Vicky’s internship at the Carbon Trust
![Carbon Trust](https://i0.wp.com/wp.lancs.ac.uk/beyondlec/files/2017/02/Carbon-Trust.jpg?fit=490%2C210)
MSc Energy and the Environment student, and former LEC Earth and Environment student, Vicky Hudson spent her summer working for the Carbon Trust. Read about her experience below, which is a good example of exploiting the chance connections you can make at university!
What did you do this summer?
This summer I spent two weeks doing a student placement for the Carbon Trust at their head office in London. I worked on a variety of different projects, managed by different members of staff. My first project was doing a gap analysis to compare how a client’s competitors reported their scope 3 emissions so they could improve their own sustainability policy. (These are greenhouse gas emissions emitted indirectly by an organisation, such as through suppliers or customers.)
After summarising my findings, I helped produce some slides for the presentation which would be given to the client. I also worked on a project focusing on carbon sequestration. I researched ways to quantify how much this reduces a carbon footprint and wrote a report to summarise the different techniques. Another project was creating a model on Excel to predict a company’s future carbon emissions for a section of their scope 3 emissions up to 2030. I also conducted market research for several other projects.
How did you find out about it?
I have been a member of LUDanS (the university dance society) since first year, and was chatting to a friend I met through the society when she mentioned her dad worked for the Carbon Trust. Her dad is a senior consultant and he managed to arrange the work experience for me.
Did you have to apply?
Not exactly, I had a phonecall so they could learn more about my background and interests and then I emailed them more information about my modules I had done in my undergraduate (BSc Earth and Environmental Science). If I had done an internship for 3-6 months I would have had to apply.
Has it helped you think about what you want to do in the future?
The placement was a lot of fun and I got to work with different people in the company and expand my technical knowledge such as learning about the stages of carbon footprinting and about scope emissions. Overall it was a enjoyable experience which has given me a valuable insight into consultancy work, which is what I hope to do after I finish my masters in September. However I have learnt I do not want to do a 90 minute commute to and from London every day!