Warrington Council has been awarded a Bronze Carbon Literate Organisation by The Carbon Literacy Trust.
Carbon literacy is ‘an awareness of the carbon dioxide costs and impacts of everyday activities and the ability to reduce emissions, on an individual, community and organisational basis’.
A Carbon Literate Organisation (CLO), therefore, is an organisation that is making a substantial commitment to carbon literacy.
In 2019, Warrington Council declared a climate emergency and committed to be carbon neutral within their own operations by 2030.
The council said the accreditation awarded by The Carbon Literacy Trust is testament to the authority’s hard work to combat the climate emergency so far.
Carbon literacy training forms part of the authority’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions by educating staff on how they can make changes within their roles.
The Bronze award puts the council among several other organisations located in Warrington that are pursuing carbon literacy training, including:
- Electricity North West
- Environment Agency
- NHS Warrington Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)
- The University of Chester
- Warrington & Vale Royal College
The council is now also working towards the Silver accreditation, which requires 15% of the workforce to be certified as carbon literate, which will involve training nearly 400 local authority employees, along with meeting several other requirements.
Commenting, Warrington Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, Housing and Public Protection, Councillor Hitesh Patel said:
“We’re delighted to be joining other businesses in Warrington that have been recognised in their hard work by The Carbon Literacy Trust.
“We are now looking forward to delivering this vital training to more of the council workforce and making even more of our staff carbon literate, as well as continuing our work combatting the climate emergency in order to achieve the Silver Carbon Literate Organisation accreditation.”
Chair of Warrington's Climate Emergency Commission, Councillor David Ellis said:
“Educating staff with carbon literacy training means that not only will they be able to make greener choices in their personal lives, but they will also be in a better position to make more informed, lasting changes in every stage of their role, to make their organisation greener for years to come.
“I’d encourage any other organisations to engage with carbon literacy training and discover what climate change means for you and your business.
“We face a huge challenge that will affect every organisation in Warrington, so completing this training is a simple first step to becoming greener and committing to reduce our carbon footprint.”
PSE will be hosting a Public Sector Decarbonisation in association with Liberty Charge virtual event on 17 March 2022. Join us for the full day event by registering here.
