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Our quarterly series spotlighting the work of our certified Carbon Literacy Consultants sheds light on how the most experienced Carbon Literacy trainers, certified at the highest level of our Trainer Certification Scheme, have created a lasting impact through their Carbon Literacy training. In this blog, we hear from Caroline Harmon.

I don’t quite believe this statistic, but The Carbon Literacy Project assures me it’s true: I’ve trained a little over 1% of the people in the world who are Carbon Literate!

As of January 2026, 150,000 people have attended and passed a Carbon Literacy course. More than 1500 of those people attended a course I ran.

Seven years ago, I travelled to Manchester in the pouring rain, got lost trying to find a bus stop, rang a taxi that never turned up, got on a different bus that took me to the wrong place and eventually… arrived an hour late for a Carbon Literacy course.

The journey was worth it. Despite having worked in the environmental sector for 20 years at that point, I learned so much that day. Most importantly, I came away having written down two concrete actions I could take to meaningfully reduce carbon emissions in the organisation I worked for at the time and in the communities we worked with.

I’ve been hooked on Carbon Literacy ever since, for three reasons:

1. Carbon Literacy works

It’s one of the best ways of tackling climate change that I’ve come across. There are almost 1000 different Carbon Literacy courses out there. Whilst they all adhere to the robust standards laid out by The Carbon Literacy Project, they are also all tailored to a different audience. This means that as a trainer, I’m helping people and organisations work out how they can have maximum impact in their specific organisation and sector. This approach leads to really meaningful action that creates deep cuts in emissions.

I’ve written eight of those courses, including the world’s first online course in 2020 and the world’s first Shareable Faith course in 2025.

2. Carbon Literacy brings hope

It’s really easy to think that we – as individuals or even as organisations – can’t make a difference when it comes to climate change. Carbon Literacy shows us that’s not true.

Every Carbon Literacy course I’ve written or delivered has been jam-packed full of inspiring examples of what is already being done, at every level of society, to drive down emissions. Participants are equipped to think about where they have the most influence and how they can use it to make a difference.

One of the great joys of my work as a Carbon Literacy trainer is that I get to meet lots of amazing people on the courses I deliver. I don’t feel like I’m alone in tackling climate change because I know there are lots of others out there doing the same. And I have the privilege of journeying alongside them for a time.

3. Carbon Literacy is creating a better future

Positivity is key in Carbon Literacy courses.

We’re not just trying to avert a crisis, we’re looking to create a bright, beautiful future that we can all thrive in. One of my favourite activities on a Carbon Literacy course involves asking everyone to imagine a low-carbon future in which we got this right. What does it look like, smell like, feel like? What’s our first step in making it happen? What glimpses of it can we already see?

People describe all kinds of things, from living in a home completely powered by renewable energy to eating plant-based, locally sourced food, sometimes while sitting in their own garden where they grew some of it. Personally, I always think about what it would feel like to ride my bike on roads designed with pedestrians and cyclists in mind.

1% of a million?

The Carbon Literacy Project is aiming to train one million people by 2030. Will I achieve 1% of that goal? 10,000 feels like a huge number, so who knows.

I spend a lot of my time nowadays running Train-the-Trainer courses for people who want to run Carbon Literacy courses themselves, so maybe I’ll contribute in that way to the target.
Either way, I’m proud to be part of such an amazing initiative. Why not join me by looking into becoming Carbon Literate or becoming a trainer yourself? Find out more about the services I offer and my Train the Trainer courses.

Caroline is a certified Carbon Literacy Consultant (CLC). She has worked in the environmental sector for more than 25 years. She has delivered Carbon Literacy training to more than 1500 people, and in 2020, she created the world’s first online Carbon Literacy course. She has created eight different versions of Carbon Literacy training, including one for Local Authorities (before a Local Authority Toolkit existed), one for communities, two for organisations interested in rolling out Carbon Literacy in their own organisation, three for churches and one for DeMontfort University. www.carolineharmon.com