Providing high impact climate solutions with climate literacy training

By Professor Helen Goworek, January 2024

Professor Helen Goworek explains how a 2013 initiative started in the North of England can encourage staff and students to counter climate change.

The North of England was a central location when the Industrial Revolution changed the world in the early 19th century. While energy supplied by the coal industry and train travel, both centred in the North East, fuelled this revolution, Manchester in the North West was at the heart of innovation and production in the textiles industry, generating an economic boom. Although this was a revolutionary era globally, it’s been acknowledged that ushering in the industrial epoch subsequently led to the climate crisis that we face in the present day. Many Manchester residents felt a responsibility to address this major issue, and in 2013 a group called the Carbon Literacy Project (CLP) decided to develop accessible training to raise awareness of action that can be taken against climate change. CLP’s Carbon Literacy Training initially focused on the broadcasting sector, working with the production team of the UK’s most popular TV programme, Manchester-based Coronation Street.  

The Carbon Literacy Training takes eight hours, based on the idea that it requires the equivalent of a solid day’s work to achieve a sound awareness of key aspects relating to climate action. Participants can additionally choose to complete an assignment which qualifies them to teach this themselves, cascading their knowledge at their own universities or further afield. Professor Petra Molthan-Hill, an expert on sustainable management at Nottingham Trent University (NTU) and Co-Chair of the PRME Working Group on Climate Change and Environment, brought this training into business schools after seeing its potential to make an even wider impact on society. Having adapted course content for business schools, aimed at staff and students in person, in 2020 Professor Molthan-Hill drew together a team of collaborators who volunteered to regularly support the training internationally online. This team is passionate about climate literacy and action and they've donated their time to provide access to this training to colleagues, for free, on multiple occasions. After gaining my own Carbon Literacy Training certificate that same year, I became a facilitator within this team of academics and practitioners. The course has now grown into a 10-hour course developed at NTU called Climate Literacy Training and is currently offered in weekly 2-hour sessions over five consecutive weeks, providing content which concentrates on positive outcomes to influence participants’ teaching, practice or individual behaviour. International attendance has grown, with support provided by the United Nations PRME (Principles for Responsible Management Education) Global Compact office in New York and Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) in the UK. Climate Literacy Training sessions are interactive, covering taught content on the science behind climate change and its impact. It emphasises that 99% of climate change scientists agree that increases in the world’s average temperature have been caused by human activity in this industrial era. Accessible tools are integrated within the activities, such as the EN-Roads Climate Solutions Simulator, developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sustainability Initiative and Climate Interactive, which can be used in teaching to simulate the effect of managing factors like energy supply and transport to reduce global temperatures. The team facilitates breakout groups in some sessions, enabling attendees to discuss ways of reducing carbon emissions with colleagues from their own universities or from other countries. The BBC’s climate change food calculator is also used to assess the greenhouse gas emissions involved in our food choices. 

The extent to which this training had gained traction became clear when Yale University approached Professor Molthan-Hill to offer the course in 2020 and the training subsequently won Gold in the Sustainability category of the Wharton-QS Reimagine Education Awards. Academics from Australia, Africa, China and beyond have also completed the training. Zoya Zaitseva, Head of Partnerships at QS ImpACT (a global charity connected to QS) has become involved in organising and promoting the courses with our team in line with their aim to create social change. We continue to offer Climate Literacy Training online, its growing popularity and relevance indicated by over 400 attendees from around the world signing up for the latest training in September 2023. Several members of our team also collaborate in the UN PRME Working Group on Climate Change and Environment, where I’m co-lead for teaching and research. Since Climate Literacy Training is currently taught in English, we’re supporting those who wish to implement it in other languages or develop country-specific versions to encourage a wider global reach in combating climate change. For example, we now offer country-adapted versions in Australia and Pakistan, while versions are in development in India and Kazakhstan. In 2022 I ran an initial trial of the training online for Business School staff with Professor Geoff Moore. Dr Mary Nanyondo and Dr Nor Kadir, both Assistant Professors in Accounting, gained their certificates in 2022 and are now eligible to deliver the training to others. Jon Davidson, DUBS Digital Media Officer, credits one of the training sessions he attended with having a bigger personal impact than expected when one of the exercises encouraged him to make the decision to become vegetarian. Our colleagues can join us for Climate Literacy Training at future sessions in person in 2024 or sign up to train online with our UN PRME Working Group.