Top 8 Free Online Certified Environment Courses

Do you want to learn more about the environment and related things like climate change and green policies?

If yes, you are in the right place.

Here is the list of 8 such courses that are absolutely free to enroll in and get certified by the United Nations (UN).

There are different UN agencies working towards educating civilians and government officials on rising global issues that include environmental and climate issues.

UNITAR Online Environment Courses

United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) offers many environments awareness courses. These free-of-charge courses are available for anybody to join and get certified. UNITAR offers these courses several times throughout the year.

Read on for the list of free environment-related courses from UNITAR with some details.

#1. Integrated Planning for Climate Change and Biodiversity

UNITAR and IUCN jointly deliver this course using interactive lessons and multimedia content. By participating in this course, you will develop an understanding of the link between biodiversity, climate change, and land use. You will also become aware of the rights and roles of different stakeholders in the planning and decision-making process.

This environment course has five modules:

• Connecting Land-use
• Climate Change and Biodiversity
• Inter-Sectoral and Inter-Institutional Collaboration
• Public Participation in Decision-Making
• Regional Planning for Harmonization and Connectivity

You will have 4-months’ time to complete this course.

 To know more about this course, you can visit here.

#2. Human Rights and Environment

Collaborative efforts of UNITAR and UN Environment make this short three-hour-long course available. This self-paced course introduces you to the relationship between human rights and the environment. The participants of this environment course will gain insights into the use of human rights for environmental issues.

By participating in this course, you will learn about the relationship between human rights and the environment. Upon successful completion of this short environment course, you will also receive joint certification from UNITAR and UN Environment.

For more details, you can download the flyer here and if you want to register for this environment course, you can visit here.

UN CC: E-Learning Free Online Environment Courses 

UNCC e-learn is an e-learning platform of UN, which offers an entire range of courses related to global issues. This extensive list of courses provided by UNCC also includes many environment courses.

Listed below, you will find the free environment courses by UNCC.

#3. Introductory E-Learning Course on Climate Change

This environment course provides you with an introductory knowledge of the basics of climate change. It also covers everything from climate change science to governance issues.

This environment course comprises the following seven modules:

• Human rights impact of climate change and corresponding human rights obligations
• Human rights in climate negotiations, agreements and action
• Climate change in human rights processes, agreements and action
• Persons, groups and peoples in vulnerable situations
• Regional and national frameworks and action
• Rights-based climate litigation
• Right to development and climate change in focus

Overall, in this course, you will learn everything you need to know about climate change, starting from the science of climate change to governance. 

You will also get certified after completion of this course. But you would need to complete the course and pass the final assessment quiz, with at least 70% correct answers, to get the certificate.  

This course is available in four languages, including English, French, Spanish, and Chinese. You also get a small quiz after each module to help you develop a better understanding of the lesson and prepare for the final quiz.

If you want to join the course, you can visit here.

#4. Climate Change: From Learning to Action

This course aims at helping you develop an understanding of climate change and its direct effects on you and your surroundings. Further in this course, you will develop an understanding of the climate action plans and financing along with other know how’s about climate negotiations. By the end of this course, you will be able to develop an action plan to tackle climate change. 

This environment course consists of the following six modules:

• What is climate change and how does it affect us?
• How to adapt to climate change?
• How to mitigate climate change?
• How to plan and finance action on climate change?
• How does climate change negotiations work?
• How to tackle climate change in practice?

After completing this course, you will also get certified after passing the end-of-course quiz with at least 70% correct answers.

You can download the course syllabus here and if you want to join the course, you can visit here.

UN CC: E-Learning Courses on Green Economy

#5. Indicators For An Inclusive Green Economy: Introductory Course

This is an introductory course to the concept of Inclusive Green Economy (IGE). UNCC designed this course to support the policy-making for developing IGE and illustrate the use of different methods for selecting and applying these indicators.

This self-paced environment course has four modules:

• Introduction to concepts
• Choosing appropriate frameworks for green economy (GE) indicators
• Approaches to measurement
• Selecting green economy indicators

Like other courses, this course also has a final quiz which you need to pass with at least 70% correct answers, to get a certificate of completion.

To join this environment course or know more, you can visit here.

#6. Indicators For An Inclusive Green Economy: Advanced Course

This is an advanced course for understanding Inclusive Green Economy Indicators. This advanced course builds upon the information provided in the introductory course, mentioned above. The primary focus of this course is on the application of the green economy progress measurement framework developed by the UN Environment program. 

This course has four modules as listed below:

• Concepts in measuring green economy progress
• The Green Economy Progress Measurement Framework methodology
• Selecting indicators for country-level applications
• Global application of the GEP Measurement Framework

Similar to the courses mentioned above, you will get the certification at end of the course after passing the final quiz.

To join the course or to know more about it, you can visit here.

#7. Green Fiscal Policy

This course focus on providing the policymakers with knowledge of green policies that can help them build nations of the future. Green fiscal policies play an important role in the green growth of countries. This course is open for participants from the government, business world, and civil society as an introduction to green fiscal policy tools and approaches to create a sustainable future.

After completing this environment course, you can do the following things:

• Explain the logic for greater use of green fiscal policy.
• Understand different fiscal instruments to help promote desirable economical, social and environmental outcomes.
• Explain the different stages of the policy cycle.
• Highlight the opportunities and challenges in energy, transport and waste management sectors.
• Explain the benefits of international collaborations for fiscal policy actions at the national level.

This course has five modules, each taking about 20 minutes to complete. The modules are as described below:

• The need for green fiscal policy
• Fiscal instruments for greening the economy
• Effective strategies for fiscal reform
• Applying green fiscal policy in key sectors
• Collaborating for impact

To join the course or known more about it, you can visit here.

#8. Green Economy and Trade

There has been a rising demand for green products and services around the world. By harnessing this rising demand, developing countries like India can diversify their economy. As their dependence on fossil fuels will decrease and they can gain a lot by providing eco-friendly products and services.

This course focuses entirely on ensuring that people around the world are aware of these new rising opportunities. And they also possess the required knowledge and skills to take maximum advantage of these rising opportunities.

After completing this course, you will develop an understanding of legal and governance frameworks, challenges, and potential opportunities related to trade and understand enabling policies for green trade practices. 

This course has four modules that will help you develop in-depth knowledge about the green economy and trade.

• The trade and environment interface.
• Perceived tensions and synergies between trade liberalisation and the green economy.
• Enabling conditions and policy design for green trade.
• Seizing sectoral opportunities.

To join the course or known more about it, you can visit here.

Conclusion

These free environment courses, by United Nations (UN) and its affiliates, will provide you with vast knowledge about the environment and related issues.

Enroll yourself in one of these free environment courses to get started with your journey to understand environmental and climate issues. You will also get certificates after successful completion of these courses.  

Visit our blog section here, to read more about other environment-related issues.

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