Duchy of Cornwall estate well on the road to ‘carbon literate’ status

Every member of staff of the Duchy of Cornwall has had the opportunity to become ‘carbon literate’ as part of the Duchy’s continued commitment to environmental sustainability and our application for status as a Carbon Literate Organisation. 

Carbon Literacy is defined as “an awareness of the greenhouse gas costs and impacts of everyday activities, and the ability and motivation to reduce emissions on an individual, community and organisational basis”.

Carbon Literacy ensures everyone, no matter what job they do at the Duchy, can contribute to our net zero goal and is a key initiative in our Net Zero Carbon Programme. Whether working on the front lines of land stewardship, or performing an office-based role, actions and decisions taken by staff across the organisation can contribute to our net zero ambitions. That is why it’s important to equip our people with the knowledge and enthusiasm to consider climate action in their jobs, every day. 

The Carbon Literacy Project, an independent not-for-profit organisation which sets the standard for Carbon Literacy training, approved our staff training course at the start of 2022. We made this course a core part of our learning and development offer in everyone’s work objectives for the year, and have now delivered a full day of learning to all our office-based staff, and a shorter session for all our operational staff in our trading enterprises. Today, more than half our staff are certified Carbon Literate, making the Duchy eligible for recognition as a Gold-level Carbon Literate Organisation and, as estimated by the Project, reducing their individual carbon footprints by between 5% and 15%.

David Cope, Head of Sustainability at the Duchy, welcomed this important milestone: “The Duchy’s ambitious target to become net zero across the estate by the early 2030s can only be achieved if we partner with tenants and suppliers across every part of the business. This type of endeavour will succeed because every member of the Duchy team has the knowledge and enthusiasm to take climate action in their jobs every day. Carbon Literacy is the first step. Since the training, we have found everyone talks more openly about greenhouse gas emissions and how to reduce them. As well as training a significant proportion of our own team, some of our main suppliers and partners joined in too, helping us develop common goals on emissions reductions.” 

As part of the course all staff were invited to make commitments towards sustainability in their own work. These commitments were wide-ranging, reflecting the breadth of work the Duchy carries out, from relatively simple pledges to ensure that a ‘vampire equipment’ check is carried out at the end of each day, through to more complex undertakings, such as improving the availability of carbon emission data across the organisation and factoring these into budgetary decisions, alongside offering tenant farmers the chance to learn about new ways to reduce their carbon emissions.