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”, and a Carbon Literate Organisation (CLO), therefore, is an organisation that is making a substantial commitment to Carbon Literacy.

In 2019, the council declared a Climate Emergency and committed to be carbon neutral within their own operations by 2030. The accreditation awarded by The Carbon Literacy Trust is testament to the council’s hard work to combat the Climate Emergency so far.

Carbon literacy training forms part of the council’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 The University of Chester, Environment Agency, NHS Warrington Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), Warrington & Vale Royal College and Electricity North West.

The council is now also working towards the Silver accreditation, which requires even further commitment to Carbon Literacy. The Silver accreditation requires 15% of the workforce to be certified as carbon literate, which will involve training nearly 400 council employees, along with meeting several other requirements.

Warrington Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, Cllr 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.”

Cllr David Ellis, chair of Warrington's Climate Emergency Commission, 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.”

For more information about the Climate Emergency and what is being done in Warrington, visit warrington.gov.uk/climate-emergency.

For more information about The Carbon Literacy Trust, visit carbonliteracy.com.