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After another amazing year of Carbon Literacy, June 12^th marked our sixth annual Carbon Literate Organisation (CLO) Awards. This year, we celebrated 84 new organisations across sectors including Healthcare, Local Authorities, Culture and many more. The ceremony highlighted the vast range of organisations utilising Carbon Literacy as an essential engagement tool within their sustainability strategies.

The buzz in Contact Theatre was amplified by the rare but radiant Manchester sunshine. Around 200 attendees from Carbon Literate Organisations as far afield as Uganda, as well as Carbon Literacy Consultants, and Project Partners started the evening swapping stories about their experiences with Carbon Literacy.

The ceremony kicked off with a warm welcome from Carbon Literacy Project Co-Founders, Phil Korbel and Dave Coleman, and a special message recorded by UK Secretary of State for Net Zero and Energy Security, Ed Miliband, congratulating this year’s Carbon Literate Organisations for their role in the clean energy transition.

Bronze Awards

The first Awardees to be celebrated were the 48 new organisations that have achieved Bronze CLO status. A video displayed the wonderful breadth of actions that have been taken by these organisations, including the notable work of:

• Richmond and Wandsworth Councils, which together have trained over 100 staff across
  their teams and multi-departmental groups.
• St Barbe Museum and Art Gallery, which has successfully trained 83% of their staff and trustees since launching their Environmental Responsibility Programme in 2023.
• The British Library, which following CL training, has initiated a project between their estates and collection management teams seeking to reduce energy and carbon whilst enhancing the conservation practices used to preserve their collections.

Our Bronze Awardees celebrating!

Silver Awards

This year saw 23 new organisations take the next step to achieve their Silver CLO Award. Particularly impressive work from our Silver CLOs includes:

• AG Communications, which has developed a ‘Digital Clean-Up Toolkit’ to help inform others about the impact of unwanted data storage.
• Community Leisure UK, which has worked to develop Shareable CL Courses for Charities and Social Enterprises also looking to increase CL across their staff teams.
• Bryt Energy, which is the first renewable electricity supplier to reach Silver CLO status and has developed a CL course for the renewable energy sector.
• Transport for London, which to date has trained more than 5,200 colleagues, and has formed an in-house group of trainers and experts to deliver to their peers.

International CLOs Highlight

As the Project’s reach expands globally, this year we wanted to recognise the outstanding work of our international CLOs. There are now an astounding 16 International CLOs, reaching from the Channel Islands, to Spain and Germany, and as far as Dubai and Uganda.

This year, 4 new international CLOs were awarded:

• In Good Company (USA)
• North Queensland Bulk Ports Corporation (Australia)
• NORR (Canada)
• Climate Hub (Uganda)

A highlight of the night was hearing from Clinton Mawanda, the Director of Business & Enterprise at Climate Hub, reflecting on the power of Carbon Literacy in community development.

Clinton Mawanda

Dr Matt Winning

Following a brief interval, the hilarious Dr Matt Winning took to the stage to restart the celebrations. Winning is a Climate Change Comedian and Environmental Economist, whose humour brings levity to the often overwhelming climate conversation. Highlighting the impacts of climate change from rising sea levels to the shrinking size of chips – it was certainly a Winning performance for our attendees!

Dr. Matt Winning

Gold Awards

Next, it was time to celebrate our 7 new Gold CLOs for this year’s cohort. Notable achievements to highlight were:

• Manchester City Council, which has now had 4,112 Staff and Elected Members participate in CL training, and in September 2024, launched the Manchester Carbon Literate City initiative with a target of 15% of people belonging to Manchester (85,349 people) being Carbon Literate by 2027.
• Ellard, which now has 93% of their staff Carbon Literate and has seen a 70.4% reduction from 2022 to 2024 across scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions.

Platinum Awards

The final awardees of the night were our 3 new Platinum CLOs: EAUC, Walker Resource Management, and Copart. In achieving their Platinum CLO status, these organisations have demonstrated a commitment to CL initiatives not only within their own organisations, but have also shown themselves to be industry leaders in climate engagement.

• EAUC has made CL a part of their core learning and development offer and has run over 40 training sessions in the last 4 years, seeing 670 people trained. CL has become a mandatory part of the EAUC staff induction process and The Carbon Literacy Project has been invited to exhibit at their Annual Conference each year.
• Walker Resource Management have trained upwards of 1000 people in Carbon Literacy. They have successfully reduced their carbon footprint from 21.75tCO2e in 2022 to 19.45tCO2e in 2023, and have a target to hit net zero by 2045.

The final Platinum CLO to be awarded was none other than the sponsor for this year’s Awards, Copart. Copart is an online salvage and used vehicle auction platform. They specialise in selling vehicles, including cars, motorcycles, and other types of vehicles, on behalf of insurance companies, fleet and lease companies, and other trade sellers. In reaching Platinum CLO status, Copart has:

• Trained over 80% of their organisation.
• Initiated projects sparked by ideas generated during CL training, including fuel efficiency and recycled tyre initiatives.
• Saved an estimated £22,000 annually from initiatives implemented following training.
• Offered CL training to their customers and partners.

Read more about Copart’s journey to Platinum CLO.

Copart’s director of strategy, Mark Godfrey, took to the stage to receive their Platinum Award, and left us with these inspiring words;

“Carbon Literacy has given us an awakening, showing our employees the impact they can have as individuals.”

Mark Godfrey & Phil Korbel

Whether it’s scope 3 emissions reductions or sector-wide CL rollouts, our CLOs’ stories show what’s possible when Carbon Literacy becomes part of an organisation’s DNA. Once again, the night reminded us that momentous action can be achieved when passionate individuals pull together to push for change.

A huge thank you to Contact Theatre, Manchester Food Factory, and Copart for their contributions to making this such a successful night.

Want to secure your spot at next year’s CLO Awards? Find out more about Carbon Literate Organisation accreditation.