Certificate in Sustainability Management
Online, self-paced training
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Develop the skills you may need to lead effective change for sustainable business models. This certificate program benefits those who wish to gain a deeper knowledge of the growing sustainability management sector.
The lessons learned in the four courses of this certificate can be used to develop, manage, and improve manufacturing processes, commercial products, and corporate practices for improving the long-term sustainability of a company. You will be better positioned to contribute to your organization’s financial wellbeing while alleviating the negative environmental impact.
The program is for anyone who wants to make sustainability an important part of their organization’s operations – no prior background or experience in sustainability is necessary. Help improve the world around you today and register.
- Principles of Sustainability Management (prerequisite for the following independent courses)
- Sustainability Management Measurement and Assessment
- Sustainability Management Solutions
- Sustainability Management at the Project Level
Virtual Course Delivery
You can register and start at any time and will have up to four months to complete each module. The course is delivered over the University of Kansas learning management system. You will receive login instructions after registration. Each lesson includes:
- A short video in which the instructor shares some ideas to stimulate your’ thinking
- Documentation from the instructor that addresses important points from the unit.
- A reading assignment and short writing exercise addressing the units learning objectives
- No tests or quizzes. In the final project of the fourth course, Sustainability Management at the Project Level, you will summarize what you have learned and your plans to apply it.
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Instructor
Amin Sabzevari is a professional engineer, trainer, and certified carbon reduction manager with more than 20 years of engineering and training experience including: engineering, procurement and construction management experience in power generation, oil and gas, steam-assisted gravity drainage, open-pit heavy oil, petrochemical processes, off-shore platforms, green-field and brown-field facilities projects across 3 continents.
Course Content
- Principles of Sustainability Management (required prerequisite) – 6 lessons
This course covers the challenges that necessitate the move toward sustainability. Definitions and interpretations of “sustainability” are presented. Finally, the role that sustainability can play in development is described.
Attendees will learn to:
- Describe the emerging challenges that increasingly have a measurable, detrimental effect on the environment.
- Give a working definition of “sustainability” and illustrate “sustainable development.”
- Identify possible direct and indirect environmental impacts of a given project.
- Understand the social, economic, and legal issues which drive sustainability development.
- Distinguish between renewable and non-renewable resources.
- Describe the relationship between resiliency and sustainability and give examples of resilient engineering designs.
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- Sustainability Management Measurement and Assessment – 6 lessons
This course covers the metrics and tools used to assess sustainability and environmental impact.
Attendees will learn to:
- Understand indicators and metrics used to gauge environmental impact of a project.
- Apply tools to determine how a project and its sustainability characteristics may positively (or negatively) contribute to human health and the environment.
- Analyze natural material resources and their flows to aid in the design of more sustainable processes.
- Illustrate how a carbon footprint can be calculated and how carbon emissions can be reduced and/or offset.
- Demonstrate how life cycle assessment can be used to measure the environmental sustainability of products, processes or services.
- Describe how environmental health risk assessment is a necessary step for developing methods of risk management.
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- Sustainability Management Solutions – 6 lessons
This course introduces sustainable practices in energy generation, waste management, buildings and civil infrastructure.
Attendees will learn to:
- Examine the environmental impacts of energy generation using fossil fuels, nuclear energy, strategies for clean energy, and various renewable energy sources.
- Illustrate different methods of sustainable waste management.
- Describe how the circular economy can support sustainability.
- Illustrate how green building concepts can impact sustainability.
- Demonstrate principles of sustainable infrastructure and describe how the Envision tool can support higher performance through more sustainable choices in infrastructure development.
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- Sustainability Management at the Project Level – 3 lessons and 3 projects
This course focuses on how sustainable engineering practices can be applied to specific engineering projects: environmental projects, chemical projects, civil projects, materials sustainability projects and infrastructure sustainability projects.
Attendees will learn to:
- Define the goal and scope of the project.
- Describe the main parts of a sustainability assessment for the specific project: environmental, economic and social.
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Certificate Requirements
Participants have up to four months after enrolling to finish each course, including submitting all writing assignments. Each of the four courses is comparable to three days of training. Therefore, the entire certificate program equals 12 days of training. Those who complete all four courses will receive a certificate stating that they have earned 9.6 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) or 96 Professional Development Hours (PDHs). However, the course does not carry any college credits and cannot be used as part of a degree-seeking program.
Preview Course Content
