Manchester Metropolitan University

Carbon Literacy for Universities & Colleges Toolkits

Supporting the FHE sector in responding to the climate crisis.

We believe enhancing climate literacy is a critical first step in addressing the climate crisis. We therefore developed our Carbon Literacy for Universities & Colleges Toolkits (partnering with the AOC to adapt our HE toolkit for FE audiences) to maximise the speed and ease with which the FHE sector can adopt climate literacy training.

The toolkits provide high quality, free-to-use, training materials which can be delivered either online or face-to-face. To date, the toolkits have been shared with 200+ individuals from 70+ organisations, and the course is being actively delivered by 30 organisations in the UK, Australia, America, and Bolivia, with 27 FHEIs launching internal programmes and 3 organisations (including EAUC and SOS-UK) delivering across the sector. 

In combination with our internal delivery, 4,000+ learners have been certified as Carbon Literate, collectively making 8,000+ pledges to reduce their emissions, and we look forward to significant expansion in AY 2022/23.

Annual carbon savings achieved with the initiative:

• Carbon Literacy training focuses on awareness raising and encouraging participants to make substantive changes to reduce emissions, where participants pledge to take at least two actions to significantly reduce their emissions. While it is not possible to robustly quantify the actual carbon savings delivered by this project, a ball-park estimate can be provided based on the number of certified participants and ‘typical’ pledges or emissions reductions.  

Top 3 Learnings

1. Partnership working across and beyond the sector is key to success.
2. Online platforms are great for connecting and engaging with other universities.
3. Avoid information overload in activity instructions.