We are delighted to announce that we have been accredited as a Bronze Carbon Literate Organisation by the UN-recognised Carbon Literacy Project. This prestigious accreditation recognises our commitment to upskill our staff to play a proactive role in reducing our organisational carbon emissions, and work towards a zero carbon future.

Carbon Literacy is defined as, “An awareness of the carbon dioxide costs and impacts of everyday activities, and the ability and motivation to reduce emissions, on an individual, community and organisational basis," and revolves around a day's worth of learning and action on climate change.

Our Carbon Literacy training programme was developed and delivered by Walker Resource Management.

To become accredited as a Bronze Carbon Literate Organisation, we trained 22 members of staff from across 11 departments in Carbon Literacy, as well as the Leader of the Council. As a result, trainees have pledged to make a number of changes at home and in the workplace as a result of the knowledge they have gained from the training. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Reducing or eliminating meat consumption
• Opting for more sustainable modes of transport to commute to work, such as by bicycle, train and car sharing
• Accelerating the Council's commitment to make committee meetings paper-free
• Reducing and eventually removing paper cups from the office environment
• Working to establish multiple public engagement events per year to give local councils, businesses and the public the opportunity to engage with the Council on climate change matters, as well as receive guidance and support

Being accredited as a Bronze Carbon Literate Organisation is an important achievement for us because it:

• Supports our officers to collaborate in identifying and implementing opportunities for carbon reduction on an individual and organisational scale.
• Demonstrates our commitment to maintaining a low-carbon organisational culture.
• Enables us to drive faster action on climate change.
• Sets a positive example of sustainability leadership in Stratford District and beyond.

Over the next 12 months, we are aiming to expand our offer to staff for Carbon Literacy Training, and train up to 100 additional staff. This will allow us to make an application to the Carbon Literacy Project to become a Silver accredited organisation in 2027.