Dacorum becomes first Silver level Carbon Literate borough council

Dacorum Borough Council is the first borough council in the UK to achieve a Silver level ‘Carbon Literate Organisation’ accreditation.

Dacorum Borough Council declared a Climate Emergency in 2019 and pledged to become net zero as an organisation by 2030.

Further targets were also set including making their 10,250 Council homes net zero by 2050 and the council committed to work with the community and businesses to make the whole borough net zero by 2050.

Earlier this year, the council added a sixth priority to the corporate plan – The Climate and Ecological Emergency (CEE).

Since the CEE declaration, and to help prepare Dacorum Borough Council for this journey, the council worked with APSE Energy to deliver Carbon Literacy Training to 60 key members of staff. Most notably, their new chief executive, Claire Hamilton, also took on the training, making her only the second ever CEO of a council in the UK to achieve this.

Carbon Literacy Training is an accredited training course which has been recognised by the United Nations at COP21 - the Paris Climate Conference - where it was chosen as one of 100 worldwide Transformative Action Programs.

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 educated council staff about the science and causes of climate change, the effect it is already having and the predicted future impact, before then exploring the solutions that can be taken by individuals, as well as the organisation.

Claire Hamilton, chief executive, said: “I’m proud to announce we are the first ever Silver level Carbon Literate Borough Council.

"We have demonstrated our substantial commitment to Carbon Literacy and our officers are working hard to help the borough reach its environmental goals.

"Being recognised as a Carbon Literate Organisation is just one of the many steps that we are taking on our journey to help reduce our carbon emissions.”

Dacorum Borough Council will be agreeing a CEE strategy that will set out what needs to be done over the next decade to deliver on the council’s net zero targets. This will be published later this year.