St Antony’s tops The Climate League of Oxford and Cambridge rankings 2023

The Climate League of Oxford and Cambridge (CLOC) has just released its 2023 ranking of Oxford colleges. We are pleased that St Antony’s has come out at the top of the list of Oxford Colleges this year, with a score of 59% out of 100% on CLOC’s marking scheme.

We are working together at St Antony’s to reduce our impact on the natural environment, manage resources that we do impact in a sustainable way, and conserve and enhance biodiversity across our site. We have identified the areas in which our negative impact on the environment is greatest and, through this, agreed to initially target greenhouse gas reductions in three priority areas: energy use and reliance on gas, food, and travel. You can find out more about our sustainability goals and progress on the website here: Sustainability at St Antony’s

Warden, Professor Roger Goodman is keen that St Antony’s reaches reach net-zero emissions as soon as practically possible, and acknowledges the commitment and enthusiasm of the College community in working towards this ambition:

I am proud of our progress so far, and this is down to staff, students, and Fellows working together to make change. An early priority for our newly appointed Environmental Sustainability Officer will be to establish clear timelines for achieving net zero carbon and biodiversity net gain. We are committed to making the College a more sustainable place to live and work.

Dr Ellen MacDonald, our newly appointed Environmental Sustainability Officer was pleased that CLOC has recognised the hard work St Antony’s has undertaken to improve environmental sustainability within the College. She commented:

All the colleges face a huge challenge to reduce carbon emissions and increase biodiversity. My role as Environmental Sustainability Officer is a new one for St Antony’s, and I’m excited to be working for a college that has already committed a lot of time and effort to its sustainability goals. I hope to keep up this momentum as we carry out our Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Plan.

The CLOC ranking is primarily based on a questionnaire sent to every college in addition to publicly available information. The best-performing colleges have clear and publicly available sustainability documents and have taken meaningful steps such as divesting from fossil fuels.

Oxford University launched its environmental sustainability strategy in 2021, setting targets of net zero carbon and net gain in biodiversity, both by 2035. The Oxford Student Union recently launched a set of Sustainability Demands for colleges in recognition that, as separate entities, they are not included in the central university’s strategy.