Practical Attestations | A Board Member Testimonial

I have been working intensively in the world of climate change for over 20 years. A number of organizations and companies working in the climate change field have come and gone during that period. Ten years ago the Greenhouse Gas Management Institute (GHGMI) was founded. It was founded to set the highest standards to train people in the science of greenhouse gas (GHG) measurement, reporting and verification (MRV). GHGMI has rigorously applied the strictest IPCC and UNFCCC procedures and protocols to build capacity, particularly at a national level in the developing world.  It has succeeded famously.

There is no institution in my experience that has done a better job than GHGMI in developing the training frameworks, the pedagogical approaches and tools, the extensive interactive courses and support frameworks that adhere closely to the IPCC.  It has developed curricula of the highest standards, relevant to practically all situations, particularly for those in non-Annex 1 countries. The Institute has built up the skills of hundreds of African, Asian and Latin American policy makers, civil servants, non-governmental and private-sector people to undertake GHG inventories, to develop sectoral GHG reduction policies and actions, and to understand the impacts of human actions in all sectors of their economies.

Post-Paris, I have been working on an Africa-wide GHG MRV capacity building project, funded by the European Commission. Through this project I have worked with dozens of professionals who have previously taken GHGMI online courses over the past decade. When they learn that I am a GHGMI board member, they universally “sing the GHGMI’s praises”. They speak about how useful it is to them in their work, and how thorough and relevant their GHGMI training has been.  They particularly call out how training has improved their use of the IPCC Guidelines, their reporting to the UNFCCC, and more specifically, in helping them formulate policies and measures for climate change mitigation and adaptation actions in their own countries. They praise the approach, the amount of attention they received, and most notably, the teaching methods applied by the Institute. Finally, they all say they have recommended to their colleagues that they, in turn, take GHGMI courses.

To me, there could be no better testimonial to the excellent work carried out by the GHGMI than these practical attestations from dozens of people I work with, telling me and others that they not only recommend taking GHGMI courses, but that they would take new courses with the Institute when available. A number even make GHGMI training mandatory.

Happy 10^th Anniversary GHGMI! You, your excellent leaders and staff, have hundreds of admirers giving living testimonials out in the world who are tackling climate change every day using the most scientific methods who owe much of their approach to your rigorous efforts.