Bronze accreditation for Shropshire Council as part of climate crisis training

Shropshire Council’s senior management have all undertaken the training, offered by Save Our Shropshire, to give them the tools and knowledge to take positive action to tackle the climate crisis.

Carbon Literacy is ‘an awareness of the carbon dioxide costs and impacts of everyday activities, and the ability and motivation to reduce emissions, on an individual, community and organisational basis’.

The training explored the changes needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Shropshire and beyond to net zero, and was undertaken with the aim of putting Shropshire Council in a strong position to share best practice and be a community leader.

The Carbon Literacy Organisation

Save our Shropshire CIO says it is thrilled that they have been able to help Shropshire Council become a bronze level organisation – accredited by the Carbon Literacy Project.

The training was carried out over three evenings during November 2021 to January 2022 to help the team understand the scope of the Climate Emergency and the actions they can take across Shropshire radically to reduce the serious impact we make to the climate.

Local authorities can influence around 33% of emissions. The Carbon Literacy Organisation leads in developing an understanding of what action we can take to live well for the planet.

Allan Wilson, founder and chair of SOS CIO said: “We were very excited to get a call from Adrian Cooper back in November asking if we can deliver training to the cabinet and Senior team of Shropshire Council. We engaged with Speak Carbon and the Carbon Literacy project to deliver their Council Leaders toolkit.

"As a result Shropshire Council are now a bronze level Carbon Literate Organisation, by virtue of the fact that the Senior Team have completed the training. The pledges which the team made as part of the training provide an exciting platform for helping tackle the Climate Emergency.”

Ian Nellins, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for climate change, natural assets and the green economy, said:

“This bronze award means that we have implemented a training programme across the organisation and that senior management, including Lezley Picton, Leader of the Council, and Andy Begley, chief executive, have received training.

“In the future we aim to achieve higher levels of accreditation, demonstrating a greater level of commitment, through training a significant number of our staff and supporting partner organisations and members of our community to increase their carbon literacy as well.”

Climate Emergency

Shropshire Council declared a climate emergency in May 2019, and in December 2020 adopted a Climate Strategy and Action Plan, which establishes the objective of achieving net-zero carbon performance for the council by 2030.

Ian added: “This is a great step on our journey to becoming a carbon neutral organisation by 2030 and demonstrating that everyone has a part to play.

“The council’s corporate footprint represents only around 1% of Shropshire’s total carbon footprint, but the council can influence as much as 33% of emissions through its regulatory and support functions.

“We are committed to further action, and are already supporting a wide range of projects and initiatives designed to support local businesses and communities to help tackle the climate crisis.”