Driving Sustainable Science in the Netherlands with the LEAF program
What is LEAF?
A 3-tiered sustainability certification scheme for labs (bronze, silver, gold).
LEAF’s Impact:
Saved £641K and avoided 648 tCO₂e in 235 labs (2018–2020).
LEAF in NL:
Green Labs NL helps Dutch labs adopt LEAF for greener research.
Background
The ‘Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework’ (LEAF), has been developed in the UK in 2018 by Martin Farley for University College London (UCL). LEAF offers a 3-tiered assessment framework through which lab groups can achieve a bronze, silver, or gold accreditation. Lab users work through sustainable actions to reduce the CO₂-footprint of their lab spaces. Besides, built-in calculates help to assess the impact of these actions, both in terms of CO₂e as well as financial savings. LEAF was piloted in the UK and Ireland between 2018 and 2020 and reported 235 lab groups across 23 institutes taking part and assessing cost savings of £641K and 648 tCO₂e of avoided emissions.
Supporting Sustainable Science with LEAF
With funding and support by the Ministry of Health, Wellbeing and Sport through the Green Deal for Healthcare, Green Labs NL has been able to assist multiple public Dutch research organizations to get the LEAF program set up in their research departments and start working towards making their science more sustainable. In the most recent phase of this project, all University Medical Centers in the Netherlands joined the LEAF program. See an overview of all results of multiple phases of the LEAF in NL project below, including related summarizing reports.
Assessing LEAF in the Netherlands
In 2021, Green Labs NL started a project to assess the LEAF program in the Dutch scientific setting. Initially, the project aimed to assess the process and best practices for implementing LEAF in public Dutch research organizations, and how the program works to increase sustainable actions and lower CO₂ emissions for Dutch researchers.
Participating Institutes
Is your institute working with LEAF, but not in our list? Let us know! If you share your progress and experience, we can keep track of labs in the Netherlands that make a difference using LEAF.
People working on this project
Joep Sprangers
Sustainability Coordinator
at UMC Utrecht
Rolf Slaats
Sustainability Coordinator
at Roche
Boaz Chemtob
Sustainability Coordinator
at Utrecht University
Other Lab Sustainability Certification Tools: My Green Lab
Another similar certification tool is My Green Lab Certification. Coming from the US, My Green Lab offers many resources and various useful programs including the My Green Lab Certification. My Green Lab Certification was recently updated (2.0), and although being slightly more expensive, this certification tool is available for companies while LEAF is not. If you want more information, we refer to this recent publication that compares both certification schemes: Schell & Bruns, RSC Sustainability, 2024
