‘Carbon Literacy’ is the understanding of the causes and impacts of our everyday greenhouse gas emissions. This fundamental awareness offers a starting point for making bigger changes in the way we tackle the climate emergency individually, in our workplaces and in our communities. It’s about different voices speaking the same language, about people participating in decisions that impact the world around them, and about co-creating bigger climate solutions.
If you want to read or listen to a couple of inspiring examples about Carbon Literacy projects, look below. If you are already involved in something similar, then jump here if you want to do something bigger.
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Step forward with Carbon Literacy
The Carbon Literacy Project
From the start, The Carbon Literacy Project has been designed to be a big collaborative project. It’s an ambitious initiative that involves people and organisations from all sectors and walks of life, contributing time and working together, to advance understanding and wider action on climate change. The Carbon Literacy Project trains trainers to deliver carbon literacy courses, accredits learning materials and certifies all the participants following successful completion of their course – which covers the basics of climate change science, impact of our actions and what we can do to help. The movement is growing rapidly as more people participate, with more than 800 courses already designed; 8,000 organisations engaged; and 100,000 people certified as Carbon Literate. And the impact of this widening community engagement is tangible – 400,000 tonnes of carbon emissions have been saved to date by the resulting actions.
Manchester Carbon Literate City
When enough of us join together with a shared purpose, we reach a social tipping point and things can change exponentially. This is the phenomenon behind Manchester’s aim of becoming the UK’s first Carbon Literate Locality, where 15% of the population will be formally certified as carbon literate. The initiative is co-ordinated by Manchester City Council and involves an exciting range of organisations across the public, private and third sectors. The target is bold: an eight-fold increase in the 10,500 people from 160 organisations across Manchester that are already carbon literate. So too is the intended outcome: a culture shift across the city, as groups and organisations publicly show their commitment behind bigger changes towards a more welcoming and liveable city.
From Carbon Literacy to climate collaboration
It’s about much more than a training programme. A shared understanding of our collective impact locally on climate and nature can mark the beginning of something new. By engaging the wider community, and giving more people a louder voice and agency, we are better able to shape the places where we live to serve the needs of all. Although people may not agree with everything that comes out of an organisation’s or area climate action plan, the cross-sector collaboration and community building that happens through this process is in itself a key factor in adapting to our changing climate and building resilience.
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Inspiration listen
Do Something Bigger
What would inspire you to do something bigger for climate and nature? In this, the first episode of the Carbon Copy Podcast series, Do Something Bigger, we introduce our year-long campaign: 25…
Do something bigger
Are you considering Carbon Literacy training for your organisation? Is there an opportunity for more public participation in decision-making locally, as a way to break logjams and create some momentum? Are you interested in bringing people together in other ways so they can collaborate on local action? Here are a couple of things you can do:
Organise Carbon Literacy training
The Carbon Literacy Project and its partners have developed a growing range of sector courses and materials with specific audiences in mind, making them easier and simpler to use. For example, there are bespoke courses for community groups, local authorities, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), as well as by industry sectors such as healthcare, education, food and hospitality. The carbon literacy training itself is provided by a variety of trainers and organisations, and can be done in-person or online. There’s a new Community Toolkit as well as a free kit to create your own course. Head over to The Carbon Literacy Project for more information and to take the next step.
Make the case for public participation in decision-making
A community assembly is a group of people who are brought together in order to move forward collectively on a critical issue such as climate action, through a process of deliberation and decision making. Involving different members of the community is widely accepted as an effective tool for building public trust, generating new and more inclusive solutions, and accelerating bigger changes. It’s much better to get people involved in some of the difficult decisions about moving to a low-carbon economy and lifestyle, so all of us become part of the solution. And the good news is that engaging your community is a virtuous circle, as better-informed participants lead the drive for better quality engagement which in turn supports the efforts to improve engagement.
Run your own community assembly
In addition to speaking with people who have run community assemblies in other locations, such as the Hay-on-Wye Resilience Initiative, there a several amazing support organisations to consider. Trust the People is a movement of community builders focused on building deliberative democracy from the ground up. They offer a free online education course that takes you through different aspects of community building, from connecting with people one-to-one to running community assemblies. Humanity Project is run by a group of people who have had success in many fields – from social and environmental movements to politics and Black communities – who support different communities in making better collective decisions and provide training for hosting assemblies. Community At Work is a consulting firm that specialises in participatory approaches to big changes and they have published a very useful Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making.
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