Manchester mayor presents Auto Trader with first ever Carbon Literacy Catalyst Individual Award
Friday 6th October 2023, London – Christos Tsaprounis, Auto Trader’s People and Culture Director, has been recognised by The Carbon Literacy Project, for his exceptional contribution to delivering Carbon Literacy.
Alongside Dr Rachel Dunk, Principal Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University, Christos has been honoured with the inaugural Carbon Literacy Catalyst Individual Awards during the Greater Manchester Green Summit earlier this week, presented by Manchester’s Mayor, Andy Burnham.
The Carbon Literacy Project is a UN-recognised Manchester-born initiative promoting climate change action, awarded Christos for his unwavering commitment and leadership in advancing Carbon Literacy and climate action - not just in Auto Trader, which was the first FTSE 100 company to achieve Platinum Carbon Literate Organisation status, but also in the broader automotive sector.
Auto Trader developed the first Carbon Literacy training programme for automotive sector staff in 2019. Having witnessed its success in engaging their own employees in essential emissions reduction, Christos pioneered the development of a shareable training Toolkit for the sector. The Toolkit is available free to any employer in the automotive industry thanks to funding from Auto Trader and has already been used to train circa 1,700 people from 135 different businesses across the whole automotive industry.
The toolkit, which was launched at COP26 in November 2021, marked the first of its kind for the automotive industry and was carefully designed in close collaboration with a number of leading automotive retailers and manufacturers, including Lookers, Nissan, Marshall Motor Group, Motorpoint and Available Car.
In less than two years individuals from businesses representing the full breadth of the automotive industry have been trained and certified as Carbon Literate through the Toolkit, including retailers (incl. Carbase, Dick Lovett, Drive Green, Hendy Group, Inchcape, John Clark, Perrys, Sinclair Group, Snows, Smallbone & Sons, TrustFord), manufacturers (incl. Audi, BMW Group, Citroen, Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, KIA, Stellantis, Vauxhall Motors, Volkswagen Group), finance houses (incl. Ford Credit, Lloyds Banking Group, PSA Finance, RCI Bank, Santander Consumer Finance, Suzuki Finance, Toyota Financial Service, Volvo Financial Services), leasing companies (incl. Alphabet GB, Arval), parts suppliers (incl. SYNETIQ), EV charge point operators (incl. Co Charger), and industry representative bodies (incl. BVRLA, IMI, NFDA, SMMT).
Christos' dedication to creating a more sustainable automotive industry has set a precedent for this and other high emissions sectors – Auto Trader are now supporting the development of a Carbon Literacy training Toolkit for the digital sector.
Phil Korbel, Director of Advocacy at The Carbon Literacy Project, said:
"The extraordinary growth of Carbon Literacy is propelled by its champions, so we are delighted to honour Christos and Rachel with the first ever Carbon Literacy Catalyst Individual Awards. Their tireless efforts and dedication to catalysing Carbon Literacy as a core competence are simply inspirational and serve as a beacon for others to follow. We are proud to have them celebrated as part of our community of change-makers."
The awards ceremony formed part of the Greater Manchester Green Summit, a prestigious annual event bringing together thought leaders, policymakers, and advocates to discuss and drive progress on sustainability and climate change issues within the Greater Manchester region. Mayor Andy Burnham, a strong advocate for climate action, presented the awards to Christos and Rachel.
Commenting on his award, Christos Tsaprounis, Auto Trader’s People and Culture Director said:
“The partnership between Carbon Literacy and Auto Trader is the result of two organisations coming together and making a real difference to an industry. I am so proud of everything our teams we have achieved so far and even more committed to continue our work together.”
-ENDS-
NOTES TO EDITORS
About Auto Trader
Auto Trader Group plc is the UK’s largest automotive marketplace. It listed on the London Stock Exchange in March 2015 and is a member of the FTSE 100 Index.
Auto Trader’s purpose is Driving Change Together. Responsibly. Auto Trader is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive culture, it aims to build stronger partnerships with its customers and use its voice and influence to drive more environmentally friendly vehicle choices.
With the largest number of car buyers and the largest choice of trusted stock, Auto Trader’s marketplace sits at the heart of the UK car buying process. That marketplace is built on an industry-leading technology and data platform, which is increasingly used across the automotive industry. Auto Trader is continuing to bring more of the car buying journey online, creating an improved buying experience, whilst enabling all its retailer partners to sell vehicles online.
Auto Trader publishes a monthly used car Retail Price Index which is based on pricing analysis of circa 800,000 unique vehicles. This data is used by the Bank of England to feed the broader UK economic indicators.
For more information, please visit: www.plc.autotrader.co.uk
For all media enquiries, please contact:
Andrew Nankervis | Andrew.Nankervis@autotrader.co.uk 07720 896760
Carbon Literacy is: “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.”
It is achieved through participation in, and successful testing and certification of individuals as Carbon Literate at the completion of a day’s worth of learning and action.
The Carbon Literacy Project (www.carbonliteracy.com)
The Carbon Literacy Project (CLP) was created and founded in 2011 and launched publicly in November 2012.
Note: Carbon Literacy ® and Carbon Literacy Project ® are registered trademarks belonging to the award-winning climate charity The Carbon Literacy Trust (registered charity number: 1156722).
The term Carbon Literacy is correctly capitalised as a noun: It is, therefore “Carbon Literacy” not “carbon literacy”.
The Project's Brand Guidelines covering the usage of Carbon Literacy terminology and imagery are available at https://carbonliteracy.com/our-brand-guidelines/
The Carbon Literacy Trust: In 2013, The Carbon Literacy Trust (registered charity number: 1156722) was established and took on all Carbon Literacy Project assets, so that the charity’s trustees could oversee the dissemination of Carbon Literacy across the UK and beyond, for the public good.
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