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Spotlight on sustainable research

Research at King’s makes a profound contribution to society, translating into new insights and solutions for challenges faced in London, across the UK and around the world. And while our research is advancing the understanding of the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss and how to solve these challenges, research and innovation practice itself has an impact on our planet.

At King’s, we are determined to continue to improve how we undertake research, to ensure our practices are environmentally sustainable. Innovations in sustainable research are taking place across our community – from reducing single-use plastic to improving use of cold storage. You can explore best practice case studies on this page, which could inspire you to make changes in your own contexts.

At an institutional level, King’s is a signatory of the Concordat for the Environmental Sustainability of Research and Innovation Practice, demonstrating our commitment to taking shared action on reducing and eliminating our negative environmental impacts and transitioning to sustainable practices. Find out more via the ‘King's & sustainable research’ tab below.

Stories

In December 2024, King’s signed the Concordat for the Environmental Sustainability of Research and Innovation Practice. Developed by the UK research and innovation sector, the concordat is a pledge to ensure that the UK continues to deliver high quality research, but in a more environmentally sustainable way.

Many of the requirements of the concordat align with the impact areas in the King’s Climate & Sustainability Action Plan. This also builds on existing work at King’s, such as via our Sustainability Champions programme, which supports staff to make King’s activities more sustainable. There are three pathways:

  • Green DiSC (internal link), aimed at those undertaking computer-based research and work.
  • Green Impact, for offices and other non lab-based settings.

Funder requirements

Coinciding with the launch of the concordat, funders announced policies requiring researchers to address the environmental impact of their work, including:

  • Wellcome will require those in lab-based environments to achieve the minimum level of accreditation offered by sustainability schemes such as LEAF (Bronze) and My Green Lab by the end of 2025. Desk, field, clinical, and other researchers will be asked to use tools appropriate to their setting to assess the environmental impact of their work.
  • Cancer Research UK will require researchers applying to the majority of their funding schemes to hold accreditation demonstrating the environmental sustainability of their labs. Researchers can choose between accreditation via LEAF (Silver) and My Green Lab. This will be required from January 2026.

Find out more

For more information about King’s work on climate and sustainability, including how you can get involved, visit King’s Climate & Sustainability or email sustainability@kcl.ac.uk.

LEAF Team Leads and Research Support Teams within faculties are there for more individual support and you can also email sustainablelabs@kcl.ac.uk for advice on LEAF adoption in your laboratory or department.