By Priska Grace, Senior Consultant (Sustainability Advisory)
To be honest, I don’t know what to spend my SkillsFuture credits on.
Yes, I know that I want to deepen my skills as a sustainability professional, perhaps gain expertise on a hot topic like carbon credit, or sustainable supply chain.
But how do I choose the right one?
With so many courses out there - and these courses are also not cheap - I want to ensure my SkillsFuture credits are well-spent.
After spending some time scouring the internet for sustainability courses, here are my top tips to get started, whether you are:
A newbie to sustainability
Looking to transition your career into sustainability
Looking to integrate sustainability considerations into your existing job scope
Looking to kill two birds with one stone (i.e. learn while getting your boss’ wishes done!)
A seasoned ESG professional
Regardless of your motivation for upskilling though, I recommend starting your search with the SkillsFuture website
There are two great things about the SkillsFuture course website.
First, the next upcoming course dates are listed under the main search results page, so you don’t have to waste time clicking on every single interesting looking course just to find out that it is dormant.
Second, the courses listed are those eligible for the SkillsFuture subsidy and/or credits, which can be substantial especially if you are a Singaporean citizen over 40 years old (up to 90% subsidy).
If your employer is going to pay for your course, there is a separate course directory for businesses from the SkillsFuture for Business website listing funded courses that are also eligible for absentee payroll funding – i.e. your employer gets paid part of your salary for your time attending courses.
If none of the courses in the separate course directory interest you – not to worry, some courses from the main SkillsFuture course website are also eligible for additional subsidies if you are sponsored by a SME.
Disclaimer: The information provided below is based on publicly available information on SkillsFuture or Institute of Higher Learnings websites researched by the author in July to Aug 2024 and represents the author’s own opinion. We receive no advertising revenue or business benefits from the course providers mentioned for this article. Please refer to the course provider website for more information on available subsidies and subsidy criteria.
1. For the newbie
If you are a newbie looking for a sustainability 101 course, fear not, there is a range of foundational courses catering to various levels of commitments, interest, budget and availability out there.
For those who just want to dip their toe, or only want to be generally informed about what sustainability is, consider attending free events and seminars offered by organisations such as SBF or any of the five SME Centres – ASME, SCCCI, SICCI, SMCCI or SMF - in Singapore. If you are looking for something more serious than a 30-45 mins talk, there is also a very affordable 20 hours self-paced online Sustainability 101 course from Republic Polytechnic covering a high-level overview of sustainability topics and trends.
For those looking for an introductory sustainability course from a business lens, Enterprise Singapore offers subsidised sustainability foundational courses through third-party partners. These courses often come with additional perks for businesses such as complimentary self-assessment toolkits or audit sessions. However, if you do not qualify for the SME subsidy and are paying from your own pocket, for the price tag of $1,500 (before GST), there are other more wallet-friendly short courses eligible for individual subsidies from the polytechnics and universities. Examples include this Sustainability 101 for the Green Economy course from Nanyang Polytechnic or Understanding Sustainability: What and Why? From Singapore Polytechnic.
There are also several more industry targeted introduction to sustainability. If you are in the Logistics industry, you can access free sustainability webinar recordings on the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) website. Accenture, one of the providers of the Enterprise Singapore sustainability foundation courses, runs a new food manufacturing-focused course. Information and communication technology (ICT) practitioners can check out Accenture’s sustainability foundation course that has a module on green ICT, or watch out for this upcoming new course from NUS on ICT sustainability.
2. For those looking for a career transition
Aside from looking at master’s degree, post-diploma, or executive certificate, those seeking training for a new career in sustainability should also think about two main supporting programs.
The first is the Career Conversion Program (CCP), that seeks to provide salary support for new or existing employees to undergo one sustainability-related course and structured on-the-job training to take on sustainability-related roles within their companies. This is a win-win for both you and your employer if you need to continue to draw a salary while learning and want to stay in the same company.
The SkillsFuture Career Transition Programme (SCTP), on the other hand, is a subsidised, self-sponsored courses aimed at supporting mid-career individuals looking for a career change. These courses also come with employment facilitation services and career advisory to help you with the subsequent job search.
Out of the non-industry specific SCTPs, SMU’s (SCTP) Advanced Certificate in Diving Sustainability for the Future: The Future of Work through a Sustainable Lens is the one I will choose for myself if I am going after a sustainability consultant or a corporate sustainability manager job within a listed company or MNC. (SCTP) Sustainability Practices and Reporting from Singapore Polytechnic also personally stands out for having a course description that leans more towards practical, hands-on, skills and knowledge that I think will be useful within a smaller company setting. On the other hand, the (SCTP) NUS Sustainability and Resilience Programme learning objectives and course description appear to be more geared towards roles involving strategic level thinking and planning, with modules such as Strategic Business Analysis & Capacity Planning, Organisation Plans & Capacity Building, as well as Crisis Management and Business Resilience.
3. For those looking to integrate sustainability considerations or add sustainability into their existing job scope
If you are not looking for a drastic career change and just want to learn to embed sustainability into your existing job scope, you can opt for function-specific sustainability courses in areas such as marketing, communications, finance, HR, and procurement.
The polytechnics offer many short courses in this regard, but quite a few of these short courses are dormant without any upcoming course dates. However, you can also consider taking a module or a certificate within their diploma programs, which usually can be taken separately (for a reduced fee). For example, Republic Polytechnic’s Specialist Diploma in Environmental and Corporate Sustainability incorporates a module on Communications and Engagement in Sustainability that purports to teach you how to develop sustainability communications strategy and messaging to avoid greenwashing. Singapore Polytechnic’s (SCTP) Sustainability Practices and Reporting includes a certificate in Sustainable HR Management practices.
If you are a procurement professional seeking to implement a sustainability procurement strategy and supplier assessment process, you can evaluate courses run by SMU, SMU-GCNS, TUV SUD or Paia (eligible for SkillsFuture credits). Those in charge of running supply chain operations can look into the Republic Poly offering instead, which also includes a trip to Republic Polytechnic’s Supply Chain Innovation Lab.
Corporate communications practitioners who specifically want to know how to do sustainability reporting can check out Temasek Polytechnic’s Specialist Diploma in Sustainability Reporting (in collaboration with KPMG) or SUSS’ modular graduate course on sustainability reporting. Based on the course descriptions, I expect both to cover GRI as well as ISSB or climate-related disclosures. However, if you are short on time, SUSS’ 2 days course on sustainability reporting is a viable alternative. Although this short course only features GRI, the course covers essential sustainability reporting skills such as stakeholder engagement, materiality assessment, data collection and target setting. These topics will give you a good foundation to further develop your climate-related disclosure skills.
Those in the financial services sector will want to check out the list of courses from MAS and IBF’s April 2024 press release on sustainable finance upskilling support for the industry’s workforce. If you are in a working in a corporate finance role and are wondering what sustainable financing options are available for your company, you can review courses that introduce sustainable finance options for companies as well as how to access them, such as Enterprise Singapore’s Sustainable Finance courses, NUS’s Sustainable project financing course, or SMU’s Developing ESG and Sustainability-Linked Frameworks for Capital Raising.
4. For those looking to kill two birds with one stone
So, you have been asked by the boss to calculate your company’s carbon footprint, and if necessary, you can attend a course to learn how to do it. Why not kill two birds with one stone by calculating your carbon footprint as part of doing the course?
GCNS’s Carbon Accounting and GHG Management course comes with a project to calculate your own company’s carbon footprint with their CERT tool. While other courses also include hands-on exercises, what stands out to me is that GCNS caters a period of one to two weeks in between the first and second day of their course so you can go back and collect real data from your colleagues. By taking this course you will also have fulfilled a requirement to participate in the LowCarbonSG program, an initiative by GCNS, NEA and EnterpriseSG to recognise businesses who have taken a step to measure their carbon footprint.
Beyond carbon footprint calculations, you can explore programs such as Schneider Electric’s SME Kickstarter Decarbonisation program, which offers training and mentorship over 3 years to help companies measure their carbon footprint, develop decarbonisation plans, and adopt Schneider’s cloud enabled platform for energy management and tracking.
For those who are tasked not just with carbon management, but with a whole company sustainability transformation mandate, the Sustainability Transformation through Green Compass course may be a better fit. Participants will use a custom tool to evaluate their company’s current level of environmental sustainability, prioritise areas of improvement and then create a roadmap.
Another course that may appeal to those seeking more immediate and practical outcomes is the Sustainability Made Easy for SMEs course offered by Singapore Polytechnic. The course descriptions promise participants pre-created templates and tools from Singapore Polytechnic’s Business Innovation Centre (BIC)’s sustainability solutions to help them develop various ESG policies and establish a system for data collection and reporting. It’s too bad that the course is currently dormant, but you can always register your interest.
5. For the seasoned ESG professionals
If you are a seasoned ESG professional who is looking to deepen your knowledge and skills in a particular area, here are some tips from what I have personally been looking at recently:
For carbon credits, watch out for upcoming courses from NUS’ Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions. Aside from the big picture overview provided by the Climate Change and Sustainability: Leveraging Carbon Market Initiatives course, the centre is also developing a series of course to “upskill professionals across a spectrum of carbon management activities”, the first of which has been launched on Navigating Policy Development and Trends in Carbon Markets. I am personally looking forward to learning more about carbon offset project development and financing.
For those looking to build up carbon accounting skills beyond Scope 1 and Scope 2, GCNS recently ran a Scope 3 carbon accounting workshop, although it is not clear whether or not this will become a regular running course at the time of writing of this article. The GHG Protocol website itself features e-learning for Scope 3 and product life cycle standards. Product carbon accounting or life cycle assessment courses are also offered by A*Star (with subsidy), or consulting companies such as CSRWorks or Global Green Connect.
If you are feeling short of time or energy and dreading about keeping up with the latest in the fast-changing world of sustainability reporting, take heart! There are courses out there that can help you get started on TFND and ISSB. If time is of the utmost essence, Paia has a short half-day introductory course on biodiversity for corporates including TNFD. As for me, I am interested in SMU’s 2-day biodiversity course. Besides the SkillsFuture subsidy, the course not only covers TNFD reporting, but also addresses biodiversity drivers, mitigation strategies, and biodiversity data collection and preparation, which will come in handy for corporate biodiversity strategy and initiatives development. With regards to ISSB, CSR Works, Tembusu Asia and TUV-SUD are offering courses; the TUV-SUD ISSB course is eligible for SkillsFuture subsidies. (I should note however, that IFRS has a great free knowledge hub for ISSB prepares – check out the webinar How the IFRS Foundation can get your started on the ISSB standards recording summarising the available support here).
In fact, consulting companies can be a good place to look for more specialised courses that are not typically available via SkillsFuture, although most are not eligible for subsidies. Paia, for example, delivers a GRESB Real Estate Assessment whereas CSR Works runs an Integrated Reporting Training Course, as well as Ecovadis Essentials Training course.
Finally, corporate sustainability professionals often need to act as change-makers, driving shifts in mindset and behaviour in their colleagues. To do this, they may also want to brush up on their soft skills or change management skills. SUSS provides both a short introductory and a longer modular graduate level course focused on change management for corporate sustainability transformation. For those who are also intrigued by psychology, Temasek polytechnic’s courses in introduction and principles of behavioral insights may be of interest.
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Whether you are driven by interest, career needs or curiosity in seeking a ESG course, I hope this post has helped to find you a right fit. Do you have any more course recommendations and tips? Share your insights with us!
Use #ESGcoursetip to join the conversation and inspire fellow learners. We would love to hear your views!
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