City Climate Planner Certificate Program

Background

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. 

City Climate Planner Certificate Program

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.

Become a CCP-GHG Emissions Inventory Specialist

The first certificate developed under the CCP program is for community-level GHG emissions inventory accounting. The certificate is for individuals who help cities or communities develop and track GHG emissions at the local scale. The Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories (GPC), which is an internationally-recognized standard for developing local inventories, is at the core of this certificate. The box below outlines the basic components of the program: 

In-person Training

The World Bank, along with a team of technical experts, has designed an interactive curriculum based on the GPC standard with the input of partners and experts around the world. The curriculum follows the process of inventory creation, starting from selling the benefits of an inventory to city executives, to data collection, management, quality assurance and verification, and ending with a module connecting GHG inventories to broader climate action planning. Each module is comprised of presentation slides, interactive exercises, and case studies that highlight real-life challenges. The training will be delivered in regions across the world with training partners who have local experience. 

Online Learning and Support  

The CCP hosts a Collaboration for Development (C4D) community where city practitioners can engage with global experts and find resources that help them manage GHG inventory challenges. The C4D site hosts an “Ask the Expert” forum and is planning a future webinar series that presents online training on a series of technical deep dives. 

City Climate Planner Certificate Exam

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: 

• Draw individuals to the field of climate planning by establishing a professionalized career path
• Provide a quality assurance mechanism and signal to potential employers
• Establish a set of technically sound practices that can help enhance the overall quality of climate planning
• Foster communities of practice or professional associations that evolve and grow the profession 
• Link inventory findings to broader local and national climate goals to help formulate and shift policy to benefit city scale green growth

Partners

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. 

Contact Information 

For more information, or to join, please email the team at cityclimateplanner@worldbank.org or visit our community of practice.