Back in September 2023, St Catharine’s published its first ever roadmap explaining how the College intends to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040, an ambition that it originally set out in its environmental strategy. As the first year draws to a close, it is important to celebrate where progress has been made, and draw attention to the areas where the College community is likely to focus efforts next year.
Dr Noriko Amano-Patiño (2021), who served as the College’s Environment Fellow and Chair of the Green Working Group in 2023–24, commented:
“Thank you to everyone at St Catharine’s who has helped us start to translate the ambitious proposals in our roadmap into action – it has been a real team effort! The Green Working Group has proved to be a valuable forum which has enabled us to work together to address any challenges and develop new ideas. It will be vital to maintain this momentum next year and I hope anyone joining St Catharine’s will think about getting involved through the Group’s meetings and activities.”
Purchased electricity
All electricity at St Catharine’s has been from non-emitting energy sources since 2021. The College’s participation in the Cambridge Colleges Consortium supports renewable (largely solar-powered) generators in the Cambridgeshire area, and is therefore helping to de-carbonise the electricity grid for public benefit.
Energy use
Soon after the roadmap was published, St Catharine’s celebrated the installation of the first air source heat pumps on College property: three units were brought on to the St Chad’s site to power the hot water and heating supplied to two accommodation blocks known as Silver House and Belfield House. The College estimates that these new units alone will save in the region of 210,000 kW h of gas each year.
The College has continued to replace boilers powered by non-renewable energy (i.e. gas) with non-emitting solutions. With the boilers serving the postgraduate accommodation at Russell Street coming to the end of their lives, these are being replaced this summer with two commercial-sized air source heat pumps. Another air source heat pump will be installed this year to serve the accommodation at the Vicarage on South Green Road. This will mean 8.4% of our student rooms are served by air source heat pumps, and 13.6% by non-emitting energy sources.
The new air source heat pumps at the College's Russell Street property.
Looking ahead, the College has been reviewing roof space to identify opportunities for installing roof-mounted solar panels, with a view to generating some of the electricity required to power our air source heat pumps. As an initial step, planning applications were submitted in August for 114 solar panels on the roof of E/Gostlin buildings and a further 80 solar panels on the roof of the postgraduate accommodation on Russell Street.
The roofs of E/Gostlin buildings where the College intends to install 114 solar panels, subject to planning permission (credit: Cambridge Aerial Works).
The College introduced a new heating policy which committed to heating all rooms from approximately 1 October until 1 May each year, and to monitoring unusual temperature activity in September and April in case these dates need adjusting. As a result, central heating was operating for three weeks fewer than the previous academic year, reducing our gas usage by roughly 150,000 kW h.
To reduce energy consumption when the heating is on, the College piloted the installation of EyeSense units in I, J and K staircases on the main site in October 2023. These units include sensors that keep temperatures constant during periods of occupation and prevent the College heating empty rooms, for example, over vacations. Between October and April, rooms in this area of College used 17% less gas (72,138 kW h) than the same period from the year before – the only changes being the introduction of EyeSense units and the new heating policy (windows and insulation remained unchanged). The pilot will now be expanded, with units being installed in G, H and M staircases and the Silver Street Flats.
An EyeSense sensor
Purchased goods
A priority for the St Catharine’s catering team has been establishing baseline data for the ruminant meat, vegetarian and plant-based meals served in College. This information will determine what steps are needed to reach the goals outlined in the roadmap and menus will be adapted to respond to changing preferences. In readiness, eight of our chefs participated in 26 hours of training to improve their repertoire of plant-based dishes, with more training expected next year. However, there has already been a noticeable uptake in diners choosing plant-based options and the College has been able to reduce the quantity of ruminant meat purchased in response. In addition, the College continues to only purchase fish rated 1 or 2 (‘best choices’) by the Marine Conservation Society.
A dish from the plant-based formal dinner in Easter Term 2024: a poke bowl with cucumber, wild rice, pickled mooli, cabbage and sesame seeds.
Construction activities
The College remains committed to a whole carbon lifecycle approach for construction activities, considering both the embodied carbon and operational carbon emissions. Embodied carbon accounts for the emissions associated with the materials used to construct buildings, whilst operational emissions are those generated during day to day running of the building. All projects from 2024 onwards will embrace the principle of embodied carbon reduction potential.
Case study: Building new student accommodation at St Chad’s
At the start of the 2023–24 academic year, St Catharine’s students moved into Silver House and Belfield House, two new houses built on the St Chad’s site between July 2022 and September 2023. These houses created 23 additional student rooms, including two accessible rooms.
The frame of both houses was built using sustainably sourced cross-laminated timber, which has been left exposed wherever possible. This choice of material also meant a shorter construction period and less disruption for students living in nearby accommodation blocks. Meanwhile, triple-glazed windows and high-performing insulation make the new buildings efficient to heat.
Both houses include push-operated showers and fixed shower heads, primarily because these will reduce water usage by up to 80%. Additionally, these fixtures come with a 30-year guarantee, which should reduce energy consumption by avoiding the need to purchase and transport replacement parts.
Exposed timber has been left visible, as shown by this kitchen (credit: Anthony Coleman).
One of the en-suite shower rooms with fixtures that should reduce water use by up to 80% (credit: Anthony Coleman).
College travel
All College-owned vehicles have been electric since 2023 and the College maintains four electrical charging stations for use by staff and Fellows who use electric vehicles to commute. Over the last year, there have been improvements to the bicycle storage/parking offered to the St Catharine’s community: two new stores were installed at the St Chad’s site (with living/green roofs) and the racks they replaced were reused and moved to the underground store on the main site. The Cycle Working Group will continue to review facilities, with further work due on postgraduate and Fellows' facilities as well as ensuring that the underground store is water tight. The Green Working Group had productive discussions about establishing sustainable travel policies for all College-funded travel and how to incentivise reduced emissions associated with commuting by students, staff and Fellows – with both set to be priorities for the next academic year.
Waste reduction
The start of the 2023–24 academic year coincided with the nationwide ban of single use plastics. The College now uses non-plastic alternatives for disposable items, recommends reusable containers in the packing list provided in the official Freshers’ Guide, and sells reusable containers in the cafeteria and bar. So far over 200 reusable containers have been purchased from the College.
The next step will be to consider which disposable items can be phased out with the support of the St Catharine’s community. The College has also been busy gathering data to understand waste streams, establish baselines and inform the development of a waste reduction plan by December 2024.
Some of the reusable containers available at St Catharine's.
Investment
St Catharine’s commitment to ethical and other issues of social responsibility, including climate change, remains a vital component of our investment policy. The College does not and will not invest directly in companies with more than 10% of their business in the fossil fuel, arms, tobacco or gambling industries.
The College has hired investment managers with ambitious shareholder engagement goals, including those that combine divestment and engagement to good effect. The two principal equity investment funds are: The Charities Ethical Investment Fund managed by CCLA Investment Management Limited, who engage with companies to achieve positive changes in business practice and apply a number of ethical restrictions, and The Future World ESG Developed Index Fund and The Future World ESG Emerging Markets Index Fund managed by Legal & General Investment Management, who engage with companies to ensure that they integrate environmental , social and corporate governance (ESG) factors into their everyday activities. The College requires these managers to report on their voting records and how their activities support the ambition of net zero emissions by 2040.
Additionally, St Catharine’s was pleased to be among the leading institutions and trusts in UK higher education collaborating on a new effort to create a market for cash products that do not contribute to the financing of fossil fuel expansion. A collective Request for Proposals (RfP) was issued in February 2024 to financial institutions for cash products such as deposits and money market funds. The RfP is also an effort by institutions to direct funding towards the much-needed construction of renewables to accelerate the rapid energy transition away from fossil fuels, and particularly in areas where finance is a key constraint for growth, such as in low-income countries.
Community engagement & communications
The College’s Green Working Group met six times during the last academic year, with more than 30 students, staff and Fellows participating in discussions across these different meetings to support the implementation of the roadmap. The Group sought to understand and improve community engagement and communications through an online survey of students, staff and Fellows. In total, 128 members of the College community responded to a survey in February 2024 and their feedback indicated that we are halfway to the agreed goal of 85% of respondents recalling the roadmap’s target (net zero emissions by 2040). The Group is committed to doing more to raise awareness of this target and growing participation at and between its meetings in the future, and plans to track the impact of these activities when the survey is repeated in Lent Term 2025, using this year’s results as a benchmark.
The St Catharine's community drew attention our ambition of net zero emissions by 2040 by assembling in Main Court in the shape of '2040' on Earth Day (22 April 2024).
