Exploring the impact of Carbon Literacy Training 2024-2025

Over the past year, South Ken ZEN+ has been delivering Carbon Literacy Training (CLT) to help equip individuals, communities and organisations across the South Ken Culture Quarter with the knowledge and skills needed to take meaningful climate action and support the transition to a low-carbon future.

But what happens after the training ends? Does Carbon Literacy lead to lasting changes in confidence, behaviour and action? What enables people to put their learning into practice, and what barriers might prevent them from doing so?

To answer these questions, we partnered with the Design Museum on a collaborative evaluation project to better understand the longer-term impact of Carbon Literacy Training across the neighborhood.

Drawing on participant details and their Evidence Forms, post-training feedback, follow-up surveys and in-depth participant interviews, the evaluation looked at how CLT influences confidence, behaviours and actions over time. It also examined progress against individual and collective climate commitments, as well as the wider ripple effects of Carbon Literacy across teams and institutions.

The findings offer valuable insights into the factors that help people translate climate awareness into meaningful action. They highlight the important role of senior leadership support, organisational culture and institutional buy-in in sustaining momentum beyond the training itself. At the same time, they identify common barriers that can make action more difficult and point to opportunities for strengthening future programmes.

Understanding these impacts is an important step in improving how we deliver CLT and supporting more people to turn climate awareness into lasting change.

Want to explore the findings?

Read the full evaluation report to discover the key insights and recommendations for training providers, organisations and the Carbon Literacy Trust.

Download the report here.