Letter from the Dean: Are you a Carbon Management “Professional”?
I think we all realize that eventually governments and society will reach a point of dramatic transition characterized by the implementation of serious measures to address climate change. Indeed, the question today is not whether this transition will happen, but when and how. As we so often say, it is our mission at the GHG Management Institute to help build the capacity to prepare for and enable this transition to occur.
Our focus is on you, the professional class that will make up the human resource infrastructure upon which this transition is built. To date, our discipline has lacked a key institution common to almost every other field of professional practice: a credible and well-recognized personnel certification. We have been working towards this objective, which we see as the pinnacle of professionalization, since the inception of the GHG Management Institute. In doing so, we have consciously chosen the slow and deliberate path, focusing on quality rather than speed because ultimately the success of a professional certification is dependent on its credibility.
Two years ago we produced the world’s first professional code of conduct for the field, believing that ethics must be the foundation of any profession. In the coming weeks we will be making an exciting announcement about the next phase in our process of building the professional development infrastructure of the future. The goals of this second phase include:
- Provide a globally harmonized standard for carbon management professionals so that all GHG metrics they generate and are used to support policies and programs are based equally credible.
- Provide a clear career path and platform to recognize the advancement of new professionals, including graduates, into the field.
- Remove the ambiguity regarding competency faced by clients, employers, policy makers, and other stakeholder as to what a true carbon management professional is and who has demonstrated those qualifications.
- Provide professional governance, oversight and peer-policing tied to ethical and competency standards, enabling the development and implementation of successful GHG regulations.
We think these are pressing concerns that demand substantive and comprehensive treatment through the expansion of professional infrastructure. If these sound like important and timely objectives to you, please contact us to become engaged in this exciting new program. We are actively seeking partners that share our commitment to the professional development of GHG measurement and management.
It was refreshing to read your comments. I agree. I am an environmental engineer involved in EHS management. I have headed up my company’s greenhouse gas tracking and public reporting since 2002. I recently took the CSA Standards’ GHG Quantifier exam and I am now a “Certified Greenhouse Gas Inventory Quantifier”. I felt a certification of this kind was a must. I was most impressed with CSA’s program. Their exam verified my knowledge of the GRI protocols. I highly recommend the CSA program. Perhaps you should consider partnering with CSA?
This is a timely communication. The GHG management tasks, and the individuals who undertake them, are becoming diversified as acceptance spreads globally. The core capability – as yet undefined – is being applied to areas from biofuels through food prodiction to the creation of novel financial instruments. Those of us who have worked in the field for many years have a limited opportunity to transfer knowledge and experience. This is being tackled by GHGMI and I see this letter as a continuation of the process.
The need for periodical upgrading in the competence levels of the GHG professionals can hardly be overemphasized and will always remain relevant.
Ever new areas/industries/activities need to be carbon mapped to be able to take necessary steps to address ecological and sustainability concerns.
If we have to leave a better Earth for future generations, the biggest stakeholders in the environmental sweepstakes, we need to keep pushing the boundaries of this segment of scientific knowledge.