10:22 am, May 24, 2023
More than 1,000 automotive workers have now achieved ‘Carbon Literate’ status as the industry looks to increase its awareness of environmental issues.
The scheme, set up by Auto Trader and the Carbon Literacy Project, offers training and support via the specially-designed Automotive Carbon Literacy Toolkit.
A total of 100 firms have signed up to the initiative including some of the biggest dealer groups in the country.
The likes of Dick Lovett, Hendy, Inchcape, John Clark, Lookers, Marshall Motor Group, Motorpoint, Snows and TrustFord have all taken part.
When it comes to manufacturers Audi, BMW Group, Citroen, Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, KIA, Nissan, Stellantis, Vauxhall Motors and Volkswagen are also signed up.
Commenting on the success of the project, Nathan Coe, Auto Trader’s CEO, said: ‘We are incredibly proud to have sponsored the creation of the Automotive Toolkit and its ongoing delivery by our dedicated teams.
‘The level of collaboration across the industry, and the pace at which the Toolkit has been embraced gives us confidence that it can be an important part of the industry’s journey towards sustainability.’
The Toolkit is designed to support in-house Carbon Literacy training, which is typically delivered during a one-day seminar and can be conducted virtually or face-to-face.
It contains all of the tools and materials an organisation requires to educate and accredit its employees in Carbon Literacy, including tailored training content, a trainer guide, detailed resources, and dedicated support from a member of the Carbon Literacy Project team.
The course covers a broad range of climate change related topics centred around the automotive industry in order to create greater awareness of the carbon costs and impacts of everyday activities.
Companies involved in the project can progress towards becoming a fully accredited Carbon Literate Organisation, achieving key milestones (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum) along the way.
With over 80 per cent of its colleagues trained, Auto Trader was the first FTSE 100 company to achieve Platinum Carbon Literate Organisation status.
Among the dealers taking part is Sinclair Group, which recently announced record profits for 2022.
Speaking about the company’s experiences with the Toolkit, Richard Seaward, head of strategic development, said: ‘At the Sinclair Group we want to inspire our staff to understand climate change; their role in it and to make a difference at home and at work – that way we can make a positive change together.
‘From senior management to junior members of staff; engagement and training is essential to achieve the behavioural change necessary to address the scale and urgency of the climate emergency.
‘We firmly believe that the development of the Carbon Literacy course template for the Automotive sector, and its free availability, will assist ourselves and the rest of the industry in this ambition.’
Duncan McPhee, COO of Lookers, added: ‘We know that climate change and carbon emissions is a topic that is massively important to us, our colleagues and most importantly our customers.
‘Supporting the development of the Automotive Carbon Literacy Toolkit was a fantastic opportunity for us to help start the movement in our industry and to launch the training programme for our own people.
‘Over 100 colleagues have now gone through the programme, including all our executive team and our divisional leaders, giving them the knowledge and tools to make better life choices and small changes to their habits around carbon reduction.
‘All these small actions collectively roll up to big impacts as a society, and it’s also enabled our people to have more in depth conversations with customers about carbon emissions including information about EV’s and how to transition from ICE.
‘We’d recommend any organisation, regardless of what part of the industry they represent, to get involved with the Carbon Literacy Toolkit to think about how we can all collectively do our bit.’
