certification event, that took place on 12 March 2025, they are proud to report 22 more certified labs. The mood at the Dozentenfoyer that day was truly celebratory. Many of the participating lab professionals are those who have dedicated themselves to making sustainability part of the core agenda of the research group. Their actions reflect their ambition to transform lab practices and routines. One of the participants who received a certificate summarises it as follows: “When we first heard of GreenLabs and the Leaf program from our Lab neighbours we were immediately thrilled to join the initiative. Especially as a brand new lab (Kleele Lab. ETH Zurich), we are proud to be part of this community and will do our best to make science more sustainable. I am looking forward to become an active member of GreenLabs”

Synergies between ETH grassroots initiatives?

There are others who’s ideas and mission weave into the fabric and synergize with GreenLabs' mission. The student-founded Zurich-based non-profit organisation EquipSent creates impactful links between ETH labs and the world: Education and research in low-income countries are severely hindered by a lack of access to pricey scientific equipment. At the same time, laboratories in high-income countries will discard still-functioning equipment to replace it with the latest technology. EquipSent seeks to make use of that and provides a way for laboratories to donate their phased-out equipment to those who can make good use of it.

So what comes next?

GreenLabs remains dedicated to its goal of certifying every laboratory at ETH. While LEAF applies primarily to conditions of wet labs, GreenLabs Zurich is starting tests with additional frameworks, like GreenDiSC, taking into focus computational labs.

During the first two GreenLab years, we have learned that many lab professionals generate invaluable knowledge and practices, but lack a platform to share it with others. Thus, GreenLabs Zurich is in the process of developing an open-source wiki, where any dedicated individual can create and edit articles, to share their findings and help others in their sustainability journey. The peer-review nature of a wiki links up nicely with that of the reviewing process, something that emerges as a core part of the GreenLabs culture.

GreenLabs Zurich essentially contributes to the ETH Net Zero goal. The community of carbon and sustainability literate peers know best what to do to transform everyday practices in a field as heterogenic and complex as experimental science.

Through pilots like GreenLabs, the system boundaries of our university extends to every truckload that brings in deliveries down to every waste pipe that leaves our buildings. Taking into account the details and nuances, helps designing and implementing system-wide sustainable measures.

GreenLabs and projects like it represent a core tenet to ETH’s future as a sustainable institution: A place where innovation and responsibility meet.