A Partnership for the Planet—My Green Lab and
Thermo Fisher Scientific
By Kelley Northam
Solar panels, electric vehicles, and hydroelectric power sources are a few of the many inventions that have made the world more sustainable. However, even environmentally mindful innovations can come with a high environmental cost, as the average laboratory uses up to four times more water and ten times more energy per year than equivalent office spaces.
Conservationists, scientists, and businesses alike are realizing that a sustainable future requires more sustainable laboratories. That’s why Thermo Fisher Scientific and My Green Lab are partnering to create a culture of sustainability inside and outside the lab.
An Environmentally Conscious Collaboration
Founded in 2013, My Green Lab has worked with tens of thousands of scientists worldwide. My Green Lab tackles the big, complex problem of emissions by helping organizations engage in larger-scale sustainability initiatives and helping scientists perform small, simple actions in the lab. Speaking to the incredible value of these sustainable activities, Stephanie Millar, Senior Director of Business Development at My Green Lab, emphasized that “it's not just one action that's going to make a large difference in your lab, but if everybody in your lab does just one action, that adds up and could have quite an impact.”
To educate scientists on these actions, the organization offers programs such as My Green Lab certification, ACT Eco-Labels, and many more. With My Green Lab’s expertise, Thermo Fisher Scientific is proud to be improving our environmental footprint and providing products to help you improve yours.
Greener Labs & Labels
Internationally lauded, My Green Lab Certification helps laboratories of all sizes make meaningful mindset changes through customized support and solutions. The certification process begins with assessing the lab to understand current practices and behaviors. Then, My Green Lab’s technical experts provide personalized recommendations of what the lab should start, stop, and continue doing to improve its environmental footprint. A typical recommendation could include cleaning out and dusting off a freezer to use less energy. It’s these small steps forward that Millar believes are as easy as they are critical because these behaviors “have to be adopted and become the new norm—that's really how you build a culture of sustainability.”
Dozens of Thermo Fisher Scientific laboratories are My Green Lab certified and are committed to growing a culture of sustainability. And this culture doesn’t end with certification—quite the opposite. Once certified, labs must be reassessed and re-certified every two years. This ensures labs remain abreast of new research and practices.
My Green Lab also lives its mission through ACT Eco-Labels, which emphasize how consumers can act with accountability, consistency, and transparency (ACT). Like a food nutritional label, these labels assign values to key sustainability considerations such as shipping impact, energy and consumption, and product lifetime, ultimately assigning an overall Environmental Impact Factor (EIF) to the product. At the time of this publication, 360 Thermo Fisher Scientific products sport an ACT Eco-Label and are available through the Fisher Scientific channel. It’s one way we can help you choose products that are right for you and the planet.
Taking Sustainable Steps Together
With the My Green Lab Certification, ACT Eco-Label, and many other laboratory sustainability programs, campaigns, and resources, Millar is hopeful that “science could lead the rest of the world when it comes to sustainability commitments and actions.”
Whether you’re leading the way or taking your first steps, we look forward to helping you along your sustainability journey. Together, we can transform the scientific industry and improve our future.
Kelley Northam is a Thermo Fisher Scientific staff writer.
