Verifying ecological sustainability: The growing importance of third-party certification in healthcare

Sustainability in business is not just a buzzword for the boardroom but a crucial strategy that can contribute to the overall success of an organization, with studies showing that the most sustainable companies are also the most successful in terms of profitability, growth, and employee retention.¹

Within healthcare, laboratories are some of the most resource-intensive spaces in any organization. This is due to the range of equipment used, such as freezers, fume hoods, and analyzers, and the corresponding heating, cooling, lighting, and ventilation required to keep them running.² Laboratories, therefore, must find ways to make positive and noticeable changes to keep up with the growing need for energy efficiency and reduced environmental impact. 

In the last decade, companies have begun to routinely set environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) goals and report against metrics to demonstrate how ethical and sustainable their business practices are.³ The reporting of these metrics is becoming critical to companies as stakeholders are increasingly assessing ESG credentials to inform their decision-making and favoring businesses with robust ESG frameworks.⁴

More recently, the validation of these metrics has come into question, with stakeholders seeking a way to confirm the accuracy of an organization’s sustainability assessment. An internal audit of ESG metrics does not always provide an objective overview. To enhance stakeholder confidence, organizations are now seeking independent, third-party verification to ensure their claims are credible.⁵

Adopting sustainable practices, setting sustainability goals, and demonstrating good practices are particularly important for laboratories and several third-party initiatives exist to help organizations demonstrate their sustainability.^6,7 For example, EcoVadis offers ‘Globally Recognized and Trusted Business Sustainability Ratings’ in the form of medals or badges.⁸ For laboratories specifically, the European Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine’s "EFLM Task Force 'Green and Sustainable Laboratories’" and the "My Green Lab" Green Lab Certification program both provide guidance in this area. They offer actionable ways to make meaningful change and bring a new perspective to those working in the lab, with the ultimate goal of being certified as a sustainable lab.^9,10  

However, while labs can implement many sustainability changes internally, another important consideration is how they ensure the equipment they use and the suppliers they choose to work with align with their goals. As the My Green Lab program highlights, “The opportunity to reduce the environmental impact of labs through smarter purchases is tremendous”.¹¹

One way to identify products that meet specific environmental criteria is to look for an ecolabel awarded by an independent body with a rigorous accreditation process that certifies the product as environmentally preferable.¹² Ecolabels have been used in various industries for some time, and there are more than 450 in use globally.¹³ Well-known examples of ecolabels are the Fairtrade label awarded to producers and businesses that meet internationally agreed standards in environmental protection, and the Energy Star, which certifies that a product is energy efficient.¹⁴

For a long time, however, there was no ecolabel available specifically for laboratory products. That changed with the introduction of the ACT label, which launched as a global initiative in 2018 covering consumables, chemicals/reagents, and equipment used in the lab.

The ACT Environmental Impact Factor Label aims to provide “clear, third-party verified information about the environmental impact of laboratory products.”¹¹ ACT-labeled products are independently audited by SMS Collaborative, LLC (SMSC) and published by My Green Lab with the goal of increasing transparency for laboratory products and empowering labs to make informed choices about the products they use.

The criteria for the ACT label or the Environmental Impact Factor (EIF) were developed with input from industry experts and external stakeholders. Scoring is across four categories, offering a holistic evaluation of a manufacturer’s overall environmental impact. The categories are:

•   Manufacturing Impacts (e.g., renewable energy use, shipping impact, packaging content)
• User Impact (e.g., energy consumption, water consumption, product lifetime)
• End of Life Impact (e.g., packaging end of life, product end of life)
• Innovation (e.g., innovative practices)

Each category receives a score from 1-10, with lower numbers indicating reduced environmental impact. Products are awarded an Environmental Impact Factor that enables direct product comparisons within categories, allowing labs to choose the product most aligned with their own goals.

Not only does the ACT label inform decision-makers in the lab, but the goal of achieving certification can act as a catalyst for progress on the manufacturer's side. By working through the certification process, manufacturers can set benchmarks and goals for environmental, social, and economic improvements. For example:¹⁵  

• Environmental considerations form the foundation of the ACT ecolabel, and certification provides detailed insights into energy consumption, water usage, and waste generation across the product lifecycle. This may help to identify areas for improvement in manufacturing processes, packaging design, and end-of-life management
• The ACT ecolabel's transparency requirements create measurable social impact across the supply chain, and the certification process requires documentation of labor practices, workplace safety standards, and community impact assessments at manufacturing sites. This may lead to developments such as improved tracking of workplace safety metrics and community engagement programs at production facilities.
• ACT certification generates economic impact across operations and procurement. The required resource tracking during certification can reveal specific areas where material and energy usage can be optimized. For example, packaging assessments may identify opportunities for reduction in material costs.

As market demands for sustainable practices grow, so does the need for healthcare organizations to standardize environmental impact measurement. The ACT certification system is setting a precedent for a standardized framework for evaluation and communication for manufacturers, and the ACT ecolabel represents a significant advancement in environmental impact transparency for those choosing laboratory products.

There are several thousand organizations keen to demonstrate their ESG credentials in this way.¹⁶ As the healthcare industry continues to take on sustainability, third-party verification like the ACT label will be instrumental to product stewardship and to the organization’s overall ESG efforts.