Sustainable Lab Certification (SLC)

Certified Offices 

Be one of the first labs to become certified! Check out the Application section, below, to find the scoresheet. Once you are officially certified, your lab’s name and rating will be posted here. 

The Sustainable Lab Certification Certification (SLC) is a comprehensive certification process open to research and scientific labs on Western’s campus. It is a way for students and researchers to contribute directly to the sustainability goals outlined in Western’ Strategic Plan and Sustainability Action Plan and take action to strengthen Western’s role as a leader in sustainability in the Pacific Northwest.  The program offers hands-on experience for students working in sustainable lab spaces and allows students to think critically about the ways labs contribute to carbon emissions.

This program began as a project by students taking the Campus Sustainability Planning Studio course (UEPP 471) in Fall 2023. With help from the SciTech department, the students created a sustainability audit that lab members self-complete to receive their scoring. This was based on Western’s Sustainable Office Certification, which was developed in 2017 and has recently been relaunched. Labs who participate are able to achieve a Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Platinum rating, which reflects their overall sustainability efforts. The certification is able to be renewed each year, providing our labs the opportunity to increase their score over time and deepen their understanding of how to live and work sustainably. 

In February, the project was awarded a grant from the Sustainability, Equity and Justice Fund (SEJF). This grant money will be used to purchase sustainable lab supplies that are available to the first ten labs who complete the audit. The program will officially launch in May of 2024 and the audit will be available for labs to access. Starting Fall 2024, the program will be hosted through the Sustainability Engagement Institute as part of the Student Ambassador role.

The application is located on an Excel sheet and is referred to as the "audit." There are four tabs at the bottom that you will use to navigate to the different sections and a list of questions to complete in each tab. The audit should only take approximately 15 minutes to fill out. Once you have completed the audit, email a Sustainable Lab Certificate team member to set up a 30-minute meeting to review your results and tour your lab. 

The audit automatically calculates your lab's sustainability score so you can see how your space is doing immediately. 

If you have any questions regarding the audit, feel free to contact Alyssa Tsukada at alyssa.tsukada@wwu.edu, and we will help you find the resources you need.