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On the 1st of November we held the first-ever Carbon Literacy Action Day, and wow – what a day it was!

The Action Day was the first mass climate education training event of its kind, where we witnessed learners from all walks of life, sectors, genders, ages and nations, all around the world, complete their days’ worth of Carbon Literacy training to become certified as Carbon Literate.

Uncoincidentally, November 1st also saw Day One of the historic 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP26. With COP26 being held so close to home in Glasgow UK, we wanted to do something special to commemorate the day and set the following two weeks of climate talks off to a positive and action-led start. And so, while world leaders gathered in Glasgow, our learners took action.

Onto the results…

In total, an astounding 502 individuals took part in Carbon Literacy training on November 1st and became officially certified as Carbon Literate – a great success for our first-ever Action Day! This total figure is both important and astonishing to us, as it’s only in recent months that we have begun certifying up to 1,000 learners per month. So, to achieve just over half of this number in a single day is truly remarkable.

As a result of their certification and developed understanding of climate change, 1,004 actions were pledged by learners to tackle the climate crisis by reducing their carbon footprints and taking action to influence others in both their personal and professional lives.

The Scale of our audience

The breadth of the Action Day is evident through the diversity of the organisations and individuals that took part and the many locations that training took place all around the world, including England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Croatia, Australia and Guatemala.

During our Action Day Webinar, held live throughout the day from 9am-5pm, we invited many partner organisations and guest speakers to join the conversation and discuss their experiences in utilising Carbon Literacy. With speakers from 16 different organisations, ranging from 11 sectors in total, the validity and importance of Carbon Literacy for every type of individual and organisation was solidified. Carbon Literacy is for everyone – no matter who you are or what you do.

We have witnessed immense growth in 2021, starting the year with 16,000 learners and now heading into 2022 with almost 25,000! The Action Day truly was the icing on the cake of 2021 and will go down in the history books here at The Carbon Literacy Project.

We’d like to extend a huge thank you to all of the individuals, organisations and trainers who took part in the day from all corners of the world. Furthermore, we owe our sincerest gratitude to a fantastic team of specialised volunteers helping to process this extra surge in applications, alongside our usual dedicated team, who we are incredibly grateful too. This is not a one-off event, as part of the legacy of COP26 being held in the UK and the need for rapid action on climate change from everyone, the Carbon Literacy Action Day is to become a yearly event! We look forward to the next Carbon Literacy Action Day in 2022 where even more organisations will join us, we’ll train even more individuals and create an even bigger impact!

Want to take part next year?

If you’d like to be part of the 2022 Action Day but aren’t yet engaged with Carbon Literacy, we strongly advise you get in touch as soon as possible or email info@carbonliteracy.com so you can scope out potential options and begin your journey today.

If you missed our 2021 Action Day and want to catch up, you can find coverage from the day on our Youtube Channel here.