As a trusted Carbon Literacy Project delivery partner since 2013, Groundwork was asked by Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council to support their long-term vision of a Carbon Literate Doncaster.
Initially delivering Carbon Literacy accredited training to its Climate Champions, Doncaster Council has ambitions to roll out the training to colleagues across the Council and to their partner organisations.
Groundwork designed a tailored and accredited carbon literacy course, liaising with both the Council’s lead and the Carbon Literacy Project.
The training was delivered over three 2-hour sessions using Zoom. By using short online sessions Groundwork consultants addressed the difficulties often faced in maintaining engagement when delivering training remotely, enabling the participants to work together in-between sessions; fostering team working and peer support.
Where appropriate, Doncaster examples were threaded through the environmental training course. In addition, participants were supported to commit to two significant carbon reduction actions as part of their submission for accreditation, one as an individual and another as part of a group. These included:
‘Replacing all double glazing in my own property’
‘Reduce flying to a maximum of 2 round-trips a year – within this commitment, I pledge to take the train as much as possible on international trips and to offset the carbon emissions of the maximum of 4 flights that I do take’
‘Ditch the plug-in phone charger and utilise a solar charger for mobile phones’
All fourteen participants who started the course completed it and were successful in gaining the Carbon Literacy accreditation. The group included colleagues from the Council, Environment Agency and Doncaster Chamber.
