Earth Day: Small Steps, Big Impact - Why It Matters to City & Guilds

Join our Going Green campaign and make a pledge to reduce your carbon footprint

13 April 2023

Earth Day is an annual event celebrated on 22 April to raise awareness about environmental issues and encourage people to take action for a cleaner, healthier planet. The first Earth Day took place in 1970, and since then, it has grown into a global movement that mobilises millions of people each year. 

Whether you consider yourself an environmentalist or not, Earth Day is relevant to us all. Environmental issues affect every aspect of our lives. Air and water quality directly influence our health, while climate change is causing more frequent and severe weather events, such as floods, droughts, and heatwaves. 

Loss of biodiversity threatens the delicate balance of ecosystems, leading to food shortages and reduced resilience to natural disasters. Earth Day is an opportunity to connect with nature, realise the impact of our daily actions, and learn how small changes can make a big difference – both as organisations and individuals.

Earth Day and City & Guilds

Our Net Zero Manager Martyn Poessinouw explains what Earth Day means to City & Guilds, and how to get involved with our campaign:

“Celebrating Earth Day is an important statement about our ongoing commitment to the planet. We have already started our Net Zero journey to reduce global warming and the impacts of Climate Change, including:

• launching an initiative to train our staff in Carbon Literacy;
• setting up a Planet working group to reduce our impact on the environment;
• exploring our role in equipping organisations and industries with the capabilities to decarbonise their products and services. 

But we believe there is so much more we can do by harnessing the power of our City & Guilds networks… We have decided to celebrate Earth Day for the first time, joining with 150,000 organisations across 192 countries to drive positive action for the planet. 

This year’s theme is “Invest in our Planet”, which means spending time and resources to combat the ever-increasing threat of Climate Change. The Earth Day team have identified over 50 actions that we can each take (learn more at earthday.org) to make a difference.

Our online initiative, Going Green, will launch on 17 April in the build-up to Earth Day. To get involved, we invite you to turn these actions (or action of your choice) into carbon “pledges” - small things that we can commit to doing once, or throughout the year, as an individual or an organisation that collectively will make a difference to the future of the planet.”

Whether it’s choosing sustainable transportation, supporting local and sustainable products, educating and engaging others in green talks, supporting green initiatives, or switching to renewable energy sources, the collective impact of actions cannot be underestimated.

Learn more about how you can get involved at our Going Green page