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Sustainability

The end of the Green Impact year is upon us and to show what can be achieved we are sharing the story of the Clare Hall Green Impact team. If you would like your department or College to participate in the 2019/20 year of Green Impact, please get in touch.

Clare Hall’s report was compiled by Emily Morison and Logan Malik.

Composting

On 1 March, Clare Hall’s Graduate Student Body introduced food waste bins to seven of our College’s student houses, as part of a four-month trial of student-led composting. All eight shared student houses are now participating in the trial. A volunteer from each house is responsible for ensuring that their house’s bin is emptied regularly into the College’s communal food waste bin (student Michelle Korpan is pictured above, photograph taken by Emily Morison). This bin is then collected by the City Council. The idea of the initiative is that all students share responsibility for making the trial work. We are now over six weeks into the trial and it is proving to be a real success.

Keepcups

The College always provides china mugs for use at the coffee machine, so that disposable cups are never needed. The College recently introduced Keepcups with the Clare Hall logo, so that we will never need a disposable cup again, whether we are using the College machine or heading out for coffee!

Divestment

On 6 March 2019, Clare Hall’s Governing Body took action on climate change by formally agreeing to divest from fossil fuels. The College agreed to withdraw its direct investments in fossil fuel companies (as listed in the Carbon Underground 200) within the next three years, and to withdraw its indirect investments in fossil fuel companies within the next five years. The College also agreed to advocate for the Cambridge University Endowment Fund (CUEF) to increase the transparency of its operations, and for the CUEF to adopt a divestment policy during the funds transitory period (or until the College withdraws its assets from the CUEF). Finally, the College committed to formulating and implementing a responsible investment policy that is consistent with fossil fuel divestment (figure 1 a Divestment display in Clare Hall).

The College’s decision followed a campaign by Clare Hall Fossil Free (CHFF), a student group that formed in October 2018 to promote divestment at the College. The College saw the move as a powerful way both to reduce the College’s individual carbon emissions and to promote the worldwide transition from fossil fuels to a zero-carbon economy. The College hopes that their decision will encourage others to follow suit and acknowledge the urgent need for strong action on climate change and take similar steps to withdraw their assets from the fossil fuel industry.

Figure 1: Clare Hall Fossil Free’s divestment display

Bees!

Two years ago, the College introduced beehives to the grounds, a third hive has been added recently. The hives provide honey for use by the kitchen, and the honey has also been sold to staff as charity fundraising initiative.

The future: electric vehicles

The College is now looking at ways to promote electric vehicle use. It is considering installing two electric charging points in the underground carpark and is also looking at replacing the current maintenance team’s van with an electric vehicle.