The period of Lent in 2024 is from February 14th until March 28th.

Low Carbon Lent is a social value initiative originated by City Science, a company that helps clients achieve decarbonisation.

Laurence Oakes-Ash, City Science Founder and CEO, comments:

“While our employees are regularly advising clients about decarbonisation, we wanted to find ways to help them take individual action to address climate change themselves. Low Carbon Lent was one of the results of our brainstorming.

The goal with Low Carbon Lent is to get people to do something to help solve the climate crisis right away, but also engage with and understand all the things they can do to make a difference.

“Change is hard, and the thought of it can be scary. By limiting the commitment to 40 days, we hope more people will start. Hopefully, some people will find it easier than they thought and may even keep their change going.”

What you change is entirely up to you. The idea is to try something new that will lower your carbon footprint. Last year some people gave up meat, some stopped using the car to get to work and adopted public transport, some stopped buying imported fruit, some stopped buying single-serve drinks and took a reusable bottle with them. You get the idea but what you choose is entirely up to you

• To encourage more people to take part
• So we can see and share people's commitments
• Because we're more likely to stick with a commitment when it's made publically. Don't believe us? Check this out.

If Lent has already started, don't worry - just get going as soon as you can!

The idea is just to make a temporary commitment, so going back to how you were before would not be an issue. However, we've found people trying this often decide to continue with the change indefinitely or to make different changes instead. But that's totally up to you!