How the Maryland Climate Leadership Academy Creates Climate-Savvy Professionals | Article

To Daniel Kreeger, executive director of the Association of Climate Change Officers (ACCO), everyone can benefit from incorporating climate science into their day-to-day work decisions. Kreeger co-founded ACCO in 2008 to create a space for professionals to connect with peers, develop leadership skills, and learn methods for applying climate considerations in practice. In 2018, ACCO and the state of Maryland collaborated to create the Maryland Climate Leadership Academy with the goal of advancing “the capacity of state and local government agencies, infrastructure organizations, and businesses to develop and implement sound climate change initiatives.” Participants attend three two-day classes where they “build competencies to effectively integrate climate change into their decision-making and personal activities, as well as to advance their entrepreneurship and leadership skills” through cohort training workshops, and earning the Certified Climate Change Professional designation (see box).

The Certified Climate Change Professional Credential

ACCO developed the Certified Climate Change Professional credential for mid-level practitioners who have been working on climate change, sustainability, or related initiatives for at least two years (with a masters) or four years (with a bachelors). Professionals earn the credential by passing four exam modules and completing 14 hours of elective training. To maintain the credential, professionals must complete a minimum of eight hours of education per year and must make use of their knowledge (through speaking engagements, publications, advocacy, etc.) for at least 40 hours per year.

The Academy, which allows more people to access ACCO's certification, is funded through federal grants from the Maryland Coastal Zone Management Program.

“One of the challenges we've had is you could only offer training to people who could afford it previously because nobody ever gave us funding,” Kreeger said. “Workforce development is not very well funded in this country, in any sector—definitely not the climate change sector—and the state doing this and saying, ‘you should do this’, ‘you can do this’, and ‘we'll make it available to you for free’ is a huge deal.”

Kreeger believes systematic changes are necessary for our workforce and education systems to solve the challenges presented by climate change.

“We have to figure out how to become leaner in our footprint, adaptive to ongoing change, and resilient to acute shocks, while still being able to have the things that you want to have,” Kreeger said. “There are some new occupations that need to be created, a transformation of existing occupations, and just a rethinking of decision making.”

Charles County Administrator Mark Benton helped pave the way for the Academy when he was the Maryland Secretary of Natural Resources. He agrees with Kreeger that the program is important to preparing Maryland for future climate impacts, noting that educating local government officials and those in other sectors on the effects of climate change will increase “climate-smart” planning.

“When you’re planning out infrastructure, you design things with the idea that you're designing for the climate not of 50 years ago, which is how most people design things, but for the climate for 50 years from now,” Benton said. “The infrastructure needs to reflect the future's real life, not today or yesterday's real life.”

The program benefits both individuals taking the course and their organizations. Adriana Hochberg, the deputy county administrator for Montgomery County, noted how the program brought together professionals who might otherwise never have met.

“There were a number of other county government staff taking the training with me that I had never met before,” Hochberg observes. “That was my first experience with people from different departments… It was an opportunity to build some relationships and those have carried on ever since.”

Daniel Kreeger echoes her sentiments, stating, “Now, going through this program, through a cohort learning experience, they're building relationships and we're starting to see elements of the whole ‘becoming greater than the sum of the individual parts,’ which is a big part of the design of this.”

Climate change affects every location differently, and the Climate Academy prepares Marylanders to respond to climate impacts in their own communities. Kreeger hopes the skills taught in the Maryland Climate Leadership Academy will be integrated into workforces across the country to create a more climate-conscious world.

“One of the nice things about the Maryland Academy is everybody in it is living and working in Maryland,” Kreeger said. “That has given us the ability to also downscale the content to them geographically, and then they've got a common interest because they're all seeing what this is going to do to their communities.”

Author: Kimberly Skinner