King’s Reduces Carbon Footprint Through Carbon Literacy Training Initiative

In early June 2024, 42 students and staff from King’s took part in a workshop aimed at educating and inspiring people to reduce both their personal and organisational carbon footprints.

The Carbon Literacy training workshop, run by King’s Climate & Sustainability and entitled Carbon Literacy Training, saw attendees learn about the carbon costs and impacts of everyday activities, and pledge actions to make significant changes – both in their personal lives and on a collective level.

Carbon Literacy means being aware of the impact of everyday activities on the climate, knowing what steps can be taken to reduce emissions and why it’s important that we all take these steps.

Structured as six modules spread over the day, the workshop ran through topics including ‘Climate change basics’, ‘A zero carbon world’, and ‘Influencing others’ to provide a holistic and thorough approach to sustainability awareness.

Participants particularly enjoyed the training for its interactive approach, which includes discussions, quizzes, short presentations and games to help prepare them for creating lasting and significant pledges.

Some of these pledges included:

• To stop buying first-hand clothes from fast fashion brands, only investing in the occasional expensive item from sustainable, slow fashion brands.
• To reduce car usage – opting to walk or cycle or use public transport if the weather is bad or the journey is lengthy.
• To install solar panels at home to reduce the use of a generator which requires fossil fuels to power.
• To purchase only organic, seasonal produce, to reduce the carbon miles and environmental degradation caused by food.

A participant of the course said:

I had a fantastic day considering what we can do about climate change, with staff and students at the Carbon Literacy training. Of course, there’s no simple answer to climate change, but I’ve never felt more hopeful about the impact of our collective actions. A huge thank you to the King’s Climate & Sustainability team for making us all feel like we can make a difference.

Course participant

The training was delivered by King’s Climate & Sustainability as part of King’s ambitions to achieve net zero emissions.

Jone de Roode Jauregi, Senior Engagement Officer at King’s Climate & Sustainability, said:

This training is an important step in creating a net zero future for our University and its community. We were thrilled to be able to reach so many staff and students from a range of disciplines, and are very excited by the potential to carry out further trainings and engage with even more people on such an important topic. Understanding the role and impact of carbon emissions is a vital step in helping us reach our emissions targets, across our community as well as on a societal level.

Jone de Roode Jauregi, Senior Engagement Officer at King’s Climate & Sustainability

Harnessing the accredited, award-winning training programme offered by The Carbon Literacy Project (using the toolkit developed by Manchester Metropolitan University) provided an important opportunity not only to reach people from across the King’s community, but for those who have achieved certification to become facilitators themselves; creating a ripple effect of positive awareness, understanding and action on the climate crisis.