Sustainability and the 3Rs

There is an urgent need within the life sciences sector to transition to environmentally sustainable practices, including rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and actions to address unsustainable resource consumption, biodiversity loss and resilience to the changing climate. Animal research is considered to have a significant environmental impact. This is driven by high energy usage within animal housing facilities due to specialist heating and humidity control, air handling and sterilisation requirements. The disposal of waste from animal research, including bedding, food, and animal tissues and carcases, which may require incineration, and of plastic consumables, water and chemicals, all have a potentially high environmental impact. Despite this, there has been little discussion in the sector on the green agenda and how it relates to the 3Rs. 

Our work to minimise animal use may reduce the carbon footprint associated with animal transport and housing and husbandry. However, some 3Rs practices may conflict with sustainability principles – for example, increased single use plastics for in vitro research and the energy demands of artificial intelligence, machine learning and data projects. This project aims to build the evidence base to determine the potential impact on environmental sustainability of adopting 3Rs approaches. This will include assessing the environmental impact of animal facilities and identifying opportunities for efficiencies to reduce carbon emissions, as well as delivering life cycle assessments of specific 3Rs approaches by looking at individual case studies to determine their environmental impact when compared to traditional in vivo methods. 

The project scope and plans will be developed by an Advisory Group and further experts will be engaged for specific workstreams.