It is April 2021, and humankind is facing an unprecedented global pandemic. One year after the outbreak, it becomes clear how vulnerable our economic and social systems are against a global crisis. To stand a chance, all efforts must be globally coordinated. It would do little – a thought experiment – to fight the worldwide pandemic by vaccinating Austria by 100%, when the rest of the world is substantially lagging behind.

The same is true for the most pressing issues that are acknowledged by the UN Agenda 2030, one of them, climate change. We have less than a decade to reduce our carbon emissions to zero. And no less than a global system change is required to be able to reach that aim. If not, the consequences are well described by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).  

We, students and postdocs, have founded the non-profit organization Green Labs Austria to contribute to the transformation of the world according to the UN Agenda 2030. We believe that instant action is required and that the task must be addressed together. This is why we propose to foster the communication and coordination of Green Labs initiatives by forming the Europe-wide network Green Labs Europe.

Have you started a Green Labs initiative or are you planning to do so? We at Green Labs Austria would like to connect with you to think together what a European network could look like. To begin with, we can offer the infrastructure of a shared website greenlabseurope.eu and the graphics we have created. We are also looking forward to your ideas. If you are about to start an initiative in your country, we would be happy to offer you assistance by sharing everything that we have learned during the process so far. This is an attempt to make quick and widespread action happen in a non-bureaucratic manner.

We are looking forward to hearing from you!