King’s achieves full sustainability accreditation for all wet laboratories

King’s College London has become one of the first universities in the United Kingdom to secure sustainability accreditation for all of its wet laboratories, spanning 44 departments and 64 accredited teams. Each team attained at least Bronze level in the Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF) which assesses environmental performance in research spaces.

Wet laboratories are facilities equipped for experimental research with dedicated benches and instrumentation. Dry laboratories, by contrast, focus on computational or desk-based work. The accreditation was announced at the King’s Climate & Sustainability Awards Ceremony last month, where 76 teams received awards across three pathways: LEAF for laboratories, Green Impact for offices and Green DiSC for computer-based research. This represented an increase of 17 award-winning teams compared with the previous year.

LEAF provides technical and research staff with targeted actions and guidance to improve efficiency and reduce the use of plastics, water, and energy. Gold-accredited laboratories have achieved 10–30% reductions in energy consumption, alongside lower waste volumes, reduced water usage and significant financial savings. Measures such as adjusting ultra-low temperature freezer settings and managing fume hood sash use have also reduced pressure on the infrastructure of research programmes and improved the planning of maintenance.

The Sustainable Research Team in the Research Management & Innovation Directorate coordinated the initiative, led by Dr Marcelo Salierno, Sustainability Innovation Lead (Research) and Dr Lucy Menage, Sustainability Research Specialist. The team divided laboratory areas for accreditation and worked with each department’s Lab Sustainability Leads to implement changes across King’s more than 35,000 square metres of research space.

The university has also recently signed the Concordat for the Environmental Sustainability of Research and Innovation Practice, signalling its commitment to reduce negative environmental impacts and to transition to sustainable operations. Achieving full LEAF accreditation for its laboratories has reinforced this pledge.

“This is a remarkable milestone in our sustainability journey and a powerful demonstration of what we can accomplish together as a university community,” said Dr Salierno.

“It reflects several years of strategic work to increase engagement, embed good practice and build the culture and infrastructure needed to reach this point,” he added.

As a next step, King’s aims to achieve 100% Gold-level accreditation for all of its laboratories. The institution will work with other universities through its role on the board of the Laboratory Efficiency Action Network (LEAN), which was recently recognised with the European Molecular Biology Organization’s laboratory sustainability award.

Speaking at the ceremony, Professor Shitij Kapur, Vice-Chancellor and President, said: “A university, like any other institution, creates a footprint – and of course, we should do everything we can to minimise that. But I would argue that our role in society goes beyond simply reducing our environmental impact.

“The climate challenges we face today are too complex to be solved by any single technology or policy. The single biggest thing we can do is to influence the 40,000 young minds that pass through our university every year.

“If we can inspire them, educate them, empower them – that is where our greatest impact lies. And to do that, we must lead by example. We must walk the talk. And that is exactly what you are doing,” he said.

The awards also featured case studies from departments, including the Innovation Hub at Guy’s campus, which reduced waste by adopting a slide washer to reuse laboratory slides.

“Not only is it a chance to recognise the incredible passion, determination and innovation from staff across King’s driving sustainability in the workplace, it is a chance to be inspired and filled with hope that by making change together, we can find solutions to the climate crisis,” said Rosa Roe Garcia, Sustainability Engagement Manager and event lead.