Cities are quickly becoming the world’s center for business and commerce, accounting for over 80% of the world’s economic activity, but also contributing to two-thirds of the world’s overall energy consumption, and about 70% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
With urban populations booming, the choices local governments make today about managing their emissions and preparing for climate change will have major impacts on the health and economic well-being of their city. City climate planning is now more important than ever. However, few developing cities have comprehensive climate action plans or green growth strategies that are based on reliable data.
To help build capacity in local-level climate planning, the World Bank and global partners developed the City Climate Planner (CCP) Certificate Program, a training and professional certificate program that aims to increase the global talent base of climate planning professionals. The first certificate to be developed is focused on GHG emission inventories, as they are seen as a key building block in development of quality climate action plans. The result is a training on the latest internationally accepted standard for GHG inventories, a rigorous certificate exam that allows candidates to demonstrate mastery of the content and access to professional networks that support this work. In the future, additional content areas and certificates that address other components of climate action planning will be created.
The certificate exam is the core component of the City Climate Planner Certificate Program. The exam was written and developed by experts in GHG emissions inventory accounting and is meant to rigorously test the knowledge of exam takers. Successful completion of the exam demonstrates mastery of the GHG inventory building process and its connection to city climate planning, and also supports professional development in the field.
A professional credential for individuals working in city climate action can bring the following benefits:
The program has been generously funded by the Korean Green Growth Partnership. Major contributing partners are the World Resources Institute, ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability, and C40 Cities Leadership Group.
Additionally, a large number of environmentally-focused organizations, city networks, city government officials, etc. were involved in developing the program. These include, but are not limited to: Bloomberg Philanthropies, UN-Habitat, Japan International Cooperation Agency, and a variety of medium and large size city municipalities.
For more information, or to join, please email the team at cityclimateplanner@worldbank.org or visit our community of practice.