The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) celebrated Earth Day by announcing that, as of April 2013, more than 300 facility managers globally had earned the Sustainability Facility Professional (SFP) credential. A facility 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 facility managers earning their SFP credential has quadrupled.

“Facility managers around the world look to the International Facility Management Association for professional training and credentialing,” said 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 program specifically aimed at sustainable practices.”

IFMA’s SFP is an assessment-based certificate program 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 recognize the importance of sustainable facility management, the SFP remains the only credential of its kind. Developed by facility managers for facility managers, the SFP validates the sustainability qualifications of a person, not an object or building.