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Carbon Literacy Action Day 2023 – The Results!

January 2024 by Catherine McGinn

On Monday 4th of December 2023, we held the third annual International Carbon Literacy Action Day; and it was a truly historic day for Carbon Literacy!

The Action Day is the largest mass climate action training event of its kind, where we witness learners from all walks of life, sectors, genders, ages and nations, all around the world, complete their day’s worth of Carbon Literacy training to become certified as Carbon Literate.

For its third edition, the Action Day aligned with COP28, which was hosted by the United Arab Emirates in Dubai. COP conferences see the largest climate talks of the year, as the whole world prepares to watch our world leaders gather to negotiate on climate policy and foster a coordinated response to climate change. Hence, it presents an opportune time for us to stage our mass climate training day, and mark a fortnight of climate talks with essential climate education and action. And so, while world leaders gathered in Dubai, Carbon Literacy learners gathered around the world to act.

The results

In total, a record-breaking 2,303 individuals completed Carbon Literacy training on the Carbon Literacy Action Day!

We are totally blown away by the sheer number of individuals that took part on December 4th, as this result sees a 5x increase in the amount trained in 2022, and more than 2x the amount trained from the first and second Action Day’s combined.

These learners will go on to become officially certified as Carbon Literate, and no matter their position or skill level, each individual will have a significant impact on their carbon footprint, reducing the effects of climate change and influencing their peers to follow suit.

As a result of their certification, 4,606 actions will be pledged by these learners to tackle the climate crisis. In total, these learners came from:

  • 225 organisations
  • 12 nations across the globe

… and will go on to save approximately 6,000 tonnes of CO2e.

Additionally, 75 training providers took part, who:

  • Delivered 102 courses
  • Represented 28 sectors of society,
  • Spanned 10 nations.

Our aim with the Action Day is to see the largest number of individuals as possible trained simultaneously in a single day. We are proud to say that thanks to the dedication and commitment seen from the organisations and communities that gathered learners and coordinated training for the day, we completely exceeded our target of training 1,000 individuals for CLAD 2023 – a true testament to the power of the Carbon Literacy community.

The global impact of the Action Day is evident through the diversity of the organisations and individuals that took part, and the many locations where training took place all around the world, including England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Spain, Jersey, Guernsey, The United States of America, Canada, Australia and Peru.

During our Virtual World Tour, an event held live on Zoom to bring the Action Day to a close, we had the chance to hear from many of the organisations and trainers that took part in the Action Day. They discussed how they got involved, how their training day went, and what Carbon Literacy looks like in their organisation or community. You can catch up with the inspiring replay here.

Overall in 2023, we witnessed exceptional growth once again, starting the year with 49,000 certified learners and ending with over 79,000. The Action Day has, and will continue to play a truly important role in our growth here at The Carbon Literacy Project, as it drives an increased level of involvement and engagement in Carbon Literacy, and most important of all, allows individuals, organisations and communities to tackle climate change in the most relevant way for them.

A word of thanks

We’d like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who took part in the Action Day, from all over the world, and who came together with us and contributed to the culmination of rapid action being taken on climate change. Furthermore, we owe our sincerest gratitude to our fantastic team of CLAD volunteers who are offering their time to process the extra surge in applications at this time of year, alongside our usual dedicated team, to which we are incredibly grateful.

Keep an eye out for the results of the CLAD Catalyst Award, and the date for CLAD 2024, both of which will be coming very soon!

If you’d like to be part of the Action Day 2023, you can express your interest by emailing CLAD@carbonliteracy.com.

If you are interested in the Action Day but aren’t yet engaged with Carbon Literacy, we strongly advise you get in touch as soon as possible so you can begin your Carbon Literacy journey today.

 

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