The UQ Carbon Literacy Program has taken out a top prize in the Next Generation Learning and Skills category at the 2022 Australasian Green Gown Awards. The category recognises exceptional contributions to sustainability education, and UQ’s unique focus on behavioural change made its program a stand-out among local climate learning solutions.
See our win wrap on the Green Gown Awards site.
The University of Queensland and the University of Tasmania tied as joint winners within Next Generation Learning and Skills, and UQ warmly congratulates its UTAS peers on their fantastic online sustainability course initiative.
As tied Australasian winner of the category, both universities will now go on to compete for the global title at the 2023 International Green Gown Awards.
The UQ Repair Café was also nominated as a finalist in this year’s awards in the Student Engagement category.
About the UQ Carbon Literacy Program
With a curriculum that is intellectually rigorous, yet focused on the impact of everyday activities, the UQ Carbon Literacy Program goes beyond facts and statistics. It empowers learners to take action, with each participant designing their own tailored pledge to reduce emissions and lower their carbon footprint.
A short, internationally accredited course, the UQ Carbon Literacy Program is developed and delivered by UQ's leading experts in business, sustainability and carbon literacy. It comprises eight hours of self-paced and face-to-face learning, and two additional hours of assessment.
More than 300 people have gained their carbon literacy certification since UQ launched the program in 2021. Businesses including PwC Australia and Boeing also partnering with the University to deliver the program in their organisations.
Inspiring new projects and ideas
In addition to its recognition in the Green Gown Awards, the program has received extraordinary feedback from past participants, many of whom have shared their resulting emissions reduction projects and ideas on LinkedIn.
These include UQ MBA candidate and founder of SureSolar, Daniel John Lake, who spoke about how he would make changes to his business processes to reduce his company’s carbon footprint. Professional mining engineer, Masud Hossain, from Alcoa, posted about his pledge to assist the mineral industry supply chain to think about sustainable resource extraction and consider making choices that benefit our collective future.
HR manager, Jorge Scarneo, at the Port of Brisbane said in his post that “partnering with UQ to offer formal carbon literacy training has had a profound professional and personal impact. Equipping our people with strong sustainability knowledge helps inform our organisational decision making and drives our vision to make every job a green job”.
PwC Australia Social Impact Director, Louise Halliwell, spoke about how the program “supports our firm’s focus on environmental sustainability and will help us to achieve our worldwide science-based commitment to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030”.
Earlier this year, staff from the UQ Business School who completed the UQ Carbon Literacy Program banded together to create a new sustainability garden for the University as part of their program pledge.
About the Green Gown Awards
The Green Gown Awards are an international program dedicated to recognising – and defining – sustainability best practice in the tertiary education sector. They provide a benchmark for excellence, and are highly respected by government, senior management, academics and students.
The awards are administered locally by Australasian Campuses Towards Sustainability (ACTS), who are a founding partner of the International Green Gown Awards, which first began in the United Kingdom and now incorporate all of the UK, France and French-speaking countries.
