Carbon literacy islanders commit to little changes

Participants have been learning how climate change will affect them and how to lower their carbon footprint.

More than 200 people in Guernsey have become carbon literacy qualified by learning about how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Carbon literacy is a term used to describe an awareness of climate change, and the climate impacts of mankind's daily actions.

The training, delivered by advisory company UN1TY, set out to educate people about the impact of everyday choices on the environment and equip them with the tools to make informed, sustainable choices.

Caitlin Duquemin, trainer for UN1TY, said participants "leave feeling really motivated and enthusiastic" about making changes.

Karel Harris, managing director of Sarnia Hotels, says sustainability is a key issue for the island

Karel Harris, managing director of Sarnia Hotels, underwent the training and said: "It's going to become more and more important and certainly some of our business guests, our corporate guests are asking what are we already doing and what plans do we have in place."

She added: "If each one of us just makes one little change, and it can be in what we eat, it can be remembering to turn lights off, or taking a slightly quicker shower.

"It's walking to work, sometimes, or cycling to work. There's so many small actions we can all do, which collectively will make a difference."

Mrs Harris said the hotel chain already have carbon offsetting schemes in place.

"We have a partnership with Guernsey Trees For Life where for every room that guests choose not to have cleaned, we make a donation of £2.

"We've been doing that for a year now and we will have helped to have planted 1,000 trees with this because a lot of the guests really buy into it."

Caitlin Duquemin from UN1TY helped train people in Guernsey

Caitlin Duquemin helps deliver the courses as part of her role as a sustainability advisor for UN1TY.

"We feel it really does have a big impact because we get a group of people in the room and we manage to get them on a level playing field in terms of knowledge."

"We help them learn about the things they can do as a business, give them ideas, help them recap what they are already doing or what they'd like to see their business do going forward.

"Then they leave feeling really motivated and enthusiastic about... implementing those changes."

Dawn Gallienne said she believed what people do every day has a big impact

In 2019, Guernsey Post installed the largest solar panel array in the Channel Islands which the company said at the time, would exceed the annual amount of electricity required to power the post office's fleet of electric vans.

Dawn Gallienne, head of corporate engagement for Guernsey Post, completed the course.

"We've done all the big things like the solar panels on the roof and the electrification of our delivery fleet, but actually the small things matter too and they are really important."

"Things like fully switching your laptop off on a night so it's not a vampire device, leaving things on standby, it drains a lot of energy."

She added: "Those little things are really doable and really accessible to most people."