Green Impact Laboratory Accreditation

• 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 on the toolkit, including the 7 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 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 in May 2026 and this opportunity will be advertised nearer the time on the Student Sustainability Opportunities Hub.

• GILA runs on a 12-month cycle, and comments and evidence must be re-uploaded each year. This year, we need to bring the programme in line with the academic year, and to ensure that you do not have a period of time where you are not certified, the toolkit will be relaunched in November 2025. You will have until 13 May to complete this cycle. Then, for each year onwards, the cycle will reflect the academic year.
• If your team received accreditation in November 2025, you must join the new 2025 Toolkit to ensure there isn’t a gap in your certification. This cycle specifics document explains this in more detail.
  
• 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 GILA Online Toolkit.
• Work through the interactive online workbook to make positive changes within your lab.  
• Monitor your progress using the Dashboard and complete at least 175 points from actions on the toolkit, including the mandatory actions (total 39 points available).  
• Your team has until 13 May 2026 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. Someone from each team must be available for an audit on 20 May 2026.
• Awards are Pass or Fail, there are no other levels for GILA.
• All awards in this round will be presented in June 2026.

• Find answers to frequently asked questions about the Green Impact Laboratory Accreditation (IT login required).
• Access the workbook on the GILA 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: Wednesday 13 May 2026. 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: Wednesday 20 May 2026. 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 in June 2026. Your certificate will last 12 months.
• 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.
• Contact us if you need accreditation before the end of this cycle (in order to apply for funding) and you may be eligible for a GILA ‘In Progress’ certificate. This demonstrates that your lab is working towards this sustainability accreditation.