The School has been awarded a Bronze accreditation by the UN-recognised Carbon Literacy Project for embedding climate education and action, through Carbon Literacy awareness, into its institution and ethos, and facilitating a cultural shift towards a zero carbon society.
To date, the Project has trained over 105,937 individuals from over 7,800 organisations on climate change awareness. At COP21, in Paris, it was recognised by the UN where it was awarded as a TAP100, one of 100 worldwide Transformative Action Programmes.
As part of Bristol Medical School’s accreditation process, 65 staff and students completed a day’s training to learn about carbon dioxide costs, the impacts of carbon emissions from everyday activities, and how emissions can be reduced at an individual, community, and institutional level.
Lucy Westover, the Bristol Medical School Sustainability Officer who led the initiative, said: “We are thrilled to have this recognition. The School has long shown a commitment to sustainability and climate action and Carbon Literacy training is a fundamental part of helping to achieve our net zero targets.
“We have already achieved Gold LEAF accreditation in 100 per cent of our labs, and a further 100 Bristol Medical School staff and students have signed up to take part in the next Carbon Literacy training course. Our goal is to achieve silver accreditation and the training of a further 650 staff and students.”
Professor Chrissie Thirlwell, Head of Bristol Medical School, added: “I am delighted that we are the first Medical School in the UK to achieve the Bronze Carbon Literacy Award.
“We all have a part to play in Climate Action, and during our training, staff and students have made some important pledges. These include, reducing our cold storage, introducing vegetarian and vegan meals to our catering, and consolidating our purchase orders to reduce packaging and deliveries.
“We believe encouraging and educating our staff and students through increasing awareness of Carbon Literacy is fundamental to us achieving our net zero goals. I would like to thank all our staff and students who have taken part in this important initiative to date.”
Lucy Westover will be presented with the accreditation award at a ceremony on Wednesday 16 October.