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Currently, the majority of research funding from U.S. granting bodies lacks expectations for environmental sustainability.��If the money funding research encouraged efficiency and environmental sustainability in the way research is conducted, that could drive swifter market shifts, innovation and solution development, not just for equipment, but sustainable options for single-use plastics, single-use gloves and hazardous chemical use in research processes.  It could also lead to shifts in systems within the research community that presently contribute to unnecessary duplication of equipment, inefficient use of laboratory space and larger than necessary contributions to the climate crisis.  **  

• If you are interested in exploring this topic more, check out:��
  • written by Ben Feringa (a 2016 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry) and his colleagues from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.
  • Wellcome Trust 2023 report on "."��
  • Royal Society of Chemistry 2021

• Incorporate actions for resource efficiency and environmental sustainability into grant applications, even before funding bodies require it.��The can be a source of ideas.��In addition to including sustainable actions or resource efficiency in the way that the proposed research will be conducted, other sections of grant proposals to consider are biosketches, NSF broader impacts and training plans.��������
• Researchers can also show their support by adding their name to the letter-signing effort launched by the nonprofits International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL) and My Green Lab.��

In Europe:

• Three funding bodies already have established requirements, including the , and .
• In the UK, the  was published in April 2024, committing to “a shared ambition for the UK to continue delivering cutting-edge research, but in a more environmentally responsible and sustainable way.” Four UK funding bodies have signed (Wellcome Trust, Cancer Research UK, National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and  (UKRI, which represents nine different UK funding councils) as well as 17 UK research institutions and universities.��The NIHR funding body .”
• In Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) is currently  with intentions to expand, as described in the .
• Two efforts are bringing funding bodies together from across Europe, including:����
  • A 2024 , which included participation by 12 European funding bodies.
  • The priority, where one aspect of the effort was a webinar series including involvement by numerous European funding bodies (summarized in ).������

In the U.S.:

• Health and Human Services (HHS), which is one world’s largest funding bodies, has a priority action #3 within its to green grants.��

Globally:

• ������, leaders of funding bodies around the world adopted a�� which includes a priority area focused on “making research itself sustainable".