Being carbon literate means all staff in the news brands advertising team can understand the carbon costs and impact of everyday activities, as well as help reduce emissions on an individual, community and organisational basis
The decision to train the team was driven by industry research highlighting a knowledge gap in climate change within advertising.
Guardian Advertising took the view that its staff should be equipped with the skills to talk confidently about this issue and help find practical ways to address it. The course is accredited by the Carbon Literacy Project, a UK charity helping inform and empower people globally to take action on the climate emergency.
At the end of the programme, staff committed to a series of individual and team actions, which are estimated to prevent up to 20,000kgs of CO2e emissions.
As a result of the training, 97% of participants said they felt more knowledgeable about climate change and confident about identifying actions that will reduce their team’s carbon impact. Some 84% of participants now feel confident talking to clients and colleagues about the climate crisis (up from 28% before the workshop).
James Fleetham, director of advertising, Guardian Media Group, said: “The climate crisis is the defining issue of our times. It’s an increasingly important conversation in advertising and that’s right, but we have a lot to learn. I’m pleased our world class reporting has enabled us to equip our team with the knowledge and confidence to talk about it more productively with customers.”
