Ecosurety, a packaging compliance and data specialist, partnered with Lighthouse Sustainability to build Carbon Literacy into the business, and create a new, industry-first training offer for the packaging sector.
After an initial leadership session, Lighthouse helped Ecosurety co-develop a bespoke Carbon Literacy for Packaging course, train internal facilitators, and support its rollout. This gave Ecosurety the tools to run Carbon Literacy Training in-house and with its members.
As a result, carbon is now higher on the business agenda, large numbers of staff and external organisations have been trained, and Ecosurety has progressed to Gold Carbon Literate Organisation status, with Platinum now in sight.
Ecosurety already operated in the environmental sector, but that did not mean carbon was central to packaging decisions. The starting point came when Ben Luger, Marketing Projects Specialist at Ecosurety, discovered carbon literacy through volunteer work and immediately saw its potential for the business.
As he explains, most packaging compliance discussions were centred on recyclability and cost, rather than carbon impact. This meant businesses could make packaging changes that met compliance goals, without making the best carbon choices.
At the same time, Ecosurety was starting its own net zero journey, and knew this could not be owned by one person or one team. Carbon needed to be understood across the business, from leadership level to operational roles. The opportunity was not just internal. Ecosurety could also see the potential to influence the major brands and packaging producers it worked with.
The delivery
Buoyed by his volunteering with the Carbon Literacy Project, Ben Luger brought the idea of carbon literacy into Ecosurety and helped get it in front of the leadership team.
Lighthouse Sustainability was then brought in to deliver an initial face-to-face session for senior leaders, including the CEO. That session secured senior buy-in and helped pave the way for the next stage of the work.
From there, Lighthouse worked closely with Ecosurety to co-develop an accredited Carbon Literacy for Packaging course, combining core carbon literacy content with material tailored to the packaging sector.
Lighthouse also helped Ecosurety develop the course to accreditation standard and trained internal facilitators through its Train the Trainer model. This gave the business the skills and confidence to deliver the programme in-house and to packaging producers within its member network.
Impact
The results have gone well beyond awareness. Internally, carbon is now on the board agenda and has become part of how teams think across the business. Ecosurety has trained nearly 100 employees over time, with around 70 current staff now carbon literate as the company continues to grow.
That impact has reached well beyond Ecosurety itself. The business has trained more than 75 packaging producers from over 50 companies, including people in influential roles at major global brands whose decisions affect large volumes of packaging. Ben described a ripple effect in which one person attends the training, sees its value, and then encourages colleagues to join future sessions or explore how carbon literacy could be rolled out more widely across their organisation.
The training has also helped create new opportunities for the business. Ecosurety has developed products to help members analyse the carbon impact of packaging decisions, while continuing to build its own carbon literacy credentials. Since starting the journey, Ecosurety has progressed through Carbon Literate Organisation levels to Gold and is now working towards Platinum.
Next steps
Ecosurety is now focused on growing the reach of its carbon literacy work. Having achieved Gold Carbon Literate Organisation status, the business is now working towards Platinum and looking beyond training numbers to broader sector impact.
That next phase included sponsoring the Carbon Literate Awards, funding a free community toolkit to widen access, and exploring third-party partnerships to extend the reach of its packaging-specific training.
Alongside this, Ecosurety continues to train staff and packaging producers as the business grows. What started with Ben championing the idea internally has developed into a long-term programme with influence well beyond Ecosurety.
If you want to turn climate targets into action, talk to the Lighthouse Sustainability team today!