The department has 36 solar panels on the roof! We also aim to keep the temperature in the building at 21C in the winter to reduce our energy consumption for heating.

We don't have a garden, but have introduced planters, bee houses and bird boxes in our car park. 

The department has recycling bins alongside general waste bins on every floor. In addition, the ground floor kitchen area has food waste bins - please use these and do not put organic waste into the general waste bins. 

The department uses Waste2Taste for the majority of its event catering.  The company is committed to reducing food waste by using high quality surplus food. All catering from Waste2Taste is vegetarian and vegan. Oat and soy milk is available alongside diary milk.

The University's travel policy recognises that some travel is necessary for learning, teaching, and research, but that we all have a part to play in reducing the environmental impact of our activities. The travel policy

• encourages virtual alternatives to travel 
• encourages a shift from flights to rail 
• aims to eliminate 20% of flights by 2024/25 
• charges a flight levy on University business travel

International Travel Case Study - Use the train, not a plane

In November 2023, two members of the stats department set off on an overland adventure from London to Bologna to attend a conference. Whilst we knew that it would take longer than just hopping on a flight, we had chosen to make the trip by train to minimise the environmental impact of the journey. One online calculator (https://www.goclimate.com/gb/travel-calculator) suggests that travelling the approximately 3000 KM return trip by train, instead of flying, reduced our CO2 emissions from 750kg CO2 down to 99kg CO2 each.

The journey started with a 7am departure from London St Pancras. When you factor in getting to London and check-in time, I will admit that this did mean setting a fairly early alarm clock! We departed on time and arrived in Paris just over 2 hours later. The next step was to hop across Paris from the Eurostar terminal at Gare du Nord to Gare de Lyon from where our next train departed. This is just 3 stops on the light rail system (RER) and will feel familiar to anyone that has used the London Underground. At Gare du Lyon we climbed aboard the TGV and settled down for the 4-hour journey to Zurich. A slight delay whilst onboard this train meant that we missed our connection at Zurich.  But not to worry, as international travel within Europe is protected by “CIV” rules which mean that if your train is delayed you can usually travel on the next available train free of charge  (https://help.raileurope.co.uk/article/41714-what-happens-if-i-miss-my-connection). After popping in to the ticket office to have our tickets validated for the change of train, we were off again. This change to our schedule did mean that we had to make one additional connection, but these all went to plan and we arrived safely in Bologna ready for the conference to begin the next day.

There’s no getting away from the fact that Bologna is a long way from London. We had chosen to do the journey in one day, which meant spending over 12 hours on the train. Many other European destinations can be reached in much shorter times and for longer journeys there are options to split the journey by spending a night somewhere en route (https://www.seat61.com/european-train-travel.htm). Whilst 12 hours onboard a train may sound gruelling to anyone that is used to UK train travel, I have taken many a train trip across Europe and it is generally a very relaxing and enjoyable experience. The trains are modern and comfortable and provide an ideal location to get some work done during transit, with refreshments and WiFi generally readily available onboard. Arriving by train also means that you arrive in the centre of your destination, rather than in an airport some distance outside of the city.

Finally, if the environmental benefits of train travel aren’t enough to make you consider train travel for your next work trip to Europe, perhaps the spectacular scenery that we enjoyed whilst travelling through the Alps on a winter’s day might help persuade you.

The department encourages travel to work and study by walking, cycling and public transport. We have secure bike parking on site, and a bike pump available for use (available to borrow from reception). 

The University's cycle pages details further support for cyclists, including:

• Free Bikeability courses
• The bicycle loan scheme
• Mobile mechanic sessions
• Discounted lights and locks

The bus pass scheme offers 10%   off the cost of travel on particular routes run by Oxfordshire bus companies.

Here are some of the more recent events and activities the Statistics Green Team has organised or taken part in.

 Green Action Week Coffee Morning and Plant Swap - 20 February 2024

Green Action Week is a yearly event to empower and celebrate environmental action. The event was a success with many conversations on plants and the maintenance of plants in general, discussions on current actions of the Green Team, and next steps we could take as a department to be more sustainable.