University commitment to sustainable research practice

Reporting our progress and actions up to March 2026

Signatories of the Concordat

In January 2025, we joined other leading institutions in signing the Concordat for the Environmental Sustainability of Research and Innovation Practice.

The Concordat is a significant step being taken by the UK research sector to tackle sustainability and address the role we can all play, ensuring that research and innovation can continue to deliver positive impact but not at the expense of our planet.

Signing the Concordat demonstrates our institutional leadership in how we approach environmental sustainability and underscores our dedication to ensuring that both our operations and academic outputs are laying strong foundations for the future, for the University and society.

The Concordat requires action under six key areas at a whole-institutional level and collectively across the sector to deliver real change by 2050. Since signing the concordat, we have taken action in all six areas. Further details of what we have achieved and actions in progress are detailed below.

Our commitment

Formal senior responsibility for overseeing the delivery of our commitment to this Concordat is held by our Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) and Chief Operating Officer.

Leadership and system change

We have written an implementation plan covering all areas of the Concordat and are working internally and with partners such as GW4 (comprising the universities of Bath, Bristol, Exeter and Cardiff) to carry this out.

We have reviewed and updated our Sustainability Policy to ensure that our strategic ambitions to reduce environmental sustainability impacts cover all aspects of University practices and operations.

We have developed and rolled out a sustainability impact assessment tool for all papers and business cases reviewed by University Executive Board to ensure the University’s environmental sustainability ambitions are effectively embedded into strategic decision-making processes.

We have embedded sustainability in our Research Culture Action Plan, ensuring that mechanisms are in place to enable research design to address environmental impact.

We are currently developing a data dashboard that will facilitate better sharing of segmented carbon footprint data so that departments are able to identify issues, target actions and monitor progress. This will launch in summer 2026.

Sustainable infrastructure

In 2025 we launched our Sustainable Buildings Standard to ensure new and existing infrastructure aligns to the ambitions of this Concordat and our sustainability goals.

To enable more efficient and effective use of research infrastructure, we have:

improved mechanisms to maximise equipment sharing, avoiding unnecessary duplication, and embedding sustainability criteria as part of the tender evaluations of new instrument purchases
provided remote access to key research instrumentation at weekends and evenings, to help researchers quickly check on experiments without additional travel
rationalised our core research facility portfolio by sunsetting laboratories and equipment suites that are no longer operationally sustainable, ensuring resources are focused on spaces that can be efficiently maintained and effectively utilised
improved visibility of shareable equipment, ensuring new equipment requests are checked against existing assets to minimise duplication

Our research facilities

Sustainable procurement

We have developed and launched a Sustainable Procurement Policy in 2025 which explicitly references our commitment to the Concordat.

To support this, we have run pilot sustainable procurement training in 2026 and created guidance setting out how this new policy can be applied:

In 2025, we introduced a new chemical inventory system to allow our research community to more efficiently and safely manage, store and procure chemicals, and with the added benefit that it also enables greater sharing and reducing waste. 100% of labs are now using this software.

In 2026, we launched Warp It as a reuse and redistribution network for staff members to use for non-lab items such as furniture and office supplies.

Emissions from business and academic travel

Initial progress has been made to promote and enable a carbon-conscious approach to research travel through the University’s Business Travel & Expenses policy.

We have also published guidance and case studies to support further action:

Collaborations and partnerships

In 2026, we have collaborated with GW4 universities of Bath, Bristol, Exeter and Cardiff in a 6-month project to share best practice, processes, challenges and solutions for implementing the Concordat. The work focused on equipment sharing, sustainable procurement and LEAF (Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework).

We are also participating in a Wellcome Trust-funded project being led by the University of Exeter. The TRACE (Tracking Research Activity Carbon Emissions) project is developing a tool to allow researchers to ‘cost’ the carbon impact of their research project. The first phase of the project is now complete, with testing and roll-out to follow.

Environmental impact and reporting data

We have created this webpage where we will annually update details of our progress and ongoing challenges. Alongside this, we report broader details about progress for sustainability in our annual Sustainability Report.

Supporting our community

We are prioritising actions that can help our research community embed sustainability in their research practices. This supports growing funder requirements for individuals and groups to show evidence and commitment to meaningful sustainability action.

We have created and launched a new online Sustainable Research Hub showcasing best practice, impact and guidance to support researchers to embed sustainability in their practice.

We have created an introductory course on lab sustainability for all staff and postgraduate lab users, as well as running an annual Sustainable Labs Conference to support our research community in finding opportunities for environmental sustainability training and development.

We have run bespoke training workshops on the concordat for the Research and Impact Services team and the Research Enablers Network.

We have continued to embed sustainability in our lab practices through the use of our lab sustainability programme, LEAF (Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework):

36% labs are using the platform
15% have achieved LEAF certification – 10% bronze, 5% silver, 0% gold.

We introduced a staff sustainability programme, Green Impact, that runs in tandem with LEAF for all other parts of the University:

33 University departments have at least one team registered with Green Impact
in 2025, 14 teams achieved an award through Green Impact

Take action as a member of our community

Explore the resources designed to support you and your research.

Sustainable research practice beyond Bath

Over 90 universities, research institutes and funders are now signatories to the Concordat for Environmental Sustainability of Research & Innovation Practice.

In 2026 a report was produced to map the landscape of environmental sustainability in the UK Research and Innovation Sector and to establish a benchmark for assessing the concordat’s impact over time.

Noteworthy developments and indicators of change in the sector include:

Contact us

If you have any questions, please get in touch.