A Silver Carbon Literate Organisation

The WMCA has been working to educate and empower staff and residents through Carbon Literacy training for almost three years.

In December 2022 and now March 2024, this commitment has been recognised by The Carbon Literacy Project. The WMCA was awarded Bronze Carbon Literate Organisation (CLO) status in 2022 and have now been awarded Silver CLO status; the first Combined Authority to be awarded CLO status and the first to reach Silver accreditation, and a landmark achievement within the local government sector.

A Carbon Literate Organisation is an organisation that has been accredited by The Carbon Literacy Project as being “culturally Carbon Literate”, maintaining a substantial proportion of its workforce as Carbon Literate and demonstrating its Carbon Literacy through its organisational behaviour.

As a proud CLO, the WMCA runs Carbon Literacy training for both internal staff and for residents in the West Midlands.

Carbon Literacy training at the WMCA is delivered using the Local Authorities Toolkit. A day’s worth of training, split across two half-days, the Toolkit provides colleagues with the specific skills and knowledge to take action in their work remit; an important focus, given that local authorities have influence over 33% of UK emissions. Carbon Literacy training is offered to all staff to ensure we work collectively to reduce emissions. From our housing directorate to Transport for West Midlands, it is critical that everyone is working together towards net zero by 2041, and Carbon Literacy plays an essential role in this.

We have trained over 15% of the organisation and are well under way in experiencing the culture shift that the training can generate. Integrating the training within performance management has been key to the continued high attendance and success at sessions. We are also in the process of training the WMCA’s Executive Board, with a commitment for the whole of the board to become Carbon Literate in the coming years. There is an organizational commitment to the continued take-up and scale up of the training, with the Silver CLO status recognition of this commitment.

Louise Bown, Senior Policy Officer for Improving Health and Improving Health and Reducing Inequalities, who was one of the first members of staff at the WMCA to become Carbon Literate reflected that:

"The Carbon Literacy training was deeply enlightening. Delivered in an easy-to-digest way, it highlighted how even small changes can have a big impact. Since the training, I have become much more mindful of my food choices, taking into account where my food comes from and environmental impact it has".

In 2022 we launched a Teams channel known as the WMCA Carbon Literacy Action Network, to support past attendees in delivering on their committed actions and supporting them through further learning and up to date policy knowledge. We launched the Network on the same day as delivering a session as part of Carbon Literacy Action Day (CLAD) 2022 and have since participated in a successful CLAD in 2023.

As a legacy project of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, the WMCA launched an online Carbon Literacy programme for residents of the West Midlands. With three online modules and a fourth facilitated Zoom session, this is an accessible and inclusive course, which links to our agenda to support behaviour change in the region. Learners can take the training is their own time, fitting around work, volunteering or studying. We are underway to train more than 2,500 people in the region through this programme. Click the button below to register and begin the Carbon Literacy training:

The WMCA becoming a Silver CLO is an excellent recognition of the progress already made in the organisation and West Midlands region. The WMCA has ambitions to continue to embed, support and deliver Carbon Literacy both internally and across the region, with an ambition to become a Gold CLO in the coming years.

On becoming Silver, Jackie Homan, Head of Environment, said:

"This is a significant achievement for the West Midlands Combined Authority and we are really proud of the progress we have made. Carbon literacy training remains very popular amongst the staff at the WMCA, and people have enjoyed participating in a programme that supports them in understanding how they can make a difference in and outside work. We are always looking for ways to improve the work we do towards addressing climate change and improving the environment for people and nature across the West Midlands – carbon literacy training is a central part of this work and we look forward to growing the programme into the future".

Abby Charlesworth, Local Authorities Coordinator at the Carbon Literacy Project, said:

"We are proud to support WMCA in their ambitious work on Carbon Literacy. Demonstrating consistent commitment to the cause by not only upskilling their staff, but also supporting them to achieve their pledges long after the course is finished, has made embedding Carbon Literacy into daily operations an absolute success. We look forward to seeing what WMCA achieves going forward, and see them as inspirational in the local authorities sector".

The WMCA’s Carbon Literacy training for residents is a free opportunity but with only a limited number of spaces. Find out more about the training here and contribute to making the West Midlands a fairer, greener, healthier region. 

Any questions, please email CWGCarbonLiteracy@wmca.org.uk