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BASF in the UK Accredited as Carbon Literate

February 2020 by Tony Heslop

BASF is the first Carbon Literate Organisation in the UK chemical sector. Working with The Carbon Literacy Project, BASF has developed an accredited, company-specific course which allows participants to be certified as ‘Carbon Literate’.

Carbon management is a key topic for BASF. “It’s essential for the world’s leading chemical company to take a lead on this,” said Sustainability Director Dr Geoff Mackey. “It is important to give our customers, partners and colleagues the knowledge to be able to reduce their own carbon footprint and that of BASF.”

The Carbon Literacy Project, a Manchester-based non-profit organisation, provides a standardised and accredited approach to Carbon Literacy education involving a full day of learning, with a commitment to action as part of the output.

The Carbon Literacy training course involves learning about greenhouse gases and their impacts, how the climate is changing and what that means for individuals and society. It then looks at the various choices that we all have in our everyday lives and how different choices may reduce the greenhouse gases we produce. At the end of the course, each
participant commits to at least two impactful actions – one to reduce their personal carbon footprint and the other to reduce their organisation’s carbon footprint.

BASF joins 38 other leading companies that have been accredited by The Carbon Literacy Project as having a substantial commitment to Carbon Literacy. Accreditation supports the development (and recruitment and retention) of a Carbon Literate workforce and requires an organisation to engage positively with its audience or community in developing and delivering low carbon behaviour. BASF is committed to delivering its Carbon Literacy programme and will continue to work through the higher levels of Carbon Literacy accreditation.

“We feel that the challenge of climate change needs to be addressed now,” said Richard Carter, BASF’s Managing Director in the UK & Ireland. “Carbon Literacy helps our employees to make better decisions to reduce the production of greenhouse gases. Each individual action adds up to a much bigger effect, which is why feel that Carbon Literacy education is essential.”

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