By Tilde Herrera Published December 06, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — The world faces a shortage of greenhouse gas (GHG) professionals with the skills needed to meet our current measurement, reporting and verification needs -- and the problem will likely get worse as climate change programs expand around the world.

"We would have very serious capacity issues if we should have any sort of scale-up," said Tim Stumhofer, a GHGMI program associate. "In our opinion, there has not been a systemic treatment of the capacity issues. I think this is a looming challenge."

For the second year in a row, the survey of GHG professionals found a gap between workforce supply and demand. This year's survey gauged the responses from more than 1,000 practitioners, revealing that many worry about the competency of their peers. Respondents said they also have a hard time demonstrating their own adequacy, in part due to a lack of widely accepted certification programs.

The survey produced some noteworthy findings, particularly with regards to the U.S. For example, GHG professionals generally give high marks to companies around the world for their relative preparedness for climate risk disclosure. However, 75 percent believe U.S. companies are unprepared to meet the GHG reporting requirements of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Mandatory Reporting Rule, which began for most carbon-intensive facilities this year.

The 2010 Greenhouse Gas and Climate Change Workforce Needs Assessment Survey Report is available for free download at http://ghginstitute.org/research/survey/.

Read more: http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2010/12/06/current-shortage-ghg-professionals-likely-get-worse#ixzz17NEThCkS