International and European Granting Bodies are Connecting Sustainability to Research Funding
A key challenge in driving action for efficiency and sustainability within scientific research is the lack of financial incentives. To overcome this, grant organizations, particularly in Europe, are starting to make connections between grant funding and expectations for efficiency and sustainability in the way that the funded research will take place, with some funding bodies already implementing policy. Furthermore, an international council involving leadership from funding bodies from around the world focused their last annual meeting on the topic of sustainable research.
Germany: Starting in the Fall of 2023, DFG, which is the largest funding body in Germany, began requiring all research proposals to include a statement describing the sustainability methods they will employ. An increase in funding is encouraged to pursue those practices if they would otherwise restrict the quality of the research. To support this requirement, DFG, also known as the German Research Foundation, published a “Sustainability Guide for Research Processes.” This guide provides a framework on how to consider sustainability goals during a project's conceptual phase.
United Kingdom (UK): In April 2024, the UK released the “Concordat for Environmental Sustainability of Research and Innovation Practice” which is a collaborative effort of UK funding bodies and research institutions. By signing this commitment, signatories agree to “reduce and eliminate our own negative environmental impacts and emissions and achieve the transition to sustainable practices.” The Concordat has been signed by six UK funding bodies, ~40 UK research institutions and universities, and ~20 supporters.
Two UK funding bodies (Wellcome and Cancer Research UK) released policies in April 2024 requiring environmental sustainability by grantees. These policies (Wellcome Environmental Sustainability Funding Policy and CRUK Environmental Sustainability in Research policy) expect sustainable lab best practices and both require labs applying for funding to be certified by My Green Lab Certification, LEAF, or an equivalent certification by the end of 2025.
Ireland: The Science Foundation of Ireland (SFI) is another funding body pursuing lab certification for labs receiving its funding. SFI has been collaborating with My Green Lab since Fall 2023 to issue a Sustainable Laboratory Certification to upgrade the baseline for sustainable lab equipment, infrastructure, and resourcing in over 100 labs. The SFI Climate Action Strategy targets this certification program for “national development and broad implementation” pending initial success.
Worldwide: The Global Research Council is a virtual organization comprised of the global heads of science and engineering funding agencies (including the Director of the US National Science Foundation) and seeks to promote the sharing of data and best practices for high-quality collaboration among funding agencies worldwide. During the GRC’s annual meeting in May 2024, they adopted a “Statement of Principles on Sustainable Research” where one of three priority areas in the document is on “Making research itself sustainable”. There are two critical points discussed in this statement: funders have a responsibility to understand how their influence affects scientific systems, and funding organizations should adopt and promote sustainable practices while supporting a culture change of sustainable and responsible research assessment.
In conclusion, research at the international level is undergoing a significant and positive shift toward more sustainable science, because policymakers and funding bodies increasingly recognize and support its long-term benefits. As the money funding science grows in its support of efficiency and sustainability in the way that research is conducted, it will be interesting to see how quickly change will come to the research culture, institutional systems, and the market selling products to scientists.