Sustainability: Reducing our Impact on the environment

At St Edmund’s College we recognise our environmental impact and strive to manage and reduce it; the College is always looking for new ways to be as green as possible. This means:

–        Providing opportunities on site to reduce waste to landfill through reducing the need for single or limited use items and encouraging efforts towards reuse and recycling

–        Pursuing energy saving measures. Activities include investing in replacement equipment, which is more energy efficient and working with new energy efficient systems in new buildings. Energy is purchased via a Cambridge Colleges Consortium, where energy purchasing is backed by renewable certificates.

–        Working with suppliers to make informed decisions regarding sourcing of food. Preference is given to local supply. We have adopted the Red Tractor Food Standard, seek to minimise food wastage and have committed improving provision of non-meat options.

–        Encouraging members to engage with our greenspace, offering opportunities to grow food and to be involved in the development of the gardens – striving for both social and environmental impact. We have a tree replacement policy.

–        Investing in supporting more sustainable transport choices among College members.

The College’s investments are held in the Cambridge University Endowment Fund (CUEF). In October 2020 CUEF issued a statement on divestment. CUEF aims to divest from all direct and indirect investments in fossil fuels by 2030 as part of the University’s plan to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2038.

This policy is reviewed annually at the Estates Committee and reported to Governing Board. The College endeavours to work with the student body to implement actions and encourage ideas.

If you would like to comment on this policy or make suggestions, please contact: Joy Ferreira (Head of Domestic Operations) on domestic.operations@st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk. We recommend that students coordinate their requests via their CR Green Officer cr-environmental@st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk who can liaise with the Head of Domestic Operations and the College’s Green Fellow, Dr Kristen MacAskill. College members have access to a register of current and past initiatives on the intranet.