A Manx government department is paying £1,465 a month for staff across the public sector to be given carbon literacy training.

Island-based Earthscope was appointed by the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture in 2023 to support the government’s Climate Change Plan and specifically the commitment to ‘equip government staff with the knowledge needed to deliver effective climate action’.

Since the launch of carbon literacy training in January 2024, 408 staff have completed the one-day course with Earthscope—around 5% of the total workforce. In total it has cost £29,408.25 so far.

Sarah Mercer, who co-founded the social enterprise with Matthew Warren in 2023, said: ‘The response has been really positive.’

She said government staff who had received the training had shown enthusiasm for change and the need to take action.

In the first year, training was provided twice a month and this year it’s been once a month plus online sessions. These will continue until August.

Details were requested by Glenfaba and Peel MHK Kate Lord-Brennan in a Tynwald question to DEFA Minister Clare Barber.

In her written reply, Mrs Barber confirmed Earthscope’s monthly contract fee is £1,465.

During this year’s Budget debate, Ms Lord-Brennan called for the island’s Net Zero campaign to be abandoned as ‘superfluous’.

It was quite an about-face for the former Cabinet Office minister who brought forward a Tynwald motion in 2022 calling for a target of reducing carbon emissions by 45% by 2035.

A spokesperson for DEFA said the training ‘aims to build awareness among public sector workers of the carbon costs and impacts of their action - both at home and at work - to motivate them to reduce emissions on an individual, community, and organisational basis’.

Miss Mercer said 50% of Earthscope’s profits go into a community seed fund for sustainability projects, due to be launched this year, with the remaining profit invested in the enterprise.