Sustainability

The world faces a multifaceted crisis of sustainability, with multiple mutually enforcing threats that combine to not only threaten natural environments but also jeopardise our ability to carry out activities such as scientific research. For example, climate change threatens increasingly severe droughts, which in turn impact the capacity to generate electricity and the ability to transport goods.

Scientific research is an energy- and resource-intensive activity. This means that scientists have the potential to make high-impact changes in the way they conduct research. However, it also means that their ability to continue their research is threatened by the increasing likelihood of resource scarcity, e.g. drought or energy price spikes. As such, learning to carry out research with less energy and fewer resources is not only beneficial for the planet but also makes our activities more resilient and less prone to disruptions in an uncertain future.

Our mission is to support the staff at the IBMB in a collaborative way to reduce the impact of all of the Institute’s activities. We do this by education, raising awareness and providing resources to empower all the Institute’s employees to make positive change towards sustainable practices.