You're looking to grow your sustainability skills...

by Sondra Tosky

One of the biggest barriers to entering the sustainability field is learning the basic concepts as well as all the acronyms and jargon.  To help you get started, I have compiled a list of online sustainability education resources.  I have not included university programs and certifications in this list.  Instead, these are resources for learning about the field more broadly to help you decide where you'd like to focus and to provide continuing education resources for those already in the industry.

Sustainability covers everything from direct air capture technology to labor rights.  Most of the resources here focus on the ESG (environmental, social, governance) reporting space since that's my background and these reporting standards and many of the concepts are foundational for all sustainability solutions.  Reach out if there are other areas of interest, and I'll add them to the list.

Disclaimer: I have not taken any of these classes and can't guarantee their quality.  Be cautious of any class that is expensive since it won't necessarily get you a job in sustainability.  Often hiring managers are looking for experience, not education.  It's best to view education as a means to be successful in a role you are transitioning into, rather than a means to obtaining a new role. For tips on getting a job in the sustainability field, check out my sustainability job guide.

Baby steps

The following websites have free resources for those entering the sustainability field.  They're a great starting place if you're new to the sustainability space.

  • Start off with Bill Nye to learn the fundamental concept of how greenhouse gases create climate change.
  • This free online resource provides a Sustainability 101 to help you learn the basics of the ESG (environmental, social, governance) field.
  • Work On Climate has a starter pack of resources that cover the fundamentals of different climate solutions.
  • Trellis (formerly Greenbiz) has an extensive library of sustainability strategy resources on their website. They cover a variety of topics including climate technology, ESG/Finance, Circularity, and Sustainability Strategy.
  • If you're looking for information on the environmental and energy aspects of sustainability, the United State Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) website is a great resource.
  • Nicole Kelner's substack post includes a link to a google spreadsheet with a huge list of climate resources including educational opportunities in the 'Other' column.  Sign up for her substack and check out her website to see her amazing artwork and pick up a copy of her new climate coloring book.

Climate change educational resources

If you're working in sustainability, it is likely that some aspect of your work deals with climate change. Climate change is a dense topic with a lot of nuances as you dig deeper.

  • Bill Nye will walk you through how greenhouse gases create climate change.
  • You'll notice that the most common word used in climate is 'carbon'--that's industry shorthand for carbon dioxide, and more specifically, carbon dioxide equivalent, which encompasses all greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gasses (GHG) are more than just carbon dioxide.  Learn about the different gasses that contribute to global warming on the US EPA website.
  • A bit into the weeds, but in order to compare the different greenhouse gasses there is a concept called 'global warming potential' (GWP) which assigns a carbon equivalency factor to each gas.  In other words, the GWP calculates how much each greenhouse gas contributes to global warming compared to carbon. US EPA will walk you through the basics.
  • If you're working in climate, you need to be familiar with the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol.  The GHG Protocol is the foundational standard for calculating and reporting greenhouse gas emissions and reductions. In particular, it's helpful to watch the two-minute video that explains Scope 1, 2, and 3 as defined by the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol standard, since that is the underlying 'math' for how greenhouse gas emissions are calculated.

Green energy

To learn about the US electric grid and efforts to make it green, head to US EPA's Green Power Markets.  If you want to deep dive into US power generation data, you can visit US EPA's Power Generation page.  To see a visual depiction of the environmental breakdown of energy, carbon, and water for the US and other countries, check out Lawrence Livermore National Lab's flowcharts.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has information on a variety of renewable energy technologies. They have an energy basics section where you can learn the fundamentals of all the major green energy technologies.

Hydrogen power is an emerging technology in the green energy space.  While it has the potential to produce clean electricity, it isn't yet clear which technical path(s) will be viable commercially at scale.  RMI has an excellent hydrogen 101 info page if you want to learn more.

Renewable energy projects often generate funds using a market-based instrument called renewable energy certificates (RECs).  A REC is issued and can be sold for each one megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity generated by the renewable energy project.  A REC buyer can then use the purchased RECs to reduce their reported purchased fossil fuel generated electricity emissions.

Carbon dioxide removal

Firstly, carbon capture typically refers to technologies that capture greenhouse gas emissions at the source (usually power plants and industrial facilities), whereas carbon dioxide removal (CDR) describes technologies that can remove greenhouse gasses from anywhere. CDR includes both engineered (ie direct air capture and other forms of man-made technology for removing and storing carbon) and natural/biological (ie agriculture and forestry carbon removal) techniques.

Check out Carbon180's fact sheets and deep dives if you are interested in learning more about CDR.  They also have an informative podcast episode on My Climate Journey that discusses current CDR trends.

For the US, Roads to Removal is an amazing interactive resource that shows opportunities at a county level for carbon removal.  You can sign up for updates as more resources are added to the site.

Direct air capture (DAC) are technologies that are able to remove greenhouse gases from the air at any location and store them.

Quantis has a nice overview of regenerative agriculture concepts, as does California State University Chico's regenerative agriculture 101.

WRI has an article that explains the nuances of using biomass for carbon removal.

Carbon offsets are the market funding mechanism for carbon removal technologies.  This MIT article gives a good high-level explanation of carbon offsets.  If you want to dive deeper into the pros and cons of carbon offsets and why they have come under scrutiny, read this article from Science.

Carbon credits are issued for one metric ton of CO2 equivalent reduced, avoided, or removed by carbon offset projects. This S&P article does a good job of explaining the voluntary carbon marketplace from a financial perspective.  And this article from Grist explains the controversy behind offsets, carbon credits, and the carbon market.

Monitoring, reporting, verification (MRV) is an acronym that comes up a lot in discussions about CDR, offsets and carbon credits.  Being able to verify that the carbon dioxide is being reduced, avoided, or removed at the levels claimed by CDR projects, particularly for natural carbon removal, is a challenge that has not yet been solved.  New technologies and techniques need to be created to sufficiently verify the effectiveness of the carbon removal activities in order for carbon offsets and credits to have the credibility needed to ensure emissions reduction targets are being met.

ESG reporting standards

For those in the ESG (environmental, social and governance) reporting space, the list of acronyms can be overwhelming.  It doesn't help that the legislative environment is currently in flux as the EU and US move towards creating mandatory reporting standards.  I am not going to try to provide a full overview of the regulatory landscape here.  However, I'll give you some of the basics and point you toward resources where you can learn more if you are interested.  Be aware that there are also city, state, and regional regulations and standards; I'm only covering the international and US/EU ones here.

These standards are changing rapidly at the moment.  I highly recommend signing up for each standards newsletter to stay apprised of updates. In particular, the standards have recently, or are in the process of, incorporating Forest, Land, and Agriculture (FLAG) and biodiversity concepts.  Most of the organizations provide online classes and periodic informational webinars you can sign up for on their websites:

  • The UN has classes for the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs)
  • Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol), the carbon accounting standard, has some online classes.
  • The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change. You don't need to deep dive on them, but it's good to know who they are since the IPCC reports are the underlying data and science behind the annual UN COP conference on climate change and any associated agreements that come out of the conference.
  • ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is developing a NetZero standard.
  • Science Based Targets (SBTi) are a standard for voluntary commitment to set a reduction target in line with limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.  The SBTi Net Zero standard requires companies to set long-term science-based targets to cut all possible emissions (typically more than 90%) before 2050.
  • GRI is the ESG standard for many corporate sustainability reports (CSR). GRI is now also officially aligned with the EU ESRS (see the EU regulation section below to learn about ESRS).  Existing GRI reporters will be well prepared to report under the ESRS. Entities reporting under ESRS will be considered reporting under GRI Standards.  GRI has classes online and a certification program.
  • Following is a very brief overview of US and EU standards--the acronyms get thick and heavy here.  Note that there are also regional, country-level, state and city level regulations that I am not covering below.

The EU has even more acronyms in their alphabet soup.  This Trellis article goes through the basics  of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) which uses the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) for corporate reporting. The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) is for supply chain reporting. There is also the EU Taxonomy that provides a common definition and framework for evaluating sustainable activities across industries. Those are only a few of the larger EU regulations; there are many more topic-specific regulations for areas such as green claims, supply chain labor, plastics/circular economy, etc.

Newsletters

Sustainability is a rapidly evolving space. You'll want to sign up for newsletters to keep you up-to-date.

  • Trellis (formerly GreenBiz) newsletters are a great way to stay in the know on the newest ideas in sustainability
  • Verdantix's newsletter provides competitive marketplace information on a wide range of sustainability topics.  They help you stay up-to-date with sustainability company new service/product offerings, funding rounds, and acquisitions.
  • McKinsey has analysis newsletters for a variety of sustainability industry subjects
  • Carbon180's newsletter and resources focus on carbon removal
  • Biographic focuses on nature stories.  While it isn't an industry newsletter the way the others are, I always learn something new and fascinating.

Online certificate courses

 

 

In addition to the educational resources listed in the ESG reporting standard organizations section above, there are a growing number of private companies providing online classes in sustainability.  As I noted in my disclaimer at the top of this post, I have not personally evaluated any of these providers.  Be cautious about spending a lot of money on a class for the sole purpose of getting a job since often employers are looking for prior experience not classes. Also employers will sometimes pay for a class after you get a job to help you get up to speed in your new role.  Note that I'm not including courses through higher-education institutions in this list--you can do a Google search for 'online sustainability courses' to find those classes and see if one meets your needs.

Let's connect!

Subscribe to my blog to be notified of new content.  If you have questions, comments, or resources you'd like me to add, please let me know in the comments or via email, and I'll do my best to respond.  I'd love to hear what you find helpful on this page, what is less useful, and what's missing.

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