Climate Action Planning Foundations

This UBC micro-certificate equips professionals in local governments, nonprofits, and businesses with the tools to initiate climate action planning in their organizations. Through applied, flexible online learning, you'll gain the confidence to assess impacts, engage stakeholders, and take the first steps toward a climate action plan.

By the end of this program, you’ll be able to:

• Understand the foundations of climate action planning, including the science, policy, and justice-based drivers for organizational action.
• Assess your organization’s climate impact and readiness, identifying key areas of influence and opportunities for change.
• Engage internal and external stakeholders effectively to build support, awareness, and shared responsibility for climate action.
• Identify and gather key data, resources, and funding opportunities to support the development of a climate action plan.
• Develop a clear roadmap to kickstart climate action, including a draft terms of reference to guide your organization’s planning process.

This program is designed for professionals in local governments, nonprofit organizations, and businesses who are ready to take the first steps toward climate action but need guidance on where to start. It’s ideal for planners, policy advisors, sustainability leads, operations managers, and anyone tasked with initiating or supporting climate action planning within their organization. No prior experience in climate planning is required—just a commitment to making change

The total cost of the program is $1,950. 

All fees are in Canadian dollars, subject to change and to GST (where applicable). For details on forms of payment accepted, please see How to pay.

Find more details on refunds, cancellations and transfers.

This micro-certificate program is 10 weeks long and takes approximately 50 hours to complete.

Required course

Required course

Course name	Format	Next start date	Learn more
Climate Action Planning: Foundations, Finance and Implementation (0395)	Online	Sep 9, 2026	Details

This part-time 100% online program is instructor supported and combines real-time online sessions with independent study.

Outside of the live virtual sessions, participants will be guided through self-paced weekly learning including reading materials, videos and podcasts, and reflective exercises. There is a strong focus on applied knowledge and students are encouraged to incorporate real-life climate action planning mandates into their offline exercises.

Case studies are also used extensively throughout the program and may be presented by guest speakers who are engaged in active climate action projects.

Expected effort

Each weekly module includes approximately 3.5 hours of self-paced learning, and a 1.5 hour facilitated live virtual session. Expect to spend approximately five hours a week completing all learning activities, including attending the real-time online sessions

Assessment

You are assessed on successfully completing weekly quizzes and a series of short assignments designed to produce a terms of reference for your climate action plan.

You must achieve an overall grade of 75% or greater to pass and earn a micro-certificate

While you’re not assessed on your attendance of the real-time online sessions, we encourage you to attend so you don’t miss the opportunity to learn and interact with your instructors and other participants. All sessions are recorded in case you miss one.

Our program instructors are experts with extensive industry and adult education experience.

• Sara Elder

• Brock Endean

• John Madden

• Eric Mazzi