Webinar Replay on the Climate Governance Certificate >  Watch the webinar recording >  Download a PDF of the Slides Useful Resources >  Certificate Requirements >  Enrollment Process >  3rd-Party Courses >  Customized Workshops The Buzz "Climate change is affecting communities, public health, natural resources, ecosystems, economies, infrastructure, and supply chains across the Nation – now and into the foreseeable future. Because climate change effects are far-reaching and complex, and our understanding of climate change is rapidly growing, responding to climate change will pose new or unfamiliar challenges for many of leaders. It's important that standards are established for ensuring that leaders can get the knowledge and skills they need to help the nation respond to the threats that climate change poses." - Paul Wagner (Former Deputy Associate Director for Climate Preparedness, White House Council on Environmental Quality) "This initiative will help us build the institution-wide capacity we need to drive large-scale climate adaptation initiatives and prepare communities like South Florida for the very significant implications of climate change." - Susanne Torriente (Assistant City Manager, City of Fort Lauderdale) "Credentialing Climate Change Officers is critical to professionalizing this emerging discipline.  Climate change affects virtually every business. Understanding how climate change impacts business strategy and planning for - and adapting to - that impact is fundamental to success. Businesses with an officer who has earned a Climate Governance Certificate will be a step ahead of their competition. I applaud ACCO for this important accomplishment." - Peter Gray (Partner, McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP and Co-Founder of ACCO) "The Climate Governance Certificate addresses an important constituency within ACCO’s vision of empowering a professional workforce to manage the risks and opportunities associated with climate change." - Michael Mondshine (Vice President, Sustainability and Energy, WSP and ACCO Board Chair)

General Information:

What is the Climate Governance Certificate?

The Climate Governance Certificate is a professional certificate that recognizes the capacity of senior executives and officials across sectors to make informed and strategic decisions on climate change related risks to the operations of an organization and its surrounding communities. Upon completion of the requirements, bearers of the Climate Governance Certificate will have developed a fundamental understanding of climate science and risk assessment, footprint management and reduction strategies, project finance and economic analysis related to climate initiatives, governance and engagement tactics, and enterprise strategy.

This certificate can be used as a step toward achieving the top-level CCO Designation^TM, which is projected to become available in 2016.

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Why should I obtain this certificate?

This certificate is a highly visible credential that affirms knowledge of climate-related risks and opportunities as well as the competencies needed to take sensible action.

• Professional Endorsement – The Climate Governance Certificate recognizes your capacity to integrate an understanding of climate change and related implications into the day-to-day decision-making required for your professional role.
• Increased Earnings – Professional credentialing from a globally recognized authority will lead to greater earnings as they enable you to stand out amongst peers and competing job applicants, increase your responsibility within the organization and provide greater value to your employer.
• Certification Benefits – Capacity to develop and lead climate initiatives is increasingly in demand across sectors. A globally recognized professional credential shows employers that you have the knowledge, skills and training to understand how climate change impacts your organization and support efforts to take meaningful actions.
• Peer Recognition – Colleagues will immediately recognize you as a thought leader and important resource on incorporating climate change into organizational strategies.

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Is this certificate geared towards a specific type of professional or sector?

This foundational certificate is designed to be accessible for professionals across sectors and professional roles; it is not geared towards a particular professional function or industry. ACCO will be establishing a suite of certificates in the next few years that are tailored to specific professional roles and functions.

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How were the certificate’s requirements and supporting curriculum developed?

ACCO has convened members, outside subject matter experts and partner organizations for several years to support this initiative. An oversight committee was established to drive the development of the CCO Certification^TM program architecture and requirements. This committee also was responsible for shaping the Climate Governance Certificate’s requirements. To view a list of the members of the Oversight Committee please visit: http://www.accoonline.org/certification.html.

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What competencies are addressed in the certificate’s core curriculum requirements and electives?

Certificate bearers will develop a proven ability to understand and meaningfully contribute to driving climate action through the following skills and competencies:

• Recognizing situations where climate change outcomes affect the organization
• Assessing impacts of specific situational outcomes
• Enabling enterprise management of climate related initiatives
• Assessing and quantifying climate risks and opportunities
• Educating the organization on managing short-term and long-term uncertainty
• Tailoring communication to different audiences
• Leading organizational change initiatives
• Developing and overseeing training programs
• Attributing value to resource consumption
• Extending organizational capabilities and maintaining good stewardship of actions taken through collaboration and partnership
• Developing strategies for bundling, comparing to and/or relying on existing management models

These competencies are derived from the Core Competencies for Climate Change Officers and Professionals, which was published by ACCO in 2013 at http://www.accoonline.org/certification-competencies.html.

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Certificate Requirements:

What are the requirements to complete the certificate?

The requirements for the Climate Governance Certificate amount to approximately 40-50 hours of training and completion of a practicum project:

• Core Curriculum – 24-30 hours
  • Basics of climate science, latest projections, identifying climate hazards and conducting vulnerability assessment
  • Fundamentals of greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting, reporting and disclosure and an understanding of the energy, water and food nexus
  • Strategies for engaging stakeholders, leading organizational change initiatives, and determining the best internal and external policies and actions for your organization
  • Economic implications of climate change
  • Analyzing and quantifying climate risk, uncertainty, assessing materiality and disclosing climate risk
• Electives – 14-16 hours
  • Coursework oriented toward a particular sector
  • Coursework tailored by professional role/function
  • Coursework focused upon geographic region or location type
• Practicum Project – Upon successful completion of the mandatory and elective course requirements, certificate applicants are required to design and complete a work-related project that reflects understanding of the above-referenced coursework.

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Can on the job experience be used as credit for the certificate?

As of right now, on the job experience will not meet credit towards achieving the certificate. However, ACCO will recognize that individuals with professional credential and training in particular areas may be able to “waive out.” For instance, if you are a certified Greenhouse Gas Manager then the “Basics of GHG Accounting” would be a requirement that we would look to waive as we do not want to create redundancies.

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Where can I take courses to meet the certificate’s requirements?

ACCO’s CCO Training Bootcamps are technical, deep-dive programs taking place in half-day sessions and are taught by instructor teams overseen by the CCO Certification^TM Oversight Committee. These bootcamps are offered at ACCO's conferences, as well as through regional training workshops hosted by ACCO or held in conjunction with third-party hosted events.

Additionally, ACCO will be establishing a third-party accreditation process for institutions that will be teaching core curriculum requirements and electives that will satisfy the certificate requirements. These third-party courses will be offered by academic institutions, government entities and private sector training organizations, and will be made available in the coming months.

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Where can I find a catalog of courses offered by ACCO?

ACCO’s CCO Training Bootcamp^TM catalog is published at:
http://www.accoonline.org/certification-catalog.html

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Is the curriculum offered under this program primarily classroom based?

Over the next year, ACCO and its partners will develop curriculum to be made available through online training platforms. In the meantime, all courses are being offered as in-person activities.

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Can I apply bootcamps I took at recent ACCO conferences to satisfy the certificate’s requirements?

ACCO has tracked participation in all CCO Training Bootcamps^TM offered since 2013. Certificate enrollees that attended a bootcamp that has been designated as a core curriculum requirement for the Climate Governance Certificate will be awarded credit for that session. If the bootcamp attended has been designated as an elective, then the certificate enrollee may leverage that session to meet elective requirements.

In the following instances, certificate enrollees will be asked to attend a complimentary 90-minute online training course designed to supplement a previously offered bootcamp and ensure that the enrollee has received the curriculum currently being offered:

• Strategies and Tactics for Leading Organizational Change
  A 90-minute webinar on stakeholder engagement strategies will supplement this course to complete the updated Governance-101 core curriculum requirement.
• Building and Maintaining a Strong Stakeholder Engagement Program
  A 90-minute webinar on organizational change will supplement this course to complete the updated Governance-101 core curriculum requirement.
• Climate Policy: Determining the Best Strategy for Your Organization
  A 90-minute webinar on the landscape of climate law and policy will supplement this course to complete the updated Governance-102core curriculum requirement.

Note: Enrollees that have taken a previous iteration of the organizational change bootcamp and the stakeholder engagement curriculum are exempt from this requirement.

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Can courses already taken at third-party institutions count towards certificate credits?

In some instances, ACCO will offer credit for training and education completed in the past two years at third-party institutions. Enrollees will be required to provide detailed information including course syllabus, materials provided and applicable testing. ACCO’s Curriculum Working Groups (established under the CCO Certification Oversight Committee) will review these submissions to determine whether the third-party coursework meets ACCO’s program requirements.

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Does ACCO offer customized courses to meet my organization's or community’s needs?

Regardless of whether you choose to enroll in the Certificate, ACCO offers a suite of primer workshops tailored to provide organizations with courses derived from ACCO’s CCO Training Bootcamp curriculum and designed to enable decision makers to develop an understanding of climate change implications specifically for their organization’s operations/mission or their community/region. These primer workshops, which can be leveraged for credit applicable to the Climate Governance Certificate, deliver general foundational content and curriculum customized to the needs and challenges faced by your organization. Workshop curriculum can be customized by sector, decision-making role and/or geographic region. For more information on tailored workshops, including pricing and sample workshop agendas, please contact Daniel Kreeger at dkreeger@ACCOonline.org (or by phone at 202-496-7390).

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What is the Practicum Project?

The Practicum Project (similar to a graduate thesis project) is a requirement that certificate enrollees must satisfy by conducting a reasonably scoped initiative that is directly applicable to their workplace responsibilities.

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How will my Practicum Project be reviewed?

An independent review board managed by ACCO will provide certificate enrollees with guidance aimed to help shape their practicum project before they begin to work upon it. This board will be responsible for reviewing and assessing final practicum project submissions, as well as providing a resulting recommendation to ACCO. All practicum projects will be reviewed within 60-90 days of submission.

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Why is ACCO requiring a Practicum Project instead of testing for this certificate?

ACCO has chosen to leverage the Practicum Project approach because this process enables ACCO to ensure that prospective certificate bearers are immediately able to incorporate the competencies and knowledge developed through the requirements into their day-to-day decision-making and job responsibilities. ACCO may also develop testing requirements for individual core curriculum courses in the future.

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Will Practicum reports be used for publishing?

There will be an opt-in or opt-out option. We encourage whenever possible to make those materials publicly available, however, understanding that there may be secure or confidential information included in that report, ACCO is establishing a process for confidentiality – including having the review board sign a confidentiality agreement. Publication will always be optional.

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Enrollment Details:

When does enrollment for the certificate open?

March 16th, 2015

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Why do I need to enroll to get the certificate?

Enrollment enables ACCO to provide guidance and tracking support to prospective certificate bearers.

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How do I enroll?

Enrollment is a simple online form that can be accessed on or after March 16, 2015 at: http://www.ACCOonline.org/certificates.html

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What is the cost structure for this certificate?

There is a one-time enrollment fee of $195. Upon completion of the certificate requirements, the enrollee may apply for the certificate. The application fee is $795, which includes final review of the Practicum Project and individual membership in ACCO for one year.

To view ACCO member benefits, please visit:
http://www.accoonline.org/membership.html

There is an annual renewal fee of $795 for corporate/general professionals, $695 for NGO/academic institution employees and $195 for government professionals. During renewal, certificate bearers will be required to provide documentation demonstrating that continuing education and usage requirements have been met.

Is there an option to join ACCO and register for the Climate Governance Certificate simultaneously?

If you are interested in both joining ACCO and enrolling in the certificate, you will need to join ACCO first, before you enroll in the certificate. This is because the member account needs to be established in ACCO’s member management system. Once you have logged into your new account, you can go back to the CCO CertificationTM enrollment page and from there you will be able to enroll in the certificate. You can join ACCO at: http://www.accoonline.org/membership.html.

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Will enrollment in this certificate close?

Enrollment will remain open indefinitely.

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How can I track my progress towards completion of the certificate?

Certificate enrollees can track their progress through ACCO’s web-based membership management system. Access to this system and its certificate tracking features will be provided upon enrollment. Additionally, ACCO staff is available to provide counsel to enrollees.

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How do I finalize the process and obtain the actual certificate?

Upon satisfaction of the requirements, enrollees will submit their completed Practicum Project as part of the electronic application for the Certificate. Upon notification from the Independent Review Board that the submitted Practicum Project is satisfactory, ACCO will generate the formal certificate and ship it to the enrollee, along with instructions for moving forward as a certificate bearer.

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Is there an avenue for individuals who are doing freelance work or who just graduated that would like to gain the certification to advance their career but don't have the financial resources to pay for enrollment?

The enrollment fees established under this certificate are fixed.  ACCO regularly offers opportunities to volunteer at ACCO events in exchange for complimentary registration to those events.  In those instances, a volunteer may take CCO Training Bootcamps offered at those events and earn credit toward the CCO Certification.  ACCO is also exploring the establishment of a scholarship fund and will have more information available in Summer/Fall 2015.

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Certificate Maintenance:

Does this certificate have a continuing education requirement?

Yes. ACCO will maintain a database of certificate bearers in good standing. Maintaining good standing requires written documentation provided to ACCO by the certificate bearer reflecting the following:

• Continuing Education – Completion of a minimum of 8 hours of continuing education courses annually
  • Some of the certificate’s core curriculum courses may also require a periodic refresh (e.g. every 2-4 years). Satisfaction of continuing education requirements for these courses can also be used toward the annual 8-hour requirement.
• Usage – Contribution to the community of climate practitioners through a minimum of 40 hours of service, which may include: speaking at public events, conducting research, developing training programs for internal/external stakeholders, and/or publication. ACCO will publish specific guidelines for meeting these requirements by Summer 2017.

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