Carbon Literacy for SMEs
Build the knowledge and confidence to make better business decisions.
Climate change, changing customer expectations and increasing supply-chain requirements mean sustainability is becoming an important consideration for businesses of every size.
Carbon Literacy for SMEs is a Carbon Literacy Project-accredited, foundation-level qualification designed specifically for small and medium-sized businesses.
Rather than creating climate experts, the course gives employees a shared understanding of climate change, carbon emissions and the challenges facing modern businesses – helping them make better decisions, identify opportunities and embed sustainability into everyday business practice.
About the course
This practical, interactive course helps SMEs understand what climate change and carbon reduction mean in a real business context.
Learners explore how climate change can affect their business, customers and supply chains; how everyday business decisions influence carbon emissions, costs and resource efficiency; and where practical opportunities exist to reduce waste and improve performance.
The course is tailored to the realities of SMEs and is suitable for businesses from any industry. It combines Carbon Literacy learning with practical discussion and activities designed to help participants connect the subject to their own organisation and role.
You will learn
By the end of the course you’ll be able to:
- Understand how climate change affects your business, customers and supply chain
- Recognise how business decisions influence carbon emissions, costs and resource efficiency
- Identify practical opportunities to improve efficiency and reduce waste
- Understand how sustainability can support innovation and future growth
- Contribute confidently to climate-related discussions
- Identify meaningful actions you can take personally and within your workplace
- Work towards Carbon Literate certification
Why complete this course?
Carbon Literacy isn’t about turning your employees into sustainability specialists.
It’s about giving people across your business the knowledge and confidence to make better decisions.
Building a Carbon Literate team can create a shared understanding of climate impacts, encourage more consistent decision-making and give employees greater confidence to take meaningful action.
For SMEs, this can translate into real business value – from improving efficiency and resilience to responding more confidently to customer, tender, procurement and supply-chain expectations.
This course includes
One full day training (09:00 - 16:00)
Live online or in person delivery
Foundation level
Topical conversations, surveys and pre course learning requirements
Carbon Literate certification subject to successful completion of The CLP requirements
Need training for your team? Training multiple employees?
If you’d like to train multiple members of your team, we offer discounted multi-licence packages and bespoke group training. Email: training@ecogenesys.co.uk
Frequently asked questions
For employers
Can we train multiple employees at once?
Yes. You can book up to six employees from the same organisation onto one of our open online Carbon Literacy courses. If you have a larger team, we can arrange a dedicated in-house course for your organisation, with the training tailored to your team.
Who is this course for?
This course is exclusively designed for SMEs, keeping the learning practical and focused on the challenges smaller businesses face.
It is suitable for any industry and particularly valuable for:
Senior leaders making strategic and investment decisions
Operations and procurement teams
Finance and HR
Sales and marketing
Compliance and sustainability roles
Whole organisations wanting to develop a shared understanding of climate change
No previous climate or sustainability knowledge is required.
Who in the organisation should undertake Carbon Literacy?
Carbon Literacy creates a common foundation of understanding, organisations can benefit from training people across different functions rather than limiting participation to sustainability specialists alone.
For individuals
Do I need any previous experience?
Most courses are suitable for learners of all experience levels. Any prerequisites will be clearly shown on the course page.
How do I become Carbon Literate?
Carbon Literacy is about turning knowledge into action.
As part of the accredited learning, participants consider what they can personally do to reduce carbon emissions and what action they can take or influence within their workplace.
The training meets The Carbon Literacy Project's recognised standards and supports participants towards Carbon Literate certification.
How can we contonue our sustainability journey after Carbon Literacy training?
Carbon Literacy can be the first step towards a more structured approach to sustainability.
After completing the course, SMEs can continue through the Ecogenesys Sustainability Growth Pathway, developed in partnership with Genee Consulting.
The pathway helps businesses move from learning to measurable action, including understanding environmental impacts, developing practical improvement initiatives and potentially progressing towards Investors in the Environment (iiE) accreditation.
Testimonials
What our learners say
Hear from people who’ve completed Ecogenesys training and discover how they’ve put their learning into practice.