THE team at a Bradford-based garden centre group is celebrating after becoming the first to accredit its own Carbon Literacy Training.

The team at Yorkshire Garden Centres has developed the training programme in conjunction with the award-winning Manchester charity, The Carbon Literacy Project in order to equip its 509 employees with the skills to contribute to becoming a carbon-neutral business.

The Carbon Literacy Project is based on the premise that, in order to cut carbon emissions by the kind of reductions demanded by science, then the culture needs to change alongside technology.

Steph Bates, Yorkshire Garden Centres' sustainability lead, said: "We plan to roll out the Carbon Literacy workshops to all of our employees, ensuring everyone has the opportunity to learn and embrace positive changes to reduce their carbon impacts.

“The aim is to create more awareness of the environmental costs and impacts of greenhouse gas emissions through our everyday activities, and to inspire people to reduce emissions on an individual, community and company basis.

"The project is one of many of our sustainability initiatives and will see our whole team do the training and make over 800 carbon-reducing pledges by December 2024.”

For every pledge made by its team, Yorkshire Garden Centres are donating £5 to support Carbon Literacy Education in Schools and Community Groups.