Kia UK has today announced that it has been accredited as a Gold Carbon Literate Organisation, highlighting the organisation’s dedication towards tackling climate change, reducing its organisational carbon emissions, and its commitment to working towards a lower-carbon future.
Carbon Literacy is defined as, “an awareness of the carbon dioxide costs and impacts of everyday activities, and the ability and motivation to reduce emissions, on an individual, community and organisational basis”. The training revolves around a day’s worth of learning and action on climate change.
Kia UK’s Carbon Literacy journey began in November 2021, immediately following the first ever online Carbon Literacy course specifically designed for the automotive industry. Since then, to train its employees Kia partnered with Anthesis, a sustainability consultancy committed to guiding clients towards sustainable performance.
A Carbon Literate Organisation (CLO) is an organisation that has been accredited by The Carbon Literacy Project as being ‘culturally Carbon Literate’; maintaining a substantial proportion of its workforce as Carbon Literate and demonstrating Carbon Literacy through organisational behaviour. CLO accreditation works on a tiered system based upon increasing levels of commitment to action on climate change and creating a low-carbon culture.
To become accredited as a Gold Carbon Literate Organisation, Kia UK trained just under three quarters (71 per cent) of head office-based staff using bespoke Carbon Literacy training materials. In addition, Kia gained upwards of 70 per cent of colleagues making high-impact carbon reduction commitments following the training.
Paul Philpott, President and CEO of Kia UK, commented: “We’re delighted to receive Gold status as a business, highlighting our commitment in leading electrification whilst reducing carbon and emissions across our company, with the goal to reach net zero by 2045.
“Training staff in Carbon Literacy has been a rewarding and enlightening process, highlighting individuals’ energy use and how to reduce it. That realisation of what requires energy and creates emissions is an important step towards reducing our demands on the planet.
“Consequently, we have undergone independent ISO14064 verification to ensure our existing company-wide emissions are accurately measured. We are ready for the future and our ability to both reduce our carbon and overall emissions, while also running as an ever more efficient and effective thought-leading business.”
Carbon Reduction Plan and ISO14064
The first step towards being able to reduce emissions is to ensure the accurate measure of existing emissions. In February 2024, Kia UK formalised its latest Carbon Reduction Plan and received its independently verified ISO14064-1 verification statement, indicating that the company measures its emissions accurately. Moving forward, the ISO14064 standard is vital in being able to implement effective measures to reduce the company’s emissions. Emissions come from a number of sources including electricity use, waste, water, business travel and more.
Kia is committed to reducing its emissions and has already taken steps to reduce its energy consumption, for example by replacing high energy lighting with LEDs.
The company is further looking at measures including rooftop solar panels to dramatically reduce the building’s need for grid-supplied energy and champion local renewable energy production and an efficient workplace.
Carbon neutral by 2045
Kia Corporation set out its vision to become a truly sustainable, responsible, and innovative mobility solutions leader in November 2021, announcing its commitment to achieve carbon neutrality throughout the company’s value chain globally by 2045. By then, Kia plans to reduce 97 per cent of the company’s 2019 carbon emissions level.
