The Office of Sustainability is offering $500 to cover My Green Lab certification for three UConn labs.
We're excited to share a Mini Grant opportunity for your lab to explore and implement sustainability practices specific to labs through a globally recognized certification program. Did you know that on average, lab spaces use 10x more energy and 4x more water than office spaces and produce 12 billion tons of plastic waste per year? UConn’s Office of Sustainability is eager to reduce some of the environmental impact associated with lab research on campus, while preserving the integrity of the groundbreaking research done in labs such as your own! One potential solution that we are exploring is My Green Lab certification, and we are currently looking to pilot three labs here on campus.
My Green Lab offers an internationally recognized certification program in lab sustainability. My Green Lab certification is listed as a Race to Zero breakthrough objective, with a target to accredit 95% of major pharma and med tech labs at the green level by 2030. (https://www.climatechampions.net/frameworks/breakthroughs/). It is used in over 4500 labs internationally and is backed by the EPA (https://mygreenlab.org/the-beaker-blog/epa-recommends-my-green-lab-certification-and-act-ecolabel-setting-the-standard-for-sustainable-science/). Getting certified is a great way to show your lab’s commitment to sustainability, reduce energy usage and waste generation within your lab, and gain a competitive edge in future grant applications. Pursuing certification can also be a meaningful way to involve your students in leadership roles within your lab.
To get certified, labs complete a pre-assessment (which takes approximately twelve minutes) and receive a personalized list of recommendations for sustainability initiatives within the lab. Labs will have between six and eight months to implement changes that they see fit and will take another assessment to determine their My Green Lab certification level.
In line with UConn Office of Sustainability’s goals to promote a culture of sustainability on campus, reduce waste, and save energy, we are striving to help labs get My Green Lab certified. The OS will select three labs on campus and cover their certification cost ($500/lab). If you are interested in getting your lab certified, with application costs waived by the OS, please fill out the link below:
https://forms.gle/sBGs7dYseZcLYc896
If your lab is selected to have their My Green Lab certification costs waived by the OS, you will be asked to send at least one representative from your lab (it can be an involved undergrad, grad student, postdoc, or faculty member) to virtual check-in meetings every other week with an OS staff member to provide updates, report progress, or ask questions. These meetings will not take longer than 30 minutes. You will also be asked to use the My Green Lab impact estimator, which measures savings in energy, water, waste, and cost. This data will be invaluable to the OS as we work to hopefully scale up the My Green Lab certification program across UConn.
The My Green Lab website is linked here (https://mygreenlab.org/programs/mgl-certification/) if you are interested in exploring options further. My Green Lab also offers a free sustainability ambassador course—feel free to check out the program or forward the opportunity to students who may be interested (https://mygreenlab.org/programs/ambassador-program/).
Please reach out if you have any questions regarding the OS Mini Grant or the My Green Lab certification program. Applications are due on Friday, July 31st, 2026. You can expect to hear back from us by Friday, August 14th, 2026. We’d love to consider your lab as a pilot member of the certification program.
Thank you,
Mikayla Friday
Mikayla Friday
(she/her)
Engineering Education PhD Student,
Environmental Engineering, B.S.,
UConn Office of Sustainability Zero-Waste Coordinator
For more information, contact: Mikayla Friday at mikayla.friday@uconn.edu