Launching the “Center for Competence, Audit and Certification of Management in the Carbon Age”
From Compliance to Performance, From Performance to Value
The Iranian Green Management Association has launched the “Center for Competence, Audit and Certification of Management in the Carbon Age“ in order to develop new knowledge in green management and engineering and respond to the new requirements of economic enterprises.
This center was formed with the aim of creating a professional system for training, developing and qualifying auditors, auditing and evaluating organizations and developing new approaches to management and value creation.
Why “Management in the Carbon Age”?
The business environment is changing. Quality, environment, energy, water, materials, waste, effluent, carbon and cost are no longer independent issues. A decision made about the quality of a process can change the consumption of materials and energy; energy consumption affects cost and carbon emissions; water management is related to energy, effluent and business continuity; and material waste is simultaneously an economic, quality and environmental issue.
Therefore, the future organization cannot manage these variables in separate “management islands”. On this basis, the center’s system document also considers integrated management of quality, environment, energy, water, materials, waste, carbon and cost essential.
We call this new era the Carbon Age; an era in which companies must be able to measure, manage and improve their resource consumption, efficiency, cost, environmental and carbon footprint, in addition to quality and price.
Auditing must also change
Traditionally, auditing has largely started with a few questions: What is the requirement? Where is the evidence? Is it being met?
But the carbon age auditor must ask more questions: What is the actual performance? What does the data say? Where are resources being used? Where is the waste? How much does it cost? What are the environmental and carbon impacts? What are the future risks? And most importantly, where is the opportunity to create value?
For this reason, the center’s philosophy is based on a three-step path: Compliance ←Performance ←Create Value
Compliance → Performance → Value
In this approach, the auditor is not simply a searcher for non-compliance; he must also be able to analyze the relationship between process, resources, consumption, waste, cost, consequence, risk, and opportunity for improvement.
Areas of Activity of the Center
The Center for Competence, Auditing and Certification of Management in the Carbon Age initially pursues the development of professional competence and audit knowledge in the following areas:
- Quality Management (ISO 9001),
- Environmental Management (ISO 14001),
- Energy Management (ISO 50001),
- Water Efficiency Management (ISO 46001),
- Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Management and Reporting,
- Management Green Value Management and Value Nexus.
For this purpose, the career path starts from Internal Auditor and progresses to Auditor, Lead Auditor and at an advanced level to Value Nexus Evaluator. General Regulations
A fundamental difference: “Course attendance” does not equal “professional competence”
One of the fundamental principles of the center is that: Competence = Knowledge + Skill + Experience
Therefore, simply attending a training class will not mean acquiring the qualification of an auditor or a lead auditor. In the center’s system, “Certificate of Attendance”, “Certificate of Educational Achievement”, “Certificate of Professional Competence” and “Professional Registration of Auditor” are distinguished from each other. In addition to training, applicants for professional qualification must go through the stages of examination, Case Study, supervised audit experience, practical assessment and certification. The professional path will also continue with the registration of audit records, continuous professional development (CPD) and renewal of qualification.
Value Nexus; the center’s point of distinction
One of the most important directions of the center is the development of Value Nexus knowledge. In this approach, auditors are not limited to one standard or one source; Rather, it sees the organization in an integrated picture:
Quality + Water + Energy + Materials + Waste + Wastewater + Carbon + Cost
The fundamental question is:
How can an organization create both economic and environmental value from integrated quality and resource management?
At an advanced level, the Value Nexus assessor must be able to analyze these relationships in a real process and extract value creation opportunities.
From audit finding to improvement project
The goal of the center is only to produce
It is not an “audit report”. Audit findings should be able to be translated into real improvement projects; projects defined in three families:- Human-Based; changing knowledge, skills, behavior and culture;
- System-Based; improving processes, methods, indicators and management systems; and
- Technology-Based; using equipment, technology, automation, recycling and technical solutions. Qualification System Document
In this way, the audit result should ultimately be able to reduce water, energy and material consumption; reduce waste, effluent andCO₂e; reduce costs; increase quality and productivity; and value creation.
Who can join the Center?
The Center invites managers and experts in management systems, HSEand environment, quality, energy, water and facilities, sustainability and ESG, carbon experts, management consultants, internal auditors, auditors and chief auditors of management systems, human resources managers and technical experts from industries and organizations to join the Center’s professional path in accordance with their backgrounds and expertise.
Individuals who already have professional qualifications or audit experience in a management system can also use supplementary and Cross-Qualification paths to develop their qualifications in other areas and move towards Multi-System Auditor and Value Nexus. This path is foreseen in the Center’s system.
Invitation to join the new generation of auditors
The Iranian Green Management Association invites professionals, managers, experts and auditors who are interested in developing their professional knowledge and competence in line with the developments of the carbon era to join the “Center for Competence, Audit and Management Certification in the Carbon Age”.
Our goal is not simply to add another certificate to the collection of professional documents of individuals. The goal is to form a generation of professionals and auditors who can understand the system, read the data, measure performance, discover waste, recognize risk and show the opportunity to create value to the organization.
Yesterday’s auditor measures compliance; Carbon Age Audit measures performance and uncovers value creation opportunities.
Join the Carbon Age Management Certification, Audit and Competency Center.
Education →Professional Competency →Audit → Value Nexus → Value Creation →Green Intelligence