By ISSP President and EcoSTEPS Sustainability

Partner Julian Crawford of Sydney, Australia

 

Rolling out a professional certification program is a huge job in any situation. It is particularly challenging in the sustainability arena where bodies of knowledge and communities of practice are inevitably globally and culturally diverse.

 

With an increasing number local ISSP

Julian Crawford

chapters forming around the world, the geographic footprint of our organization continues to grow daily. Adding voices to the conversation that represent the perspectives of ever more regions of the world is vital to ISSP's mission, as sustainability issues are indeed global.  So I am delighted to announce the addition of a further four members to the ISSP Board of Directors from Chile, New Zealand and the USA:

• Rob Andrejewski, the Outreach & Education Coordinator at the Office for Sustainability, University of Virginia, which supports university-wide collaborative governance, leadership, and implementation of sustainability.

• Alejandro Florenzano, the Research Manager for Fundacion Chile's Center for Sustainable Production. The Center explores how to promote and strengthen life cycle assessment (LCA) and metrics-based sustainability.

• Erik Foley, the Managing Director at Penn State's Sustainability Institute, which serves all 24 Penn State campuses and advances sustainability in teaching, research, outreach and operations.

• Simon Harvey, an accredited Senior Advisor for the Natural Step (TNS), Chair of TNS in New Zealand, and a director of BusinessLAB, a forward thinking consultancy that facilitates collaborative strategy solutions for clients seeking a more participatory approach to strategic planning.

Read more about these new board members.

 

The Sustainability Professional Certification program ISSP is developing is in accordance with the International Standard, ISO 17024. This work is being coordinated by our Executive Director, Maureen Hart, with the active engagement of the Board and an increasing number of members through the Technical Committee. There are a number of Subcommittees and Working Groups feeding into this work including:

• Process and Policy Subcommittee
• Test Construction Subcommittee
• Application and Test Platform Subcommittee

ISSP is now looking for Educational Partners who want to be involved in the development of the Sustainability Professional Certification process. Some of the ways individuals and organizations can be involved include:

• Help Develop the Certification Schema
• Contribute Test Items
• Become a Training and Testing Educational Partner

These partners will have the unique opportunity to help shape the future of the profession as well as gain industry-wide recognition as leaders in bringing newfound rigor, discipline, and consistency to the sustainability arena. Learn more about becoming an Educational Partner.

 

 

Julian Crawford

 

 

- George R.R. Martin

ISSP is proud to continue our partnership with the American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC). ASBC's mission is to educate and inform the public and policymakers about the benefits of a more sustainable economy, as well as policies and practices that can help the economy become more sustainable.

Follow the link for ASBC's updates and policy action calls on federal-level legislation and regulations:

Call for Safer Chemicals:

It's a challenge for businesses to be confident about whether the products they sell contain toxic chemicals. At the same time, current regulations make it hard to bring safer chemicals and products to market. Sign on with Companies for Safer Chemicals to promote meaningful reform of U.S. toxic chemicals law.

 

Stop Fast Track for Trade Agreements:

President Obama is asking Congress for Fast Track authority to negotiate trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in secret. The process would exclude important perspectives such as the sustainable business community, and resulting deals could block local governments from enforcing policies that promote responsible business practices. Add your voice to block Fast Track and call for trade negotiations to include the full range of business perspectives.

 

Support the Healthy Families Act:

New proposed federal legislation would require businesses with 15 or more employees to give workers the opportunity to earn up to seven paid sick days per year. Research shows that employees with sick days are more productive and reduce public health costs. Please add your support to the legislation.