The Queen's College Record 2023

Reports and College Activities
in relation to its investments and we have been notably reluctant to succumb to the
ESG fund industry. This is not, however, to imply that we are not doing sustainable
things with the endowment: on our farms we are either already running or looking
to develop various renewable energy schemes—from an anaerobic digester to
composting, from battery storage to solar parks. The pace of this work is likely
to increase, and we are very open to commercially sensible proposals.
The bigger financial worry prompted by sustainability is the prospect of improving the
College’s own energy performance. We are in the very early stages of a considerable
project to assess what can be done (and at what level of cost and disruption).
Difficult decisions lie ahead for the Governing Body on this front: at one end of the
spectrum, there is a view that expensive upgrades—heating, insulation, glazing, and
so on—have to be undertaken (at almost any cost) and can simply be justified morally
in terms of a wide duty to the planet; others worry about the diversion of charitable
funds away from their proper purposes. Striking a balance is far from easy.
36 The Queen’s College | College Record 2023