Making research more sustainable

Scientific institutions should lead the way and set an example for our collective responsibility to reduce the environmental impact of research. BIST has made an explicit commitment to sustainable research, which reinforces our position as responsible members of society and ultimately makes us more competitive.

BIST works towards more sustainable research in various ways. We want to increase awareness of the potentially negative impacts of the work done by our community of researchers and science professionals, and to promote good practises to reduce them. We are working together to establish measures and protocols across all BIST centres to minimise the environmental impact of our activities. This means for example, that we prioritise sustainability and the reduction of environmental impact when making decisions about the management of our premises and research facilities, or the construction of new ones.

A Sustainable Research Working Group has been created to lead the work in this area and to become a permanent forum for sharing good practices among all BIST centres. Learn about the group members on our Meet the Team page.

Actions

Some BIST centres have developed guidelines for good practices in Sustainable Research, which are currently being reviewed and will form the basis of the BIST Sustainable Research Handbook, available soon.

As a noteworthy action, BIST is launching the Green Lab = Cleaner World awareness campaign in October 2021 to encourage the BIST Community to take individual and collective actions to save energy, reduce and manage waste properly, and diminish our carbon footprint, ultimately working together for a cleaner and more sustainable world. The illustrator Marina Juanet has helped us transmit this messages in an amusing and beautiful way.

Sustainability of materials and building processes, energy savings, and waste management have also been key points in the planning for the new BIST building that will be constructed in the Mercat del Peix science and innovation hub.