Changes coming to CEnv

The Society for the Environment has reviewed the competency criteria for the Chartered Environmentalist and a new specification will be launched in March 2013

The registration authority of the Society for the Environment (SocEnv) has undertaken a review of its Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv) application and competency criteria to ensure continued legal compliance on age discrimination issues.

SocEnv has re-examined the CEnv eligibility criteria and competencies as a result of new age-discrimination rules brought into effect on 1 April.

The review recommends that the current points-based eligibility system should be abolished so as to remove any potential age-discrimination problem under the requirements of the Equality Act 2010. In the course of the review, the authority decided that rigid time-based criteria were not necessary for the professional qualification.

The registration authority also concluded that, in order to reinforce the comparability of CEnv with other chartered titles, such as Chartered Engineer and Chartered Scientist, 12 CEnv competencies across four categories should be introduced.

Under this new regime, future CEnv applicants will be required to provide written evidence that their achievements in all 12 competencies are in line with the requirements of the bodies licensed to award CEnv status, such as IEMA.

SocEnv will be working with IEMA and the 22 other CEnv licensed bodies during the rest of 2012 on these recommendations, and it is anticipated that the revised CEnv specification will be launched on 1 March 2013.

The review will not impact on any IEMA members who already hold CEnv status, but the new framework will be relevant for any continuing professional development (CPD) activities.

From 1 March 2013 any CPD assessments and all CEnv applications made to the Institute will be subject to the new specification.

IEMA will ensure that its members are kept informed on the review as it develops into a finalised framework.

If you have any questions or concerns about how these changes may affect any future CEnv application, please contact IEMA’s professional standards manager, Claire Kirk, on [email protected].