Sustainability and ESG skills development for Canadian energy industry workers

Fully funded, high-impact flexible learning programs that incorporate sustainability into daily workflows and help advance energy careers.

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Program overview

The Sustainability in Energy Micro-Credential is a professional development program created for people who work in Canadian energy. The purpose is to enhance their skill sets to address critical challenges facing the energy industry, including:

Climate change

Climate change

Environmental and socioeconomic sustainability

Environmental and
socioeconomic sustainability

Energy security

Energy security

Indigenous reconciliation

Indigenous reconciliation

Funded fully at zero cost to participants and employers, the Micro-Credential provides sustainability and environment, social and governance (ESG) risk management training specific to a Canadian workforce.

What is a
Micro-Credential?

  • High impact, short-term, flexible learning on key ESG and sustainability topics

  • A new way to develop specialized job-ready skills that help grow your career

  • A webinar and e-Learning program that complements existing energy qualifications

Who should enrol

Early to mid-career energy professionals
Early to mid-career energy professionals
Engineers, geoscientists and other technical professionals
Engineers, geoscientists and other technical professionals
Operations and maintenance specialists
Operations and maintenance specialists
Corporate services employees
Corporate services employees in areas such as finance, accounting, information technology (IT), human resources, and supply chain
Business development and sales professionals
Business development and sales professionals

This program helps prepare employees to integrate corporate sustainability goals and ESG risk management strategies into their day-to-day responsibilities and workflows, and provides employees with skills to advance their chosen career.

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What is the commitment?

The Sustainability in Energy Micro-Credential is offered at zero cost for the inaugural class starting the program on April 1, 2023. Participants will receive:

  • 12-course online learning program

  • 4 live webinars with industry leaders and sustainability experts

  • All course materials

  • Access to additional data and information resources

Participants can work at their own pace. The total time commitment is likely to be 45-50 hours. The expectation is that all tasks will be completed and proficiency in subject matter demonstrated within 12 months to achieve the Micro-Credential.

Program structure

The Micro-Credential is an interactive learning journey beginning with the development of a comprehensive understanding of sustainability and ESG concepts.

The curriculum includes industry-specific case studies showing best practices in integrating sustainability and ESG into corporate activities, interviews with experts on current and future challenges, and in-depth spotlights for specific occupations showing how sustainability goals and ESG strategies could affect their responsibilities.

The Micro-Credential is divided into 12 courses covering four major focus areas:

Program Structure

  • Sustainability and ESG in the energy industry

  • Environment

  • Social

  • Governance

Participants will be assessed throughout and at the end of each course or focus area to demonstrate their proficiency on the subject matter. They must pass all assessments before receiving the Micro-Credential. Additional Micro-Credentials can be earned by showing advanced proficiency in certain areas.

Why you should apply

1. In-demand skills

People who have a comprehensive understanding of sustainability issues are in demand. There are an increasing number of roles that require knowledge of ESG fundamentals.

2. The energy industry needs you!

Sustainability and ESG issues are among the most important challenges facing the energy industry. The learnings from the Micro-Credential help prepare you for the industry's evolution towards a more sustainable future.

3. Career path

Many interesting roles in the energy industry are focused on navigating sustainability issues. The Micro-Credential will set you on the path for advancement and career growth.

Industry led, industry approved curriculum

Industry led, industry approved curriculum

More than 200 Canadian energy industry employees were surveyed prior to creating the Sustainability in Energy Micro-Credential, to gather insight into how sustainability and ESG strategies were impacting their current responsibilities and workflows and what training they needed to be more effective in carrying out these new responsibilities. A series of in-depth interviews with a range of stakeholders including industry executives, Indigenous leaders and sustainability experts followed to refine the curriculum.

Experienced and knowledgeable course providers

Experienced and knowledgeable course providers

geoLOGIC systems ltd., through its Evaluate Energy ESG Learning platform, is the leader in providing industry specific ESG courses to the Canadian energy industry. Over 800 participants have completed general ESG courses and technical courses on the platform.

Underpinning the platform is a suite of geoLOGIC and Evaluate Energy datasets tied to sustainability and ESG related metrics.

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Or Contact us to learn more about the program

Syllabus

Topic 1. Sustainability and ESG in the Energy Industry

Learning objectives:

  • Examine energy system challenges and opportunities that arise related to the energy trilemma (environmental/affordable/secure).
  • Explore the role of energy professionals in a rapidly evolving industry, and apply this to the concepts of climate change, sustainable development and Environmental/Social/Governance (ESG) impacts.
  • Identify shifting trends in measuring sustainability through ESG performance (i.e., financial and risk management metrics).

Learning objectives:

  • Relate comprehensive ESG measurements to improved ESG performance, increased investor confidence, and reduced regulatory risk.
  • Understand the process of ESG materiality assessment and ESG factor selection (stakeholder engagement, regulatory requirements, standardized frameworks, etc.).
  • Identify key ESG indicators for the Canadian Energy Industry, including Scope 1&2 CO2e emissions, water management, land management, and recognition of Indigenous rights.

Learning objectives:

  • Identify key components of building a comprehensive ESG narrative, including accuracy, comparability, and credibility.
  • Evaluate robust ESG reporting communication modes (e.g., quantitative, qualitative) and apply these to fit-for-purpose communication media (e.g., internal communication, websites, dashboards, reports).
  • Compare and understand frames of reference for common ESG standards (UNSDG, GRI, SASB, CDP, TCFD).

Learning objectives:

  • Identify key regulatory issues, including the evolving regulations on GHG emissions, asset retirement obligations, and fresh water use and management.
  • Examine the Canadian dichotomy of aligned/differing/conflicting provincial and federal regulations as it relates to current regulations.
  • Explore varying regulatory approaches, categorized through 'carrot' and 'stick' models.

Topic 2. Environment

Learning objectives:

  • Apply the energy trilemma (environmental/affordable/secure) to assessing climate change risks and opportunities.
  • Evaluate climate change risks for the energy industry, including catastrophic incidents, severe weather, climate activism, and geopolitical unpredictability.
  • Discuss climate change opportunities such as built-environment resilience, carbon reduction partnerships, carbon capture and storage, and liquid natural gas as a worldwide transition fuel.

Learning objectives:

  • Differentiate between direct and indirect GHG emissions (Scope 1, 2, 3 emissions).
  • Identify the common standards for measuring GHG emissions.
  • Examine GHG emissions profiles that are sector-specific and recognize correlation between sector performance and Scope 1, 2, 3 emissions profiles.

Learning objectives:

  • Explore emissions reductions approaches in the categories of increased efficiencies, emissions reduction technologies, and environmental services.
  • Identify emissions reduction 'low hanging fruit' technologies, including addressing fugitive emissions, process optimization, and fuel switching.
  • Explore potential hydrocarbon demand in new markets and products and energy system shifts incorporating renewables, electrification, and efficiency improvements.
  • Identify potentially transformational emerging technologies, including carbon sequestration (CCUS), and renewable natural gas and hydrogen as fuel sources.

Learning objectives:

  • Identify best practice water management metrics, including volume of fresh water consumed, intensity of freshwater usage, volume of produced water, and flowback volume of produced water.
  • Explore key approaches to managing produced water, combining recycling, technological reclamation, and biological reclamation. Identify technologies reducing freshwater intensity, including steam replacement, utilizing saline sources, and alternate cooling processes.
  • Examine differences in water management for oil sands mining, in situ oil sands operations, hydraulic fracturing, and conventional drilling.
  • Recognize circular economy potential, particularly in critical mineral recovery, and electricity generation through geothermal technology.

Learning objectives:

  • Examine key land and air quality management concerns for the energy sector, including land disturbance, tracking biodiversity, hydrocarbon spill prevention, and asset retirement.
  • Identify best practice land and air quality management metrics, including area of land disturbance, biodiversity indicator species health, and volumes of hydrocarbon spills and recoveries.
  • Identify best practice land and air quality management approaches, including project life cycle and cumulative effects land use planning, and planned management of retired assets.

Topic 3. Governance

Learning objectives:

  • Examine best practice ESG governance practices that incorporate effective ESG oversight throughout the entire organization.
  • Identify and apply common risk categories, including compliance risk, legal risk, strategic risk, operational risk, security risk, and financial risk.
  • Draw connections between ESG governance and tools to evaluate ESG performance.

Topic 4. Social

Learning objectives:

  • Relate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) to building organizational resilience and innovation. Examine the accompanying disadvantages of potential organizational discord and social complexity.
  • Identify key factors that have advanced the safety culture of the Canadian Energy Industry, including emergency management, and workplace health and safety systems.
  • Explore the potential for unintended consequences (e.g., human rights violations, historical resource impacts) arising from the large scale and interconnected nature of energy.

Learning objectives:

  • Examine the historical context of interactions between the Canadian Energy Industry and Indigenous peoples. Recognize potential areas of trust/mistrust among the interacting parties.
  • Explore the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and frameworks for Indigenous consultation based on principles of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC).
  • Examine contrasting approaches to Indigenous engagement (e.g., legal approach, regulatory approach, relationship approach) and understand the evolving nature of Indigenous consultation.
  • Explore how the lack of standardized ESG metrics for Indigenous engagement reveals an opportunity for global leadership.
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Partners

geoLOGIC systems ltd.
Careers in Energy
Government of Canada

geoLOGIC systems ltd. has partnered with Careers in Energy (formerly PetroLMI), a division of Energy Safety Canada, to build and deliver this training program.

This program is funded by the Government of Canada's Sectoral Workforce Solutions Program.