You’ve completed your Carbon Literacy training and committed to your pledge. So what now?
In this webinar we’ll be inviting you to share your progress following your training. From the practicalities of implementing your pledge to the small actions that are making a difference, we’ll be sharing some of the challenges and achievements of taking action.
Join Senior Sustainability Adviser, Farah Lodhi-Jones for a conversation about the next steps you can take to put your pledge into practice.
Who is this for:
This webinar is suitable for those who are already certified Carbon Literate.
When:
It will be taking place online via Microsoft Teams from 10-11am GMT
Farah has been delivering Carbon Literacy and sustainability training to multiple sectors and is an officially recognised Carbon Literacy trainer with the Carbon Literacy Project. Having worked with global brands and organisations on developing their sustainability climate education and training, Farah is passionate about connecting global climate action with local initiatives. She speaks multiple languages and has a lived global experience of working on environment projects across Europe and the global south.
Trivallis is excited to announce that they have been officially accredited as a Silver Carbon Literate Organisation. This achievement reflects their ongoing commitment to building a low carbon future and highlights the growing strength of sustainability across our organisation.
This milestone follows the successful accreditation of 170 staff members who are now Carbon Literate. Their learning and commitment have helped create a shared understanding of climate change, giving people the confidence to take practical action as part of their roles. This includes reducing waste, improving asset planning, supporting long term efficiency and shaping services that meet the needs of Trivallis tenants and communities.
A meaningful step in their sustainability journey
Carbon Literacy is supporting Trivallis to embed climate conscious thinking into everyday decisions. It is helping them work in a more informed and consistent way and making sustainability a core part of their culture.
Dave Coleman, Co-Founder and Managing Director of The Carbon Literacy Project, said: “By becoming a Silver accredited Carbon Literate Organisation, Trivallis has demonstrated its commitment to genuine low carbon action, environmental and economic impact, and the building of a low carbon future for us all.”
Working in partnership with Cynnal Cymru
“Our progress has been supported by our partnership with Cynnal Cymru, whose expertise in delivering and shaping Carbon Literacy training has supported us in creating a bespoke training programme for Trivallis staff. In this, they have helped our staff gain the knowledge and momentum needed to influence change across Trivallis.”
Jason Shilcock, Head of Training and Advice at Cynnal Cymru, said:
“Working in partnership with Trivallis was both rewarding and fulfilling. Having an organisation that truly recognises the difference it can make to local people and communities and supports its staff to be as knowledgeable as possible to make informed decisions and take meaningful actions, is invaluable. We thank the team at Trivallis and congratulate you heartily on such well-deserved recognition of all your hard work. Llongyfarchiadau mawr!”
Looking ahead and staying Lit-erate with our Carbon Literacy training
Trivallis plan to build on this strong foundation by training a further 30 to 40 colleagues each year, ensuring carbon awareness continues to grow across the organisation and is sustained over the long term. Staff within the organisation have attended the ‘delivering successful Carbon Literacy workshop’ meaning they can deliver the training themselves to our staff.
Vic, Director of Assets and Sustainability, said:
“This Silver Award is a real testament to the commitment of our staff and their drive towards making Trivallis a net zero organisation. It also supports colleagues to make positive changes in their personal lives as well as impacting decisions on how we operate as a business.”
Trivallis have also been invited to take part in wider Carbon Literacy celebrations, which includes the awards ceremony taking place in Manchester in summer 2026. Thank you to everyone involved.
Together, these accreditations demonstrate that Trivallis is taking meaningful, measurable steps towards a more sustainable future. As they continue to expand Carbon Literacy training and embed low carbon thinking across their services, they remain committed to leading by example and creating lasting benefits for our people, homes and communities.
Trivallis are a community mutual housing association which is owned by their tenants, rooted in their local communities, and working through collaboration and partnership.
This year we will be running our first Train the Trainer: Carbon Literacy Course. Our new Head of Training and Advice, Jason Shilcock, spoke to our Senior Sustainability Adviser, Farah Lodhi-Jones, to ask her who our new course is for and what are the added benefits in designing and delivering your own Carbon Literacy Course.
First, tell us a little bit about your own Carbon Literacy journey and what led you to becoming a trainer?
I was living in China for a number of years and I had experience of their industrial growth and development, and the terrible air quality. I was living through that daily, so I started to question how people lived and what the cost was of socio-economic development vs environmental impacts. I was able to travel around Asia, and became more aware of how more people were being affected by the environment, in the name of development. This led me to, an MSc certification in climate change and water resource management policy from SOAS and subsequently worked on projects in Indonesia with local farmers, using legacy funding from BAT and Fauna and Flora conducting their biodiversity risk assessment on key island watershed. I then moved to Italy where someone mentioned the Carbon Literacy Project to me in 2021. With starting a family, and changing the pace of work, I volunteered with them and then joined them in Advocacy, using all the skills I’d learnt on the ground to create courses for clients.
Can you tell us why Cynnal Cymru – Sustain Wales developed this new course?
Good question! I think it was just the right time! Cynnal Cymru is so experienced in this field and has seen how companies and organisations roll out this training to some of their staff, but can then be at a bit of a loss what to do next. The knowledge just “sits there”, unless you’ve got a passionate person who is going to take that up or different teams to drive it forward. We’d received requests to do Train the Trainer courses, so we needed to help people learn how to run peer-to-peer learning in their own organisations.
Who is this course for and what can they hope to gain from the course personally and professionally?
This course is for anyone who’s already Carbon Literate and who is ready to take the next step. Whether that’s leading, delivering, or supporting Carbon Literacy training sessions in your organisation or community. It’s ideal for senior managers, team leaders, board members or volunteers and is a space where they can get sort of reflections and peer-to-peer conversations and collaborations with other people in the room as well.
What practical training skills can participants expect to gain from the course?
This is a highly practical course where trainers gain hands-on experience in delivering Carbon Literacy training that works for all kinds of audiences. Traditionally it’s spread across three half-days and looks at the Carbon Literacy standard, how to find your confidence and skills in being a trainer and finally a hands-on session where we look at a section the trainer has prepared and give peer feedback. So, it’s very dynamic. It… can be quite challenging. It’s quite an intense few days, but also, I think, quite rewarding for people when they have been through that process and they can reflect. It also teaches the trainers flexibility and how to think on their feet, as every course is different.
What do enjoy most about supporting new Carbon Literacy trainers, and what impact do you hope participants will go on to have after completing the programme?
I love seeing the passion that people bring, and people really wanting to believe that they can make a change. It’s about unlocking feelings within that room – people do feel like they can unlock a little bit of positivity for themselves personally. Some trainers have been tasked by their leadership to do this sustainability training work, while still doing another full-time job on the side, so it can be daunting. So, a huge part of my enjoyment comes from unlocking that passion in people again and seeing them recognise their growth over the three sessions.
Finally, when is the next course and how do people sign up?
The next open course starts in June, with three sessions taking place on the 29th June, 1st and 6th July
The Foundational Economy was one of the vogue economic policy ideas of the fifth Senedd (2016-2021). It had many parents. The works of the Foundational Economy Collective gave it a sound academic basis. A group of politicians – Lee Waters (who later led on the concept in government), Jeremy Miles, Vikki Howells, and the late Hefin David – brought a debate to the Senedd calling for the Welsh Government to develop a strategy to ‘maximise the impact of the Foundational Economy’. Organisations such as the FSB and Wales’ think-tanks also developed their own thoughts on the concept. And organisations across civic life in Wales sought to become a part of a movement that appeared to be the next big idea.
So, what exactly is the Foundational Economy? At Cynnal Cymru we’ve worked with the Welsh Government to help define their response to this question in developing a new ‘Mission Statement’ for their work on the Foundational Economy. The Welsh Government says the following in its Mission Statement:
“The term ‘foundational economy’ refers to the sectors of the economy that provide the goods and services that underpin everyday life. The Welsh Government is focused on the organisations and people in these sectors, as well as the quality and accessibility of the goods and services they provide.
The foundational economy is more than just infrastructure, employment and output. It is also citizens’ sense of control and belonging in their community. These sectors are by their nature immediate to people’s surroundings, and so they are vital social as well as physical infrastructure.”
There are consistent debates about what constitutes the Foundational Economy or a ‘Foundational Economy approach’. Some have argued for a descriptive definition – that is, the Foundational Economy is a description of certain sectors of the economy that underpin everyday life – for example care and health services, housing, food, and transport. The Welsh Government, for its part, has a strategic focus on the following sectors in the Foundational Economy:
care and health services, including social care and childcare
management of social housing
construction of residential and commercial buildings
energy and utilities
food
high street retail and services
tourism
public transport
Others have advocated for this to be developed into a more complex ‘analytical’ approach, introducing a ‘three-pillar concept of foundational liveability’, arguing that the liveability concept depends on the alignment of the three pillars of residual income (that is, income left over after spend on foundational goods and services), social infrastructure, and essential services. Whilst less easily communicable than the original concept, the advantage of this approach is that it takes us from the ‘what’ of the Foundational Economy concept to the ‘why’ and ‘how’.
Still more have advocated merger or absorption of the Foundational Economy concept with concepts that have a partial overlap, such as Community Wealth Building.
At Cynnal Cymru, we believe that a continued focus on the Foundational Economy is a welcome one, and we’re pleased to be working with the Welsh Government on this agenda. Here’s why.
Analysis by the Welsh Government finds that the Foundational Economy is a significant part of the Welsh economy. Over 60% of all Welsh headquartered businesses are within foundational sectors, and 51% of employees of Welsh VAT registered businesses are, too. It accounts for 47% of all turnover in Wales.
A geographic analysis of the Foundational Economy in Wales demonstrates the strength of the concept. As the Welsh Government’s Mission Statement states, the “The term ‘foundational economy’ refers to the sectors of the economy that provide the goods and services that underpin everyday life.”
Another way of looking at this could be ‘if you stripped out all non-essential economic activity, what would be left?’ Only that which is necessary to sustain life. The regional analysis of Wales demonstrates this in the real world. Some of the more rural areas see the vast majority (over 70%) of their businesses being placed in the Foundational Economy. Where there is additional economy activity – ‘non-essential’ or tradeable manufacturing and services, for example – the proportion is still high, but lower.
I should state that this economic activity is only ‘non-essential’ in the sense that it does not contribute to the immediate sustenance of life. It is, of course, a vital underpinning to wider quality of life, providing economic growth and good quality jobs.
The Foundational Economy, then, is a solid concept for understanding the economy around us. One Lee Waters quote from an Institute of Welsh Affairs piece stands out – “Of course we should continue to defend our tradable competitive economy, but we must pay more attention to the foundations of our economies”.
For Cynnal Cymru, this is an important framing that underpins the emphasis of governments focusing on the Foundational Economy. The ‘tradeable competitive economy’ can provide good quality jobs, has the potential to bring money into Wales, and can lower poverty rates through these mechanisms. Underpinning the idea of the Foundational Economy is that governments have focused on attracting charismatic sectors (with Artificial Intelligence being the latest focus for policy makers across the world) and paid little attention to the Foundational Economy sectors. A focus on the technologies of the future is important, and Wales should be doing what it can to reap the benefits. But work on these sectors doesn’t have to come at the expense of a focus on the Foundational Economy.
As the Welsh Government analysis shows, we can’t afford to ignore the Foundational Economy. It is too dominant in too many parts of Wales, and the ‘mundanity’ of some of these sectors has caused it to be a less interesting focus for many than charismatic sectors that employ far fewer people.
The working lives of people in the Foundational Economy matter just as much. And often they are defined by low wages, insecure hours, and non-unionised jobs. The Bevan Foundation undertook a research project into Fair Work in the Foundational Economy (with a focus on social care, hospitality, and retail) and found that working conditions were poor. These sectors found ‘a wide prevalence of comparatively low pay… where the majority of workers do not earn a real Living Wage’, ‘above average rates of part-time working’, and ‘low rates of in-work training’.
This makes a focus on the Foundational Economy the perfect partner for the Welsh Government’s ambition to raise levels of Fair Work in Wales – and the Foundational Economy and Fair Work (predominantly through the Living Wage) are the dual focuses of Cynnal Cymru’s Fair Economy team.
The Welsh Government has now published clear objectives in its Foundational Economy work:
Identify and support opportunities for more jobs, better jobs, greener jobs and promote fair work, including good pay, representation, security, and opportunity to progress.
Increase ‘household liveability’ by facilitating rising wages through promotion schemes such as Real Living Wage, helping increase the affordability of foundational essentials to support universal access to high quality goods and services.
Build local supply chains to keep people, skills and wealth in Wales.
Contribute towards addressing the climate and nature emergencies.
Encourage collaborative innovation and experimentation to improve basic goods and services, especially where these build resilient social infrastructure, such as through cooperative and community-owned projects.
These objectives form the basis for real action on the Foundational Economy. The people working in these sectors deserve to have good working lives, can make a real contribution to sustainability aims, and deliver services that all of us rely on.
Examples of the changes the Foundational Economy approach has made are abundant – and there is more to do. For example, Hywel Dda’s ‘grow your own’ approach to tackling recruitment problems by allowing alternative routes into healthcare employment, focused on building skills in the local community, can be spread to other health boards.
The Foundational Economy team’s direct project support has also created new opportunities. For example, it helped set up the Welsh Veg in Schools Programme. Prior to the project, over 94% of vegetables used in primary schools in Wales were sourced from outside of Wales, often frozen and non-organic. The project, beginning with just one grower, has now grown into a vibrant, multi-stakeholder project. By 2024, 8 growers had actively supplied 14 tonnes of organic Welsh veg for use in school meals. This was across 219 schools in six local authority areas. So far in 2025, the number of growers has expanded to 15, with 12 local authorities engaged. This means that approximately 1 million portions of local, organic veg will be served to school children in Wales as a direct result of the Foundational Economy project.
In housing, up to sixty-four local contractors have been supported to secure accreditations required to deliver retrofit work for homes across Wales. Based on feedback from the contractors, the funding will lead to over three hundred and fifty new jobs through the contractors securing additional work.
This is enabling local businesses to grow through securing more work, and creating new, skilled jobs. Delivery of the housing retrofit can be accelerated through additional contractor capacity, enabling residents to live in warmer, more energy efficient homes. This will lead to greater residual income, enable people to live healthier lives and reduce the climate impact of our housing stock.
The Welsh Government’s Foundational Economy programme has already supported the Living Wage accreditation process for major anchor employers in Wales such as local authorities, and there are exciting signs that this will expand in the future.
From a Living Wage for workers in Wales, to building skills and creating jobs for local people, to healthy, Welsh-grown food on children’s plates. All this and more has all stemmed from the Welsh Government’s focus on the Foundational Economy.
The working lives of people in the Foundational Economy and the services they provide for all of us are worthy of concerted focus. From academic concept to on-the-ground delivery, the Foundational Economy concept has delivered and is set to deliver more. We should take it into the seventh Senedd with pride.
Harry Thompson is Head of Fair Economy at Cynnal Cymru. Cynnal Cymru’s Fair Economy team has a dual focus – spreading the Living Wage across Wales, and supporting the Foundational Economy.
