Climate Action Competency Framework: Use Cases 2021 – Present
(this document is updated periodically – see most recent “edits date” in footer)
This Table summarizes Climate Action Competency Framework (1) use cases; (2) examples of advancement and third-party amplification; and (3) links to the Open Educational Resource repository for each of CACF V1 And CACF V2. The “openness” of this knowledge product means it has likely been referenced and used in other contexts, beyond this list.
| Use Cases | |
| 2025 | Launch of French language CACF V2 to support French speaking populations in Atlantic Canada and Quebec. |
| 2025 | University of Waterloo National Forum: Accelerating Climate Education convened by University of Waterloo’s Climate Institute: Data from recent national survey (funded by NRCan) regarding familiarity and use of CACF in professional program schools across Canada. <INSERT DATA HERE> |
| 2024 | Environment and Climate Change Canada: Initiation of a Government of Canada interpretation of competencies, drawn from CACF V2 |
| 2024 | University of Prince Edward Island: Atlantic Region adaptation training and cohort program for people working in or adjacent to the climate sector. Utilizing the CACF v2 as part of this program to help get people familiar with the range of skills needed. Interest in translating CACF V2 to French to support French speaking populations in Atlantic Canada and Quebec. |
| 2024 | University of Waterloo Climate Institute: Assessment of Climate Change Education in Canadian Professional Degree Programs. This project is undertaking a research study of current practices, gaps and opportunities for the integration of climate change competencies into existing Engineering, Planning, Architecture and Accounting programs in Canadian universities and colleges, The aim of the study is to assess current practices and identify needs and future directions for curriculum planning and pedagogy, at UWaterloo and beyond (see Appendix B: CACF for Learning Design and Curriculum Change). |
| 2024 | Climate Risk Institute: Professions Advancing Adaptation Competencies (PAAC) An initiative of Canada’s national engineering, planning, accounting, and landscape architecture associationsThis project applies the CACF in support of the overall acquisition of climate change adaptation competencies; Integrate and mainstream climate change adaptation competencies into profession-specific training and certification programs; establish climate change adaptation qualifications, accreditations, and/or standards of practice within professions; and, formalize adaptation competencies through licensing or continuing education requirements within a given profession or sector (see Appendix C: CACF identifies competencies for professional associations). |
| 2024 | Open School BC: Share “how to use” CACF for development of a course, “introduction to climate change” chartered by BC CAS. |
| 2023 | BC Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills: Assessed micro-credentials (MC) for academic credit using a critical information summary tool to standardize assessments across MCs being reviewed. The RRU Climate Adaptation Fundamentals MC was recommended for a credit award in part because it was using an externally developed competency framework (CACF) as an element of the criteria for an award of credit. The CAF MC was assessed for credit by the Thompson Rivers University Credit Bank. |
| 2023 | Environment and Climate Change Canada: In collaboration with Resilience by Design Lab, developed a self-paced Climate Adaptation course, incorporating CACF, for distribution through Canada School of Public Policy. |
| 2023 | Upskilling for Canada’s Climate Transition (2023) Research conducted by Academy for Sustainable Innovation and RRU-RbD Lab; funded by Future Skills Centre referenced CACF as a pedagogical basis for designing cclimate courses and microcredentials. |
| 2023 | RRU MA Climate Action Leadership (Cohort 2): CACF used with students as a tool for supporting exploration of competencies and skills acquired in the program, and those still needing further development and attention. |
| 2023 | UK Climate Resilience Program used CACF in development of their competency framework and CACF is cited. |
| 2022 – 2023 | Pearson College: CACF was adopted and redesigned to create a student-centered climate action competency framework, as part of the design and development of a baccalaureate diploma in climate action leadership. |
| 2022-2023 | RRU Professional and Continuing Studies: Assess all RRU micro-credential courses using CACF V1 to establish a standard for employer competency endorsement; integrate CACF into the design standards for future RRU micro-credentials (Krista Lambert. contractor); Market RRU competency-based micro-credentials through multiple channels |
| 2022-2024 | The Climate Resilience Capacity Building Program was developed and administered by the Municipal Climate Change Action Centre, a partnership of Alberta Municipalities, Rural Municipalities of Alberta, and the Government of Alberta. This program used CACF as the basis of a community climate resilience self-assessment tool |
| 2022 | City of Camrose, Alberta: Measuring Climate Adaptation Competencies (seeMunicipal Climate Change Action Centre Alberta) |
| 2022 | RbD Lab WorkshopA multi-stakeholder and rights holder workshop was convened with end-users, held at RRU on April 27, 2022. This workshop engaged partners from Pearson College, BC CAS, and various representatives from NGO’s and not-for-profits interested in climate action and competency informed learning design, and subject matter experts (climate adaptation, and climate mitigation). The workshop generated feedback on the potential language issues in the existing CACF, identified challenges with the existing structure, and began the process of identifying or highlighting potential mitigation competencies. |
| 2022 | RRU MA Climate Action Leadership (Cohort 1): CACF tested with students as a tool for supporting exploration of competencies and skills acquired in the program. |
| 2022 | Climate Risk Institute: assess courses originally developed by Engineers Canada, for course learning outcomes, using CACF V1 (Krista Lambert, contractor) |
| 2021 | Core6 Environmental Consulting: Field Test conducted by Dr. David Porter (see Appendix A) |
| 2021 | BC Ministry of Advanced Education Degree Quality Assurance (DQA): approved RRU Master of Arts in Climate Action Leadership, an academic degree program with clear and reliable learning outcomes informed by the CACF |
| Amplification and Advancement | |
| 2025 | Conference: University of Waterloo National Forum: Accelerating Climate Education CACF was showcased (Dr. Michele Martin, UWaterloo Climate Institute) |
| 2024 | Conference: National Sustainability Society Conference (Seattle)The case for climate action competencies (Forssman) |
| 2024 | Embedding Project |
| 2024 | Conference: CAUCE 2024 (Calgary)CACF and the foundations of CanAdapt (Cox & Forssman) |
| 2023 | Conference: Adaptation Futures (Montreal)Integrating climate action competencies into climate action capacity building (Cox & Forssman) |
| 2023 | Conference: Open Education Global (Edmonton)Open competency frameworks, CACF, and open educational resources in ALN (Forssman) |
| 2023 | Conference: CAUCE 2023 (Winnipeg)CACF use-cases and the relationship to a wider climate action upskilling agenda (Cox & Forssman) |
| 2023 | Peer reviewed journal publication and conference presentation at York University: The Open/Technology in Education, Society, and Scholarship Association (OTESSA) Journal Designing agile pathways for climate adaptation skill development (Porter) |
| 2023 | Conference: EcoCanada “Eco-Impact” (Calgary)The necessary integration of expert competencies in designing climate action micro-credentials (Cox) |
| 2022 | Conference: CAUCE 2022 (Virtual)Importance of measurable competencies in climate action micro-credentials (Forssman) |
| 2021 | Alexandra Piros (design portfolio) https://www.piros.ca/project/adaptation-learning-network-climate-adaptation-competency-framework |
| CACF – Shared as an Open Educational Resource via Pressbooks | |
| 2023 | Climate Action Competency Framework V2 (2023) |
| 2021 | Climate Adaptation Competency Framework V1 (2021) |