Between November and February, 28 colleagues across City & Guilds were invited to be involved in a pilot for Carbon Literacy Training and we are delighted that all have now received their Carbon Literacy accreditation.
To be Carbon Literate means taking actionable steps towards tackling the climate emergency, feeling confident in communicating on this topic to our customers and stakeholders, and doing all that we can to mitigate the effects of climate change within our industry and community.
To become Carbon Literate our colleagues have undertaken a day of learning accredited by The Carbon Literacy Project and committed to specific actions. By the end of the training participants have gained an understanding of the basic science of climate change and how climate change will affect them, their local area, businesses, and the economy.
Participants have also gained an understanding of the carbon impacts of everyday activities and how to reduce them. They have also learned how to talk effectively and persuasively to others about climate change and pledged to take action.
Taking part in the Carbon Literacy training is important for us at City & Guilds because we can develop a greater common understanding of the climate crisis to create positive change in our organisation, industry and personal life.
“I pledge to personally build into the projects I am accountable for across the City & Guilds Foundation an awareness of carbon emissions, and carbon reductions”.
So why are action pledges important?
Everyone plays a part in the transition to a low carbon society. By pledging two actions from the training, participants are promising to take meaningful action to support the organisation’s transition to net zero.
“I pledge to research how we could embed the net zero concept into our into the global quality standards”.
Good pledges have high emissions reduction potential, are commensurate with a person’s level/sphere of influence and engage the wider community in long-term behaviour change.
“I pledge to increase the climate knowledge and skills into our future and existing qualifications and apprenticeships”.
In the follow up survey 100% of colleagues said that:
- they now understand how they can take climate action.
- want to learn more about climate change, its impacts and how we can respond to it.
- they would recommend Carbon Literacy to a colleague.
The success of the pilot means we are now scoping out the roll out of the training to all colleagues across the organisation.
“I pledge to review the carbon emissions of our cityandguilds.com website in order to establish a carbon reduction plan”.
Find out more about the steps City & Guilds is taking towards a cleaner future.