Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 25th April 2024 Issue no. 1111
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IFMA announces 300th Sustainability Facility Professional in time for Earth Day
The International Facility Management Association celebrated Earth Day by announcing that, as of this month, more than 300 facilities managers globally had earned the Sustainability Facility Professional credential. A facilities manager with an SFP credential has been trained and tested to fill a much-needed role in sustainable management of the built environment. Since the credential was first introduced in 2011, the rate of new facilities managers earning their SFP credential has quadrupled.
"Facility managers around the world look to the International Facility Management Association for professional training and credentialing," says Marina Badoian-Kriticos, the sustainability director at IFMA. "Most people are familiar with building and component certifications like CASBEE, LEED, and ENERGY STAR, but while these important tools are focused on what the finished product should look like, no one was ensuring the people running the buildings and system had the training they needed. IFMA created the SFP to fill the need for a training and credential programme specifically aimed at sustainable practices."
IFMA's SFP is an assessment-based certificate programme delivering a specialty credential in sustainability. It contains three focus areas: strategy and alignment for sustainable facility management, managing sustainable facilities and operating sustainable facilities. Together, these focus areas provide a complete picture of how SFPs can improve the sustainability of their facilities in all eight major categories of sustainable facility management as identified by IFMA: energy, water, materials and resources, workplace management, indoor environmental quality, quality of services, waste and site impact.
IFMA has worked to develop a comprehensive sustainability curriculum, which is available in self-study format or in classrooms, both of which have an online component. SFP candidates must pass three final assessments, one for each of the focus areas.
Even as governments at all levels around the world begin to recognise the importance of sustainable facility management, the SFP remains the only credential of its kind. Developed by facilities managers for facilities managers, the SFP validates the sustainability qualifications of a person, not an object or building.
23rd May 2013