Sustainable clinical trials: Community of Practice conference

Last November, something unexpected happened. The people working to decarbonise clinical trials sat in the same room for the first time and discovered we were a community. Regulators, sponsors, trialists, providers, each pushing in the same direction, often without knowing the others existed.

That discovery was the beginning.

Now that we know we are a community, what do we do with it?

A 2026 survey of close to 200 respondents across five continents found that sustainability is rated highly important by nearly everyone in clinical trials. Readiness to act is much lower. In addition to the technical barriers, there are structural ones:
conflicting priorities, uncertainty about where to start, sustainability sitting outside the goals of trial designers. Many of those driving change are doing so alone, without mandate, in the gaps between their formal responsibilities.

The will is there. The infrastructure is catching up.

This year’s conference is designed around that gap. We will bring together people who have been thinking about these questions for years, people just starting their journey, and people developing the tools and services that make action easier, to work on the questions that matter:

• How do we embed sustainability into trial design from the start?
• How do we make the commercial case that gives sustainability initiatives the wings they need inside an organisation
• How do we involve patients meaningfully, so that what we build is realistic and built to last?
• How do we move from individual effort to collective progress on sustainable procurement?

The sessions are designed to harness what is in the room. Collective intelligence, applied to real problems.

You will leave with concrete steps for wherever you are in your sustainability journey. The community around you contains the skills, the experience, and the tools to help you take them, including a carbon calculator that is easier than ever to use, with training available to get you started.

From ambition to action. Together.

The conference is free for everyone. Researchers, procurement leads, providers, trial sponsors, regulators, anyone working on clinical trials is welcome. If you know someone who needs to hear that this community exists and is moving, bring them along.