Mansfield’s environmental commitments
At Mansfield College we take our environmental responsibilities seriously – recognising the impact that even small organisations such as ours can have on sustainability. We’ve agreed an ambitious set of targets: to become carbon neutral and achieve a net gain in biodiversity by 2030.
Eco-friendly initiatives
For many years, the College has pursued eco-friendly initiatives, including the introduction of energy-saving heating and electrical appliances, water-saving toilets, biodegradable catering supplies, meat-free Mondays, and garden renovations. We now seek to take these further by mainstreaming our environmental targets into College decision-making processes.
Environmental working group
The College Strategy approved by our Governing Body urges us ‘to run our college in an environmentally and financially sustainable and ethical way, and our operations and investments are undertaken with due consideration of and respect for good environmental and human rights standards.’ As such, and as also requested by the College’s Junior and Middle Common Rooms, we’ve established a dedicated working group to develop and implement a comprehensive environmental sustainability strategy.
As a College, Mansfield always strives to pursue an inclusive and community-focused approach. Our Environmental Sustainability Working Group meets regularly to collaborate, drawing on the wealth of expertise and experience within Mansfield and Oxford, and has a balanced membership of students, academics, and support staff. Recognising that it’s impossible to separate environmental sustainability from social responsibility, the working group will ensure they take account of this when working towards our environmental goals.
Biodiversity audit
In the summer of 2021, Mansfield took part in the Conference of Colleges organised audit of the biodiversity, looking at the main College site. The report is available to read below.
Environmental strategy
Mansfield’s environmental working group are also creating a comprehensive Environmental Sustainability Strategy to submit to the College’s Governing Body, setting out how to deliver our environmental targets.
The strategy will include:
- energy
- biodiversity
- buildings
- resources
- food
- travel
- education
- facilitation
