The Carbon Literacy Project began work over a decade ago to help people around the UK and the world to get to grips with the climate emergency, and feel empowered to do something about it. Founded in Manchester, the project has now certified over 140,000 Carbon Literate citizens globally, reaching people in their workplaces, through community organisations and in educational settings as well.

To become Carbon Literate, individuals undergo an eight-hour training course, where they learn about the science behind climate change, the real-world impacts; and most importantly, how they can take action. There are over 900 different accredited courses to date, each one tailored to be specifically relevant to a sector or group; but all with the fundamental purpose of creating engaged and motivated citizens who will go on to share their learning with others.

Co-founder Phil Korbel and Education and Localities Advocacy Consultant Linda Foley joined Isabelle Sparrow on the latest episode of the Carbon Copy Podcast, titled Engage Your Community. Released today, Thursday 9 October, the episode comes a year after the announcement of the next ambitious phase for The Carbon Literacy Project: the goal of making Manchester the world’s first Carbon Literate City.

Linda explained:

“Manchester City Council was an early adopter of Carbon Literacy, and the first local authority in the UK to gain Silver, and now Gold Carbon Literate Organisation status. We’ve seen the huge impact that Carbon Literacy has had on the staff, and the whole ethos of the council, and we could see that having everyone Carbon Literacy trained was really powerful.

“There are people now who have become advocates for climate action, and who are now influencing change outside of their roles at the council, and this is the effect that we want to replicate and spread across the whole city.

“We know from social science around behaviour change that once 15% of a population is on board, you reach a tipping point; so our goal is for 15% of the resident population of Manchester, around 82,000 people, to be Carbon Literate by 2027.”

Phil added:

“It’s an exponential thing. When people see those around them – those that are like them and share the same background and values – taking action, they are inclined to do so as well. For us, peer-to-peer delivery is key. The last thing that most people want in the room is some beardy, worthy environmentalist person preaching at them. That's terrible! You want people like yourself, talking about their own experience and what they can do.”

The Carbon Literacy Project has been working closely with Carbon Copy throughout this year on the campaign “25 Big Local Actions in 2025.” The campaign aims to highlight different ways people can come together to take collective action for climate and nature in the place where they live or work. Isabelle explains more:

“We are living in challenging times and whilst we know that the vast majority of people are concerned about the state of the climate and nature; often they have competing priorities and are unsure what they can do to make a difference. This year we’ve been sharing 25 different ways that people can take action, and we think there is definitely at least one that is relevant to everyone.

“We’re currently focusing on the action ‘Engage Your Community,’ and one of the best ways you can do that is through Carbon Literacy. When we talk about community we mean lots of different things: people who are connected by interests, professions, religious beliefs or geographic location. To deliver the training you don’t have to be an expert – just someone who is Carbon Literate yourself and can apply your learnings to help others in your community understand how this is relevant to them.”

Carbon Copy co-founder, Ric Casale, added:

“We’re really excited to be working with The Carbon Literacy Project and to support their ambition to make Manchester the first Carbon Literate City.

As with all the 25 Big Local Actions, this approach could and should be copied to create an even bigger positive impact! Our hope is that this incredible example of community engagement will be one that is replicated in places around the UK and beyond.”

One year in, the Manchester Carbon Literate City initiative has already hit some impressive numbers, with 15,000 from 176 different organisations across the city trained so far. The Carbon Literacy Project team are now hoping that more organisations, including businesses, public sector and schools, will follow in the footsteps of Manchester City Council and add Carbon Literacy to part of their mandatory training. The exponential growth of Carbon Literacy around the world (almost two-thirds of those 140,000+ Carbon Literate citizens were trained in the last three years) indicates a similar trajectory is possible within the city of Manchester. Phil said:

“The ball is rolling now and it’s unstoppable. It's not just for the ‘green’ people, it's for everyone. You join an organisation and you get your health and safety, data protection, diversity, inclusion, Carbon Literacy. It's just there and it's normal and everyone's in. And it spreads. Anyone who has done the training can lead the training, so there are thousands of people who are now able to engage their communities and create even more action and the power of that is immense.”

The Carbon Literacy Project is keen to work with more organisations both in Manchester and beyond to support them with becoming Carbon Literate and Carbon Copy is supporting them along the way. To learn more about how to get involved, how to engage your community with Carbon Literacy, and to listen to the podcast episode, visit https://carboncopy.eco/takeaction/engage-your-community.

-ENDS-

Notes to editors

For more information, comments or to request interviews please contact Isabelle Sparrow, Head of Communications at Carbon Copy: 07766375192 / isabelle@carboncopy.eco

About Carbon Copy

We believe the fastest way to create change is to share it. We tap into a powerful truth: copying is human nature. When action is visible and easy to replicate, it spreads.

89 percent of people want climate action. So most of the people around you feel the same way as you! This isn’t about one big solution. It’s about people stepping in, inspired by what others have done and copying what works.

Carbon Copy offers a place to join in: a national collection of climate action stories from across the UK; place-by-place climate and nature plans; a popular podcast and blog about collective action; and capacity building for organisations across public, private and third sectors.

https://carboncopy.eco

About The Carbon Literacy Project

Carbon Literacy:

Carbon Literacy (CL) is “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.”

It is delivered by testing and certifying successful individuals as Carbon Literate after they have participated in a day’s worth of learning and action.

The Carbon Literacy Project: (www.carbonliteracy.com)

The Carbon Literacy Project (CLP) was created and founded in 2011 and launched publicly in November 2012.

Note: ‘Carbon Literacy’ and the ‘Carbon Literacy Project’ logo (including the use of text, the speech bubble and the style of imagery including people) are registered trademarks®.

In general usage and specifically within copy, the term Carbon Literacy is correctly capitalised as a noun: It is therefore “Carbon Literacy” not “carbon literacy”.

The Project's Brand Guidelines covering usage of Carbon Literacy terminology and imagery are available at https://carbonliteracy.com/our-brand-guidelines

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