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Earlier this month, people from all corners of Manchester gathered to launch a brand-new initiative – Manchester Carbon Literate City (MCLC).

With cross-sector conversations between representatives from highly engaged Carbon Literate Organisations (CLOs) and Carbon Literacy Training Organisations (CLTOs) to leaders of local organisations completely new to Carbon Literacy, this evening was intended to introduce and inspire catalytic and collaborative change – essential to becoming a registered Carbon Literate Locality, and the first Carbon Literate City by 2027.

This will require 15% of the city’s population to be certified by the deadline, an ambitious but achievable 85,349 people!

Manchester is definitely up to the challenge, with over 10,000 people already certified, and 150 organisations engaged in Carbon Literacy. Now that the initiative has been launched, we expect these numbers to grow quickly, reflecting the city’s commitment.

With such an ambitious target, this is an exciting vehicle for cultural change, encouraging cross-sector collaboration and carbon-reducing innovation.

Cllr Tracey Rawlins gave a moving speech, urging that, “What really matters here is not the title itself but what it will mean in terms of the number of individuals and organisations who are aware of the issues and the positive actions they can take to help address them.

The city can only reach its zero carbon goals through collective local, regional and national effort. Having a more informed and engaged population is an important step.”

During the event, our co-founder and Director of Advocacy Phil Korbel interviewed representatives from Auto Trader, People Place Planet Didsbury, and Greater Manchester Arts Sustainability Team (GMAST), who spoke about their vision and enthusiasm for this project, and how they are already training their people to be Carbon Literate.

We hope that this enthusiasm will extend to other localities, as we establish the new Carbon Literate Localities accreditation.

If you are interested either in supporting the MCLC initiative or taking this into your own locality, please get in touch!

For MCLC: MCLC@carbonliteracy.com

For CLL: CLL@carbonliteracy.com