We are working to reduce our energy usage, especially gas use. So far, our improvements and achievements include:

• Installing a ground source heat pump beneath the historic back lawns, providing heating and hot water for 48 bedrooms and 3 meeting rooms (completed February 2025); we estimate this will reduce our carbon footprint around 100 tonnes of CO2e per year
• Installing air source heat pumps and fabric improvements at our offsite accommodation taking 27 bedrooms off gas – a reduction of around 16 tonnes of CO2e per year
• Systematically replacing high energy bulbs with compact fluorescent or LED bulbs
• Commissioning a Heat Decarbonisation Plan charting our route to zero carbon heating
• Replacing boilers as they come to the end of life with green alternatives
• Undertaking a rolling programme of maintenance to improve the insulation of our buildings
• Installing thermostatic controls for bedrooms and zones in buildings where possible – optimizing heating based real-time data
• Utilising sub metering in place across our different buildings to accurately record actual usage, helping to monitor where energy is being wasted and adapt behaviour to save energy

We are working to increase biodiversity across our college estate. So far, our improvements and achievements include:

• Increasing the range of flora in college with a longer flowering season - decreasing lawn space and improving plant range; this provides increased food and habitat opportunities for animals and insects
• Undertaking counts of flowering plants in the garden each season; in summer we record around 170 different types of flowering plants (species and cultivars) and in winter we have increased from little flowering on site to around 70 different flowering plants
• Purchasing peat-free composts for potting and mulching when required
• Annually adding to deadwood piles to support a range of wildlife, these are a more natural habitat for a range of species, decaying and nibbled wood from a local environment is crucial for local biodiversity
• Reducing mowing and using electric-powered machinery where possible; grass is left to grow long where allowed, resulting in greater biodiversity and more flowering plants
• Checking garden plantings to ensure they are only watered when needed; eg our border watered 6 times in a year rather than several times a week; dought-tolerant plantings are  chosen for new planting areas
• Reducing pesticide and synthetically-derived chemical use natural predators encouraged through habitat opportunities and lack of pesticide use, tolerating some seasonal loss or damage

We are working to reduce the carbon emissions and biodiversity impact of our food. So far, our improvements and achievements include:

• Ensuring menus that are produced according to seasonality and local provenance, reducing the use of produce that have larger carbon footprint
• Procuring around 80% of its ingredients from local, regional and national sources
• Providing a minimum of 50% of meal options which are are vegan or vegetarian
• Trained staff to reduce waste during food preparation and service
• Providing only Fairtrade coffee and hot chocolate
• Collecting used oil to be recycled for Bio Diesel
• Collecting non-perishable food from students at the end of year for donation to local charities
• Removing greywater from food waste via the food waste system – this reduces the volume of food waste created

We are working to implement climate responsible investment strategies. So far, our improvements and achievements include:

• Divesting entirely from fossil fuel production in 2019 and encourage our investment managers to actively engage with investee companies on issues of environmental or social concern
• Engaging with tenant farmers on our agricultural estate to promote environmental improvements, including the introduction of its land into Countryside Stewardship
• Ensuring our equity investment portfolio for the College applies a number of ethical restrictions 

Oxford is a great city to travel around sustainability, more information is available here. We are working to reduce emissions associated with travel and encourage active travel where possible by doing the following:

• Encouraging cycling by providing and have Bike Doctor on site to help fix bikes, provide pumps and tools for fixing bikes in the lodge
• Running two electric vans for College business
• Operating a bike sharing scheme - unused bikes at the end of the year are collected and refurbished for charities and incoming students
• Running a staff travel survey in order to understand how staff travel and if there are any barriers that we remove to encourage more sustainable travel. 

We are working to see a year on year reduce in the amount of waste produced within college and reuse where possible. So far, our improvements and achievements include:

• Establishing a “Swap shop” to reduce end of term waste – students can donate many items they can’t take home and these “shopped” by incoming students  
• Sending waste to an energy waste plant instead of landfill and converting food waste to energy biomass
• Tracking our waste weights monthly to identify areas for improvements
• Recycling all non-repairable college electrical items
• Ending the selling and provision of bottles of water and drinks and single-use disposable cups in our cafe
• Engaging with suppliers to reduce unnecessary plastics and packaging.
• Installing a refill system for cleaning sprays halting the need for single use cleaning materials
• Ensuring our onsite maintenance team look to maintain and fix objects, furniture etc where at all possible rather than disposing of and purchasing new
• Supporting our students who have organised clothes mending sessions and raised awareness about fast fashion

We are working on to reduce our water usage. So far, our improvements and achievements include:

• Carrying out a water audit which identified and fixed leaks saving over 72,282 litres per day
• Installing shower timers for all College showers and installation of water saving shower heads
• Incorporating rainwater harvesting systems into new building developments where possible
• Installing water saving measures at design phase in new buildings
• Installing water saving devices in toilets