Green Labs Newsletter- February 2025

Do you know an individual or group at CU Boulder that you believe has made a significant contribution to advocating for and/or advancing sustainability in laboratories?

We are now accepting nominations for the 11th annual CU Green Labs Awards.  Individuals, labs, teams, or departments will be recognized at the Campus Sustainability Summit in April for their remarkable actions and contributions to lab sustainability.

Candidates at CU Boulder can be nominated for benefitting environmental sustainability in labs, growing the culture of greening labs, or driving change towards justice, equity, diversity and inclusivity in science.

Nominations must be received by Monday, March 10th, 2025. Submit a nomination by Google Form. Visit the Green Labs Award website for more information on nominations and past award recipients.

Nature with its influence as one of the most sought after journals for publications by scientists is helping to lift up the global green labs movement by publishing article after article on the topic over the past 5 years. It goes without saying that the global green labs community is elated for this attention by such a prestigious journal. In September 2024, Nature raised the bar by simultaneously publishing three articles on the subject as a “Spotlight on Green Labs”.  In the Spotlight introduction, Nature notes that “scientists are increasingly taking action to reduce their environmental footprint” and that “changes to funding models could hold the key to future growth” of the movement.  Europe is the one leading in this area of connecting sustainability expectations to funding including DFG (the largest funding body in Germany), Cancer Research UK, and the Wellcome Trust, all of which have implemented requirements for grant applications.