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Carbon Literacy Consortium Demonstrates Partnership Working at it’s Very Best

Carbon Literacy Cartrefi Cymru – CLCC is a consortium of 27 Welsh registered social landlords, who have pooled their money and resources to increase Carbon Literacy within their organisations.

The project aims to give everyone the opportunity to explore what the reality of climate change means for them in their home life and work life.  Equipped with the facts on how human activity, climate and natural systems are inter-related, individuals, communities and organisations are helped to take action to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses.

This month seven of the housing associations – Linc Cymru, Taff Housing, Melin Homes, Hafod Housing, Wales and West Housing, Pobl Group, and Tai Tarian – undertook the Carbon Literacy trainer course facilitated through Cynnal Cymru and delivered by Manchester Metropolitan University.

This means nine staff have now completed the course with a further 74 staff signed up in October to complete the train the trainer course. This demonstrates great partnership working and a corporate commitment from all – the trainers within each organisation will roll out training to other staff members in the new year.

Luke Penny – Carbon Literacy Cartrefi Cymru coordinator said:

“It is so exciting to see the first cohort of CLCC trainers go through the Carbon Literacy train the trainer course. This is the first step in establishing a peer to peer learning programme of Carbon Literacy across Welsh housing – empowering organisations to up their game in the response to climate change.”

Director of Cynnal Cymru Sarah Hopkins said:

“This is the second Carbon Literacy consortium that Cynnal Cymru has helped to set up but is by far the largest and most ambitious. We have learned a great deal from the experience and look forward to replicating this great model of partnership and collaboration with other sectors that want to become Carbon Literate.”

Dave Coleman from Carbon Literacy said:

“It has already been inspirational working with Welsh Housing Associations. Seeing and hearing the passion for collaborative working, and the level of commitment to reducing carbon footprint across their organisations, staff and communities is fantastic. We look forward to seeing the partnership continue to thrive and grow, and to seeing the results of that success, in the organisations, communities and nation of Wales.”

Find out more

Find our more about our Carbon Literacy training

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Making Cardiff a Living Wage City

The Action Plan includes:
• Increasing the number of accredited Living Wage employers to 150 by 2022.
• Increasing the number of people working for accredited Living Wage employers to 48,000 by 2022.
• Encouraging major employers, iconic employers and ‘anchor’ organisations in Cardiff to become accredited Living Wage employers.
• Supporting small businesses to accredit through the Council’s Living Wage Accreditation Support Scheme.

There are already over 100 Cardiff Living Wage employers signed to the scheme.

If you are an accredited Living Wage employer in Cardiff please consider joining our LinkedIn group to build a community of fair pay employers in the city. Your primary contact for accreditation will shortly receive an e-mail inviting the organisation to join.

If you a Cardiff-based organisation that has not yet accredited and would like to do so please get in touch, we are at hand to support you through all stages of accreditation and Cardiff Council’s support scheme offers a reimbursement of fees up to the value of £720 if you accredit before March 2021. 

Cardiff Council Living Wage Accreditation Support Scheme

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Cynnal Cymru becomes the first Carbon Literacy Training Organisation in Wales

In April 2020, Cynnal Cymru – Sustain Wales was recognised as the first Carbon Literacy Training Organisation (CLTO) in Wales. This accreditation is testament to Cynnal Cymru’s commitment to accelerating action on climate change by providing over 80 organisations with the training and support needed to reduce their carbon emissions.

The award-winning Carbon Literacy Project aims to give everyone a day’s worth of learning on the causes and consequences of climate change and the practical actions individuals can take in their home, workplaces and community to reduce carbon emissions. A globally unique project, it has been recognised by the UN as one of its 100 Transformative Action Programmes.

Cynnal Cymru has been the official partner of The Carbon Literacy Project since 2017, delivering accredited Carbon Literacy training across Wales to a variety of organisations including United Welsh, Cardiff Council, The National Museum of Wales, Public Health Wales, Community Housing Cymru, WCVA and many SMEs, charities and voluntary organisations.

In February 2020, Cynnal Cymru facilitated the creation of a consortium of 27 housing associations and social housing providers to launch ‘Carbon Literacy Cartrefi Cymru’.   The consortium will develop bespoke Carbon Literacy courses for the social housing sector and enable a network of trainers to cascade peer to peer learning throughout this sector. Consortium members have agreed in principal to support each other in order to realise the goal of a decarbonised social housing and care sector in Wales.

Sarah Hopkins, Director at Cynnal Cymru said:

One of Cynnal Cymru’s key objectives is to accelerate progress to a low carbon economy in Wales and we are really pleased to become the first accredited CLTO in Wales. Carbon Literacy training provides an effective combination of scientific understanding and ideas for practical action to give participants the confidence to take action in response to the climate emergency. It’s really positive to see an increased interest in this training and we are looking forward to providing a remotely delivered course from May 2020.

Rhodri Thomas, Principal Trainer said:

The Carbon Literacy Project continues to grow in Wales, with the Museum sector, Public Health and Social Housing all embracing the concept as a way to inform and empower the workforce to make rational and proportionate choices in their private lives while supporting the strategic goals of their organisations. Covid-19 provides an interesting challenge in terms of how we frame the climate change conversation and deliver training remotely but it’s more important than ever to ensure we tackle climate change to safeguard our future.

Dave Coleman, Managing Director and Co-founder of The Carbon Literacy Project said:

Cynnal Cymru has been pivotal in helping to disseminate the Carbon Literacy message across Wales, helping The Project reach and engage with a more diverse cross-section of the Welsh community than we could possibly achieved otherwise. We’re delighted to accredit Cynnal as a Carbon Literacy Training Organisation, and see it join the ranks of a select few organisations at the top of their game in developing and delivering Carbon Literacy training, and so far the only organisation in Wales to have done so.

Cynnal Cymru becomes the first Carbon Literacy Training Organisation in Wales Read More »

Networking Lunch and Learn with BIPVco

In January 2019 we held our monthly networking lunch in partnership with Cynnal Cymru member BIPVco. Guests enjoyed a short presentation before being given an exclusive tour of the factory in Newport, where they got to see first hand the different manufacturing stages of their innovative thin film technology.

The visit provided a great opportunity to see the different range of innovative products designed and produced in-house by BIPVco and MIPV, with the opportunity to ask questions about the technical capabilities and potential applications from buildings to mobile applications.

About BIPVco and MIPV

BIPVco is a Newport based manufacturer of innovative and leading edge building integrated photovoltaic systems.  BIPVco is committed to factory incorporation of PV functionality to the building fabric to drive quality, value, holistic / aesthetic  integration and superior performance. Collaborating with major building envelope substrate and component manufacturers, BIPVco is able to offer sympathetically integrated solar powered roof and wall solutions for residential, institutional and industrial buildings. The products are ideally suited for the UK climate with excellent low light performance. The adopted thin film technology also has the advantage of being light weight, flexible and able to take the building form. It also has inbuilt design features to avoid disproportionate loss of power under partial shading. Turning buildings into power stations without making them look like one.

MIPV is a Newport based manufacturer of thin film flexible solar panels specifically sized to suit a range of mobile applications ranging from leisure vehicles such caravans, motorhomes and boats, service vehicles such as ambulances, police cars and vans to transport fleets including trucks, vans and refrigerated containers. The light weight flexible modules can be easily integrated onto the body of the vehicle without spoiling the aerodynamic characteristics of the vehicle nor adding significant weight. The highly efficient modules can provide trickle charge, eliminate idling times (and associated pollution), provide cooling function to refrigerated vehicles and enhance mpg by reducing alternator load or extend battery range of EV vehicles. The uniqueness of the MIPV technology is that unlike conventional crystalline cells, the flexible thin film solar cells do not crack and fail prematurely in dynamic mobile applications.

Find out more about BIPVco on their website.

 About our Networking Lunches

Cynnal Cymru works in partnership with our members to provide a range of networking lunch experiences throughout the year. Each lunch is unique and takes place in a different venue, to give our members the chance to showcase their work to a new audience. Last year we were delighted to partner up with Ballet Cymru, WWF Cymru, WCVA and Constructing Excellence in Wales.

If you would like to find out more about our membership or would like to co-host one of our future events, please get in touch.

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