Freedom Leisure have achieved a Bronze Carbon Literacy Accreditation

Press release courtesy of Freedom Leisure.

Freedom Leisure, one of the UK’s leading charitable not-for-profit leisure trusts that manages over 130 leisure and cultural venues across England and Wales (including The Stour Centre and Julie Rose Stadium in Ashford and currently Tenterden Leisure Centre in Tenterden), is proud to announce that it has become the first leisure operator in the UK to be Bronze Carbon Literacy accredited.

This significant accomplishment underscores Freedom Leisure’s dedication towards tackling climate change, reducing its organisational carbon emissions, and its commitment to working towards a zero-carbon future.

Carbon Literacy is defined as, “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,” and revolves around a day’s worth of learning and action on climate change.

Freedom leisure first engaged with Carbon Literacy through the Carbon Literacy Sports Kit, and has since acquired the licence to the accredited Carbon Literacy Course developed by Community Leisure UK, specifically for charities working in public leisure and culture.This means that the rate of Carbon Literacy within Freedom Leisure can be substantially increased to support their ambitious carbon reduction targets and sustainability goals.

Angela Brown, Head of Sustainability and Environmental at Freedom Leisure commented; “We recognise that success depends on everyone being actively involved. By equipping our colleagues with the knowledge and skills to become carbon literate, we are taking responsibility and committed to empowering each colleague to contribute meaningfully to our shared objectives.”

A Carbon Literate Organisation (CLO) is an organisation that has been accredited by The Carbon Literacy Project as being “culturally Carbon Literate”; maintaining a substantial proportion of its workforce as Carbon Literate and demonstrating its Carbon Literacy through its organisational behaviour.

By mid-November over 70 Freedom Leisure staff will be Carbon Literate certified, including their CEO and other members of their senior leadership team, who went on to become formally certified as Carbon Literate earlier this year. Through the individual and group pledges submitted to the Carbon Literacy Project as part of the certification process, the actions committed in the areas of education, energy and resource management and travel, have the potential to drive significant carbon savings beyond what would have been achieved otherwise.

Ivan Horsfall Turner, CEO at Freedom Leisure commented; “We are delighted to be the first UK Leisure Operator recognised as a CLO and it is testament to our continued commitment to work towards a carbon zero future. With over 22 million visits to our venues each year we are acutely aware of the impact that has on our client partner’s carbon footprint and we want to use this platform to promote carbon literacy through our staff and customer communications.

This accreditation will reinforce to our partners now and in the future, that we are serious about climate change and this award demonstrates our collective investment in reducing carbon emissions and therefore our impact on the environment.

The actions taken and pledged by us all as part of our Carbon Literacy training will have an immediate impact within the organisation, however it is the maintenance of these and further actions, supported by Carbon Literate organisational culture, that will reap the greatest rewards”.

Dave Coleman, Co-Founder and Managing Director of The Carbon Literacy Project, said; “Carbon Literacy is an essential skill, vital to every workplace, community, and place of study. It is the foundational knowledge, and a catalyst to empowering people to act on climate. By becoming a Bronze accredited Carbon Literate Organisation, Freedom Leisure has demonstrated its commitment to genuine low carbon action, environmental and economic impact, and the building of a low carbon future for us all.”