Build Credible Climate Knowledge Across Your Business

Carbon Literacy is a recognised, certified standard of climate knowledge – an understanding of the carbon costs of everyday activities, and the motivation to reduce them. This is what building it across your business looks like. 

Carbon Literacy is defined by the Carbon Literacy Project as "an awareness of the carbon costs and impacts of everyday activities, and the ability and motivation to reduce emissions, on an individual, community and organisational basis." It is not a vague aspiration – it is a certified standard, independently accredited, and recognised by the United Nations as a Transformative Action Programme since COP21 in Paris in 2015.

For businesses in agri-food and food processing, building genuine climate knowledge across the workforce is not just a sustainability ambition. It is becoming a practical business requirement. Customers, buyers, and retailers are asking harder questions about how food businesses manage their climate impact. Employees increasingly expect their employer to take climate issues seriously. The ability to demonstrate that your team understands carbon – not just at leadership level, but across the people who make operational decisions every day – is a meaningful differentiator. 

Why the food sector specifically needs this

The food sector sits at the centre of the climate challenge in a way that few other industries do. The food system as a whole contributes to over one third of global greenhouse gas emissions. Agricultural practices, land use change, food waste, packaging, logistics, and energy use in processing all play a significant role. And for businesses operating anywhere in the food supply chain – from farm through processing into retail and hospitality – the pressure to understand and address that footprint is intensifying from every direction.

• ⅓ of global greenhouse gas emissions come from the food system

• 103k+ individuals globally are now certified Carbon Literate

• 7,600+ organisations have certified Carbon Literate workforces

 The challenge is that most people working in food businesses – even experienced managers and supervisors – have never had structured, sector-specific training on climate and carbon. They may have absorbed general awareness through the news, or attended a broad sustainability briefing, but they have not built the depth of knowledge needed for confident, informed decision-making on the factory floor, in the buying office, or in a conversation with a supplier.

 "I thought I knew about climate change and carbon reduction. One day of training made me realise I was wrong on so many things I thought I knew."

What Carbon Literacy training actually builds

ESG Made Easy delivers a fully accredited Carbon Literacy training programme built specifically for the agri-food and food processing sector. It is a full day, delivered in person, and designed for managers, operational supervisors, and team members across food businesses – the people whose decisions shape how a business performs against its climate commitments day to day.

 The training covers the food sector's specific climate picture – not generic climate science – and connects the learning directly to the operations, supply chains, and decisions your people encounter in their actual working lives.

What the training covers

🌍 Climate change and the food system

The science of climate change in plain language – what is happening, why it matters, and how the food sector specifically contributes to and is affected by it. Covers biodiversity loss and land-use change alongside greenhouse gas emissions.

 🌾 Agricultural practices and on-farm emissions

For many food businesses, the largest share of their carbon footprint sits in the supply chain – in land use and on-farm emissions. Participants gain a clear understanding of where these emissions come from and why they matter to the wider business.

 👤 Personal carbon footprints and sustainable choices

Participants understand their own carbon footprint, how their daily choices connect to the wider picture, and how individual action relates to organisational goals – building motivation as well as knowledge.

 🏭 Organisational carbon hotspots and solutions

Greenhouse gas emissions in the food sector context – scopes explained, carbon hotspots identified, and practical reduction strategies explored. Participants discuss their own organisation's position and collaborate on realistic actions.

 ✅ Personal and organisational pledges

Every participant leaves with two significant, documented pledges – one personal action and one organisational action – to reduce carbon emissions. These pledges form part of the evidence submitted to the Carbon Literacy Project for certification.

 What certification means

On successful completion of the training and submission of evidence – including the pledges made during the day – every participant receives a uniquely numbered Carbon Literacy certificate from the Carbon Literacy Project. The certificate belongs to the individual permanently, is held in a secure database and can be verified by employers, customers, or any external body. It is a recognised, credible qualification – not an internal badge.

 For the business, each certified employee is a building block toward Carbon Literate Organisation (CLO) accreditation – a formal, externally recognised status that demonstrates a genuine, measurable commitment to climate knowledge and action across the workforce. CLO accreditation is available at Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum levels as the proportion of certified staff grows.

The only agri-food specific course on the market

ESG Made Easy's Carbon Literacy training is the only fully accredited Carbon Literacy course built specifically for the agri-food and food processing sector. Generic climate training covers the basics – but it does not connect to the supply chain dynamics, agricultural emissions, food waste challenges, and operational realities that define the climate picture for businesses in this space. Sector-specific training produces sector-relevant insight and action.

 Building credible climate knowledge across your business does not happen through a newsletter or one-page briefing. It happens through structured, accredited training that gives your people the depth of understanding to make better decisions – and the certification to prove it.

Build certified carbon knowledge across your agri-food business

ESG Made Easy delivers the only fully accredited Carbon Literacy training built specifically for the agri-food and food processing sector – a full day, in person, with every participant leaving with a recognised Carbon Literacy certificate. Get in touch with the team at ESG Made Easy to discuss how Carbon Literacy training can help your business.