Employees 'need more training on CO2 reduction'

News Article - 26 March 2008
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Workers in Britain need more training on how to reduce firms' carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, a new report states.

Research by YouGov reveals that green workplace training is being omitted from business agendas, with eight out of ten employees concerned that no training is in place at their organisation.

The poll also reveals that just one in five respondents believe that their employer is taking enough steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and two-thirds (66 per cent) claim that the employers have made no attempts to encourage them to explore ways of cutting CO2 emissions.

Conducted on behalf of the Carbon Trust, the survey of over 4,300 people found that the vast majority of those who had undertaken green training (93 per cent) had found it "fairly" or "very" useful.

Hugh Jones, Carbon Trust solutions director, said: "You can put in a new energy-efficient boiler, or install low-energy light bulbs, and those will make a difference, but many of the measures that will have the biggest impact and achieve the greatest savings require buy-in across your workforce."

Meanwhile, telecoms giant BT has announced that it has found that there is a direct link between getting workers involved in tackling climate change and staff engagement and retention, with almost one in three employees attending at least one session during an internal corporate social responsibility (CSR) week this month.

Access Accounting has developed business accounting software that helps companies to calculate their carbon footprint and make changes to reduce their impact on the environment.

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