Researchers trying to minimise their environmental impact as they improve human health are being let down by a lack of coordination, according to an overview of current efforts.
The study by the research institute Rand Europe, commissioned by major biomedical research funder the Wellcome Trust, found networks, certification schemes and campaigning under way, but that there was little money or leadership to guide researchers’ good work.
The greening of health research “is largely being conducted by individual researchers, unfunded and at the margins of their existing work, driven by their commitment to sustainability”, write Pamina Smith and colleagues at the institute.
There have been pockets of progress, including the Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework, developed by UCL, an online tool and certification programme that helps labs curb their waste and the impact of their equipment and activities, such as by travelling less, repairing machines, catching solvent vapours and recycling more single-use plastics.
