Gold level Carbon Literacy accreditation, case study

The Lower Thames Crossing is a proposed new crossing of the River Thames to ease congestion at the Dartford Crossing. It is designed to be the greenest road ever built and is a pathfinder project to explore carbon neutral construction.  

Background 

We established carbon literacy training in January 2023 because we recognised that to be a successful pathfinder, we needed everyone to be confident and knowledgeable about carbon and climate change. We wanted to become a carbon literate organisation to: 

• reduce our carbon impact by developing and maintaining a low carbon culture and enabling our staff to apply their learning  

• demonstrate how we will leave a low-carbon skills legacy 

• show local communities, suppliers and other stakeholders that we have external recognition of our work to develop carbon knowledge and skills 

Therefore in our Development Consent Order application, we committed to achieving at least silver level Carbon Literate Organisation accreditation from the Carbon Literacy Project. We required our Delivery Partners and their directly engaged subcontractors to do the same. 

Carbon literacy training 

Our carbon literacy training consisted of an introductory online module, followed by two half-day live training sessions. These were delivered via Teams so staff could participate irrespective of their location. The sessions covered the science of climate change, why it matters and how to tackle it, at home and at work.  

We used a variety of communication tools to maximise participation, including the Carbon Hub, weekly Start the Week meetings, monthly Stand Downs and emails from our Executive Director.  

Running the training was complex as the LTC team consists of staff from more than five different organisations and turnover is relatively high as all staff are seconded onto project.  

Outcomes 

We overcame these challenges and by March 2024, over 240 staff had been certified as carbon literate. Alongside this, we have raised awareness of carbon and have led by example by completing the training before we require it of our supply chain and having board members certified.  

Carbon literacy is an ongoing process and we will continue to offer the training to new members of staff. We will work closely with our delivery partners on their carbon training plans and will share our training material with them.