Green Impact Laboratory Accreditation
Green Impact Lab Accreditation (or GILA) has been created specifically to support research wet labs to achieve an approved sustainability accreditation in order to apply to certain funding bodies.
Each participating laboratory completes the necessary actions, is audited, then receives a nationally standardised GILA certificate. The certificate demonstrates progress towards embedding sustainability in research.
Key information
After 1st January 2026 researchers that apply for funding through Wellcome Trust or Cancer Research UK (CRUK) must ensure that their laboratories in which the research will be undertaken is certified to an external sustainability laboratory accreditation, and be named on the certification.
CRUK and Wellcome have confirmed in writing that they will accept the newly created Green Impact Laboratory Accreditation (GILA).
Use the dropdowns below to find out more about GILA, what it involves, who can take part, and the process to achieve accreditation in 2025.
- GILA provides a nationally standardised certificate for laboratories. Lab groups who achieve the Green Impact Labs Accreditation will be able to demonstrate standardised progress towards embedding sustainability in their research.
- When applying for research grants, groups can share this certificate as evidence of their commitment to, and progress towards, environmentally sustainable research.
- The programme consists of a list of suggested sustainability actions that can be completed to make direct impacts. It operates through an interactive online workbook, supported by the Sustainability team, providing staff with a framework to complete actions and implement positive changes.
- Each activity is clear and simple to implement, with additional guidance provided, and is scored depending on the amount of impact that exercise has on making your work more sustainable.
- Teams need to complete at least 175 points from actions tagged as Green Impact Labs Accreditation on the toolkit, including the 8 mandatory actions.
- GILA is currently only for wet labs, in any department.
- The lead grant applicant(s) must be involved in completing the GILA and be a named researcher on the accreditation. It will not be enough for the applicant(s) to say that their building/unit is covered by a wider departmental Green Impact team.
- Non-wet laboratories, i.e. ones without chemicals / fume cabinets, do not require an accreditation at the moment but need to monitor their most significant environmental impacts of their research, e.g. energy / business travel. They are welcome to join the standard Green Impact programme in Semester one, around October 2025/26 and work towards a bronze, silver, gold or platinum award. Further guidance for these labs will be provided soon.
- If you're a student, apply to be a volunteer Green Impact Lab Auditor. Audits will take place on Tuesday 14 October 2025.
- Express your interest in joining by talking to your lab PI and checking if a team has already been set up.
- Register with an existing team or create a new one by registering on the University’s Green Impact Online Toolkit.
- Select the GILA actions and work through the interactive online workbook to make positive changes within your lab during the summer.
- Monitor your progress using the Dashboard and complete at least 175 points from actions tagged as Green Impact Labs Accreditation on the toolkit, including the 8 mandatory actions (total 39 points available).
- Your team has until October 2025 to complete as many actions as you can, and submit your toolkit for your GILA certification.
- Trained student volunteer auditors will then check that the workbooks have been completed.
- All awards in this first round will be presented in November/December 2025, date TBC.
- Access the workbook on the Green Impact Online Toolkit, which contains all essential information about completing the criteria, including links to relevant resources and key contacts.
- You will find standard templates for some of the actions to help you.
- Join the GILA Slack Channel (#gila) for tips and support from other lab teams across the University.
- For other questions and queries, you can email greenimpact@york.ac.uk
The accreditation requires a variety of practical and communication actions to be completed. The time taken to complete the required level of actions depend on the current processes in place at the lab and the time able to dedicate to undertaking the actions. It would be expected to take at least a month to have processes in place, but could be several months to implement. There will need to be designated technical or researcher time to focus on it, however groups may like to work together to achieve common goals and reduce time involvement.
- From 1st January 2026 any grant application to CRUK or Wellcome Trust will need to be accompanied with evidence of the laboratory holding a sustainable lab accreditation.
- The GILA toolkit is open now for you to join.
- GILA Toolkit submission deadline: Friday 3 October 2025. This will allow time to complete the required actions between now and then but also allow time following the assessment to rectify any actions that were not satisfactory.
- GILA Audits: Tuesday 14 October. A member of your lab must be available in person to speak with the auditors on this day.
- Certificates awarded for completion of GILA and put onto the website to share with funders - date TBC, but likely to be November/early December 2025.
- Support for teams is available throughout the summer. Check with your department lead for any arranged support drop in sessions or contact greenimpact@york.ac.uk
Conducting your research sustainably
The University is dedicated to sustainability not only in what it undertakes its research on, but how it undertakes its research. That is why we have developed a Code of Practice for Sustainable Research (PDF 
, 207kb), offering guidance and support to help you conduct research sustainably. This Code and its corresponding guidance is designed to assist all researchers, regardless of their area of expertise or field.
