Benefits of Certification for Individual Practitioners

Becoming a Certified Environmental Practitioner means joining the esteemed ranks of nearly 1200 professionals who contribute to ensuring ethical practice across their industry or sector and demonstrates a commitment to staying current in their sector. Certification shows knowledge and skills as well as commitment to one’s profession demonstrating individual credibility. Becoming certified provides an opportunity to grow personally and professionally.

Benefits of Certification for Employers

  • provides an easier means of evaluating the competence of an employee or prospective employee
  • decreases costs associated with the employee selection process
  • provides greater assurance that competent employees are hired
  • demonstrates a commitment to responsible environmental management
  • improves access to capital and insurance
  • reduces incidents that result in environmental liability
  • assists in providing a due diligence defence

Benefits of Certification for Industry

  • assists in improving the image of the industry
  • increases public awareness of and trust in the environmental profession
  • assists in ensuring that Australia and New Zealand maintain a competent environmental work force
  • assists in the harmonisation of State and national standards
  • assists in promoting the export of professional practice in the environmental sector

Benefits of Certification for Government

  • assures the minimum standards of competency for consultants performing regulatory functions
  • develops guidelines and codes of practice
  • improves confidence in the quality, reliability and accountability of environmental reports and documentation provided to government agencies by environmental practitioners

Recognition of CEnvPs by Governments as Suitably Qualified and Experienced Practitioners

Australian & New Zealand Legislation and Recognition of CEnvP Program

There are over a dozen pieces of legislation and government recommendations that regard engaging Certified Environmental Practitioners and recognise the CEnvP Program. Legislation Recognition of CEnvP Program specifies where to find each piece of legislation across Australia and New Zealand.

These include:

New Zealand

2012 The New Zealand National Environmental Standard for contaminated land has identified CEnvP as a method for assessing a suitably qualified and experienced practitioner.

2021 The NZ : Ministry for the Environment. Contaminated land management guidelines No 5: Site investigation and analysis of soils (Revised 2021), notes a CEnvP site contamination specialist is a suitably qualified and experienced practitioner (SQEP), provided qualifications and experience are relevant to specific work undertaken. If the investigation is being carried out to meet a regulatory requirement of the NESCS, the investigation must be done by a SQEP, who must also certify the report.

Australia
Federal

2011 Australian Government Response To The Report Of The Independent Review Of The Environment Protection And Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
“The government recognises that environmental industry-based certification schemes and voluntary codes already operate in Australia. An example of an industry-based certification scheme is the Certified Environmental Practitioner Program.”

2018 Review of interactions between the EPBC Act and the agriculture sector
Recommendation 12 Environmental Impact Assessment, “… it is recommended that the Department accredit, and regularly audit, a single professional association (e.g. Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand) to in turn accredit relevant environmental professionals…”

 

South Australia EPA – CEnvP (Site Contamination)

South Australia’s EPA has a policy to recognise certification bodies and schemes which certify site contamination practitioners as suitably qualified and experienced professionals. Further detail can be found at SA EPA.