Professional Certificate in Climate Action and Sustainability Reporting

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The Programme

This new one-year, part-time programme responds to the fact that public servants, at all levels and in all sectors, urgently require significant education and training in climate- and sustainability-related matters if Ireland is to meet relevant national and international goals. The growing legislative and regulatory requirements around climate action and sustainability targets include the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2021, the Climate Action Plan 2023, and the imminent European Sustainability Reporting Standards. On foot of these and other developments, public bodies in Ireland are obligated to undertake and report on various actions in pursuit of national and international climate goals. This obligation poses huge challenges for the entire Irish public service, which is tasked with leading Ireland’s transition to an environmentally sustainable and climate neutral economy.

This programme will provide public servants with some of the knowledge, skills, and competencies needed to contribute to climate action and sustainability efforts and enable them help their organisations comply with reporting requirements. Attending to an area set to dominate many aspects of public life, the programme will furnish public servants with an in-depth and practical understanding of what the Irish state has set itself to do around climate and sustainability and of how sectors and organisations will report their activities in local, national, and international contexts.

The programme, which attends to both the theory and practice of climate action and sustainability reporting, will:

• Explain how the climate and sustainability emergencies will affect Ireland’s economic and social development.
• Place Ireland’s climate action plans and responsibilities in EU and international contexts.
• Critically evaluate those plans, the relevant targets, associated budgets, and key implementation issues.
• Examine the international standards, protocols, and instruments  developed to measure climate and sustainability efforts.
• Distinguish the various elements of sustainability reporting.
• Explore sustainability reporting in different sectors and professional settings.
• Engage with frameworks for integrated reporting and with ways of meeting compliance obligations effectively.
• Link sustainability reporting with leadership and public sector management.

Is This Programme for you?

Yes, if you appreciate how central climate- and sustainability-related matters are to all aspects of public management. A range of national and international laws and frameworks now obligate public bodies to undertake and report on various actions in pursuit of national and international climate goals. This programme, which can be taken from anywhere in Ireland, will provide public servants with some of the knowledge, skills, and competencies needed to contribute to the climate action and sustainability efforts of their organisations and sectors. It will prove an important contribution to career development and opportunities at a time when efforts to combat climate change and encourage sustainable development are front and centre in Irish public management. 

Subjects

The programme consists of four modules.

Module 1: Climate Action – Context and Challenges

This module introduces students to the climate and wider sustainability emergencies that Ireland and the world are facing. It attends to the challenges facing the public sector, the leadership that is needed, and to the EU and international frameworks around climate action and policy.

Module 2: Climate Action Planning & Implementation

The second module turns to Ireland’s climate action plans, analysing their content from various perspectives, including those of economics and public policy. Students will engage with climate targets and budgeting and with implementation issues currently arising and those likely to arise in the future.

Module 3: Sustainability Reporting: Standards, Protocols and Guidance

This module will focus on the sustainability reporting obligations that public service bodies have to meet. It will consider financial and non-financial sustainability reporting and will examine the various elements of sustainability reports.

Module 4: Sustainability Reporting: Application

The final module attends to the practical tasks involved in sustainability reporting. It will address sustainability reporting in different sectors, frameworks that can be used for integrated reporting, and methods of reporting. It will also examine how compliance obligations can be most effectively and efficiently met.

Assessment

Students will submit an assignment in each module and take examinations in April.

How To Apply

To apply, please:

1. Download this Application Form and complete it (if your fees are being paid by your employer, be sure to include the relevant details on the form).
2. Obtain a copy of your degree or other relevant qualification.
3. Send the completed application form and copy of your prior qualification to postgrad@ipa.ie.

You may also apply by post.

If you are paying the programme fee yourself, you can do so by cheque, bank draft or by debit/credit card (contact the Postgraduate Office for further details).

Prospectus

Programme Delivery and Application Form

IPA postgraduate prorgammes are part time and delivered through a blended learning model. To apply, the see the How to Apply section on the relevant programme and complete the application form below. 

Application Form

Postgraduate Application Form