Code of Practice for Sustainable Research

Guidance on how researchers can integrate sustainable practices into their work.

The University’s Code of Practice for Sustainable Research aims to guide researchers in aligning their work with the University’s sustainability goals, including achieving carbon net-zero by 2030, reducing consumption, promoting health and wellbeing, and collaborating with others.

It also supports the UK Research & Innovation Concordat for the Environmental Sustainability of Research (PDF , 100kb). This focuses on sustainability leadership, infrastructure, procurement, travel, collaborations, and environmental reporting, emphasising the research community’s role in promoting environmental sustainability.

Code of Practice for Sustainable Research (PDF , 207kb)

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Sustainable considerations

Energy use in buildings

Water use

Equipment energy use

Waste production

Travel & transport

Equipment manufacturing & delivery

Catering at events

Paper & printing use

How can I make my research more sustainable?

Every researcher can enhance the sustainability of their work, regardless of their field. Discover how to incorporate more sustainable practices by selecting the category that best aligns with your area of research below.

Desk-based researchers

Guidance if your research is mostly conducted from a desk (whether or not in an office).

Lab-based researchers

Guidance if your research is conducted mainly in or around a laboratory.

Field-based researchers

Guidance if your time is split between a location for desk-based work and at least one other location where you collect data.

New for 2025: Green Impact Laboratory Accreditation (GILA)

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.

Explore GILA

Listen: Sustainability Conversations podcast series

How can we all help create a more environmentally sustainable research culture? From rethinking research to carbon conscious conferencing and frugal computing to asking awkward questions, these bite-sized podcasts offer expert insights on integrating climate action into research. Tune in to find out how to make sustainability a part of your research practices.

Episodes: 10

Length: Approx. 20 minutes each

Sustainability Conversations podcast

Support tools

There are several ways to incorporate sustainable practices into your research, work, or projects. To help you get started, here are some initial support tools to explore. More will be added in the future as they are developed and we welcome ideas for further support tools that we can feature on these pages.

1. Pre-award risk assessment

Incorporate environmental considerations into your project from the start by integrating an environmental risk assessment at the proposal-development stage. The template below will help your project team identify and put in steps to mitigate potential impacts from project activities—whether it's lab work, field research, travel, or community engagement. You can also plan for the effects of future project expansion and legacy. Starting these conversations early will help ensure your project is more sustainable, even before final design or submission.

2. TR2AIL tool

The TR2AIL tool, developed by the Stockholm Environment Institute and partners, allows the quantification of carbon emissions associated with work-related travel and encourages reflection about travel behaviours. It is being developed to include both air and land-based travel.

If you're interested in using this tool at Department/Centre level, please ask your Department to email Jon Green via jonathan.green@york.ac.uk.

3. Annual review and discussion

In addition to signing up to schemes such as Green Impact and Green Labs, we encourage Departments and Centres to conduct annual discussions and review of their sustainability activities. Use the template provided below to guide discussions about incorporating sustainability into your day-to-day work. For more guidance on how to implement sustainable practices, reach out to your Department.

Additional resources

Find out about wider University initiatives to help you integrate sustainability into your work and projects.

Green Impact scheme

Inner Development Goals (IDGs) framework

Get Carbon Literate

Green Impact Laboratory Accreditation

Contact us

Have a question or suggestion for improving the Code of Practice and resources? We welcome your input to encourage open discussion and reflection within our research community. Share your suggestions by emailing chris.west@york.ac.uk, who led development of the Code for the University.

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