The 2023 Challenge engaged nearly 2,000 labs and saved over 20 million kWh—highlighting the real-world climate impact of lab sustainability practices.
This year’s challenge demonstrated how simple lab actions can scale to massive environmental savings. Here’s what our global community accomplished together.
Total energy saved across all participating labs.
Greenhouse gas emissions avoided.
Participated globally across all sectors.
Organizations represented in the 2023 Challenge.
Participating cold storage units.
Equivalent driving distance offset by energy savings.
Award categories for the Freezer Challenge
While every participating lab is a winner for helping save an incredible amount of energy, we are proud to honor the below labs for their significant contribution to the Freezer Challenge.
kwh/day savings is not the only determinant of whether a lab or organization receives a top award or honorable mention. Many actions in the Freezer Challenge do not equate to energy savings – normalized points is the first factor looked at, then kwh/day saved.
Note: Winning Streak Awards are given to previous year’s winners that exceeded their energy savings from last year.
Biotech/pharmaceutical sector winners
- Top Organization Award: AstraZeneca, 5299 kWh/day saved
- Winning Streak Award: Amgen, 5088 kWh/day saved
- Large Lab Award: Genetic Toxicology – Cell Health Assessment of Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson in Belgium, 99 kWh/day saved
- Medium Lab Award: Bioprocess Development (BD) Pre-Pivotal Drug Substance Technology (DST) of Amgen in the United States of America, 277 kWh/day saved
- Small Lab Award: Biobank Gothenburg of AstraZeneca in Sweden, 523 kWh/day saved
- Biorepository Award: Labcorp Biorepository – Labcorp Central Laboratory Services – 1411 kWh/day saved
Academic sector winners
- Top Organization Award: University of Alabama Birmingham in the United States of America, 2647 kWh/day saved
- Winning Streak Award: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the United States of America, 1314 kWh/day saved
- Lab Winning Streak Award: The Indiana CTSI Specimen Storage Facility at the Indiana University School of Medicine, 403 kWh/day saved
- Large Lab Award: GI Onc at Johns Hopkins University, 119 kWh/day saved
- Medium Lab Award: Illinois Natural History Survey-Wildlife Veterinary Epidemiology Laboratory, 72 kWh/day saved
- Small Lab Award: Kerppola Lab of University of Michigan in the United States of America, 52 kWh/day saved
- Biorepository Award: Vet Anatomy Dissection Lab of University College Dublin in Ireland, 43 kWh/day saved
Government sector winners
- Top Organization Award: National Institutes of Health in the United States of America, 2009 kWh/day saved
- Large Lab Award: CFIA Greater Toronto Area Lab of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in Canada, 24 kWh/day saved
- Medium Lab Award: Biochemistry Laboratory of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in the United Kingdom, 38 kWh/day saved
- Small Lab Award: Biotoxin Chemistry Lab of Marine Institute Ireland in Ireland, 67 kWh/day saved
- Biorepository Award: Molecular Biology of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in the United Kingdom, 48 kWh/day saved
Hospital/clinical/other winners
- Top Organization Award: Amsterdam UMC, 2587 kWh/day saved
- Winning Streak Award: Boston Children’s Hospital, 736 kWh/day saved
- Large Lab Award: Southwest Pathology Services of SYNLAB Group in the United Kingdom, 47 kWh/day saved
- Medium Lab Award: Lab of Experimental Immunology – Klein Lab of University Hospital Cologne in Germany, 82 kWh/day saved
- Small Lab Award: Immunologic Monitoring and Cellular Products Laboratory of UPMC Hillman Cancer Center in the USA, 61 kWh/day saved
- Biorepository Award: Amsterdam UMC Biobank, 1782 kWh/day saved
Honorable mentions (organizations)
- Institute of Cancer Research, United Kingdom – 1072 kWh/day saved
- Johns Hopkins University, United States of America – 1202 kWh/day saved
- Genentech – 3273 kWh/day saved
- Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson – 1641 kWh/day saved
- Q Squared Solutions (IQVIA) – 1835 kWh/day saved
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, United States of America – 1409 kWh/day saved
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom – 210 kWh/day saved
Honorable mentions (labs)
- Cihakova Lab – Johns Hopkins University – 68 kWh/day saved
- Quinn/Tobian Lab – Johns Hopkins University – 228 kWh/day saved
- Edberg Lab – University of Alabama Birmingham – 84 kWh/day saved
- Ray Ming Lab – University of Illinois Urbana Champaign – 128 kWh/day saved
- Clinical Research Specimen Processing (CRSP) Core, University of Michigan Health Rogel Cancer Center, USA – 94 kWh/day saved
- TS&BA Pathology Lab – Amgen – 36 kWh/day saved
- Cardiometabolic Disorders (ASF) – Amgen – 309 kWh/day saved
- Lab Services in Slough UK – Avantor/UCB – 665 kWh/day saved
- AD Bioassay Cambridge – Biogen – 238 kWh/day saved
- DTMP-LECP Team in Belgium – Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson – 345 kWh/day saved
- S&T Labs – Nestlé – 51 kWh/day saved
- Maple Leaf Foods, Technical Services, Central Laboratory – 55 kWh/day saved
- Integrated Diagnostics – LifeArc – 37 kWh/day saved
- Biopathology Center at Nationwide Children’s Abigail Wexner Research Institute – 420 kWh/day saved
- Mark Andermann Lab – Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center – 16 kWh/day saved
- Pathology-Biobanking-Research – Amsterdam UMC – 112 kWh/day saved
- Experimental Vascular Medicine Lab of Amsterdam UMC – 241 kWh/day saved
Congratulations once again to all the winner’s of this year’s competition, and to the thousands of labs and scientists that participated this year.
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