IEMA's Skills Map

As the leading body for anyone working in the environmental or sustainability profession, IEMA considers it essential that the knowledge and skills that individuals with environmental responsibility require are clearly set out. Feedback from business, employers and individual members tells us that there isn’t a clear career or development path for the environmental profession and in particular, for those new to the profession who need more direction.

The development of IEMA’s skills map for the environmental profession will address this need.

For the first time, IEMA has set out a cross sector skills map to support:

• Anyone planning their own personal professional development;
• Employers recruiting environmental professionals or preparing job descriptions;
• Recruitment agencies advising on recruitment of an environmental professional;
• HR or Department Heads developing a graduate or management development programmes; and
• Organisations supporting the development and delivery of environmental or sustainability knowledge and skills.

To view IEMA's Skills Map click on the image below.

The framework (pictured above) brings together several years of work, undertaken by IEMA, in the environmental and sustainability skills area. A key factor of this work is recognition that individuals do require specific environmental knowledge, but in general the skills they require are generic leadership and management skills to apply their environmental knowledge effectively.

The framework is designed to be top level and the specifics and detail will sit behind the framework, for example, what environmental policy knowledge IEMA would expect an individual to have.

Why it’s important for the environmental profession

• It enables environmental professionals to see a clear pathway of the knowledge and skills they require throughout their careers
• For early career professionals, it provides direction as to the knowledge and skills they will need to develop to progress to more senior positions
• It sets out the key skills required by individuals in leadership positions, ensuring that the environmental profession is striving for senior strategic roles in organisations – supporting individuals whose role is developing from ‘greening operations’ to ‘greening organisations’
• Enables IEMA to develop structured programmes of support to develop professionals throughout their careers
• The skills map, is more than a top level framework – through ‘click throughs’ it provides detail about what an environmental professional at each operational level in an organisation needs to know and be able to do – this is the dynamic part of the framework that we update with current professional development topics
• It provides examples of the types of job titles the environmental profession is using and sample job descriptions
• It provides clear recognition of the role of the environmental professional and the value an individual can add to an organisation
• It recognises the distinct knowledge and skills an individual requires that makes them an effective environmental professional, recognition of the cross functional, diverse, multi-level, change agent role
• The framework communicates the role of the environmental professional to other professions, peers and colleagues

To find out more and to read the Skills Map in detail, download the file via the link below (please note that as this is a large detailed file it may take a couple of minutes to fully download).

IEMA-Skills-Map-DOWNLOAD.jpg (234.27 KB)