Increasing carbon literacy within the workplace

What is Clear About Carbon?

Financed by the European Social Fund (ESF) Convergence Programme for delivery in Cornwall, Clear About Carbon is a three-year project that aims to find new ways to increase carbon literacy within businesses and the public sector.

Clear About Carbon is working closely with a number of Cornish SMEs and organisations to determine what works, and what doesn’t, when it comes to communicating with staff about climate change and the business opportunities that a low-carbon economy could offer.

By delivering outreach and training programmes to staff within the county, from Cornwall Council to Trewithen Dairy, the team is drawing valuable conclusions from its work with practitioners.

Using these insights, along with qualitative and quantitative research, the pathfinder project’s findings will be summarised in a report in March 2012, which will aim to inform future policy making at both UK and European levels.

In 2011 we were awarded an ESF Sustainable Development Specialist Project Leader Award.

Who’s behind Clear About Carbon?

The ESF Convergence project is run by South West-based organisations that specialise in communicating green issues and delivering business training:

• Eden Project
• University of Exeter Business School and Centre for Leadership Studies
• Cornwall Development Company
• Duchy College Rural Business School
  
  Read our profiles
  
  

How is the project engaging with organisations in Cornwall?

Engaging Cornwall on low-carbon issuesThe team is experimenting with different ways to encourage organisations to drive down their carbon impact, taking a two-pronged approach:

Working with suppliers

Raising awareness amongst staff and senior management within Cornish businesses, particularly in the construction, transport, and food and farming sector, about the need to provide low-carbon products and services to public sector organisations.

• Participants include dairy producer Rodda’s, food distributor Chaffins, infrastructure service provider May Gurney and Trewithen Dairy. Read about how we've worked with Trewithen Dairy.

Working with buyers

Advising the county’s public and voluntary sector on how to integrate low-carbon considerations into their purchasing policies – for everything from school buses to heating in care homes to building services.

• Participants include the Eden Project, Cornwall Council, Cornwall and Devon Police, and Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly NHS Trust. Read our case studies.

Events and exhibits

Clear About Carbon hosted Cornwall’s first sustainable construction conference, Green Build, in April 2011. A second event, Carbon Matters, is scheduled for October 2011.

• At Green Build, Cornwall Council broke new ground by publicly announcing their intention to introduce new sustainable procurement targets, sending out a clear message to suppliers countywide.
  

Field trips and exchanges

Clear About Carbon has developed a transnational partnership with Sweden’s low-carbon region of Gothenburg.

• Duchy College Rural Business School arranged a field trip to Sweden, where Cornish farmers learnt about anaerobic digestion and low-carbon agriculture.