Free CPD-Accredited Beginner Certificate Course Gives Anyone the Foundational Knowledge to Understand, Reason Through, and Act on Environmental Sustainability
Alison has launched a new CPD-accredited certificate course: Environmental Sustainability Concepts. This free beginner-level online programme requires no prior knowledge and builds a clear conceptual foundation in environmental sustainability — covering what sustainability means across environmental, social, and economic dimensions; how to assess resource use; the impacts of pollution, climate change, and habitat loss; waste and transport decisions; sustainable communities; global trade and supply chains; and how to apply sustainability reasoning to real choices in everyday life and work.
The course was reviewed by Tamsin Stevens, a sustainability and ESG consultant with over a decade of experience helping organisations translate environmental responsibility into practical, measurable action. Tamsin specialises in B Corp certification, carbon accounting under the GHG Protocol, and ESG reporting frameworks including GRI, CSRD/ESRS, and TCFD. She also serves as an assessor for a University of Cambridge postgraduate sustainability programme. Her expertise in making sustainability frameworks operational informed the course's emphasis on grounded, applicable understanding over abstract terminology.
The Gap Between Awareness and Literacy
Environmental sustainability is now part of almost every significant conversation in business, policy, and public life. Regulatory frameworks are tightening: the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive has extended mandatory ESG reporting to tens of thousands of companies. Employers across sectors are building sustainability considerations into procurement, operations, and product decisions. Consumers are asked, constantly, to evaluate the environmental claims attached to the products they buy and the services they use.
Yet awareness of sustainability as an issue and the ability to reason through sustainability questions are very different things. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has documented that global average temperatures have already risen approximately 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels, driving real and escalating consequences across ecosystems, weather patterns, and resource availability. The UN Environment Programme has tracked how global material resource use has more than tripled since 1970, placing mounting pressure on the natural systems that underpin economic activity and human wellbeing. These are not abstract futures — they are present conditions that affect supply chains, infrastructure, energy costs, and community resilience right now.
The people navigating these conditions — in organisations, in communities, in their own lives — need more than awareness. They need the conceptual vocabulary to distinguish between short and long-term environmental impacts; to evaluate a transport or energy decision on its actual merits; to understand what a product's environmental footprint really means; to connect local consumption choices to global environmental effects. That foundational literacy has been largely confined to university programmes and expensive professional certifications, leaving the majority of learners without the tools to engage meaningfully with the sustainability questions that increasingly shape the world around them.
Making Sustainability Thinking Accessible
Tamsin Stevens captures what this course sets out to do: "Environmental sustainability can feel overwhelming until you see how it actually plays out — in the resources we use, the choices behind a supply chain, the trade-offs in every transport or energy decision. This course grounds those ideas in plain language, so learners come away able to actually reason through sustainability questions."
Mike Feerick, Founder and CEO of Alison, added: "The transition to a more sustainable world depends on people understanding what sustainability actually means — not just in the abstract, but in the practical decisions they make every day. This course makes that understanding freely available to everyone, and that matters."
This launch strengthens Alison's environmental and professional development portfolio, reinforcing its mission to make knowledge that shapes the world's future freely accessible to all.
To learn more or enrol in the course, visit: alison.com/course/environmental-sustainability-concepts
Ends
Media contact
For further information, contact the media team at [email protected].
About Alison
Alison is a global leader in free online learning and skills development. With over 50 million registered learners across 193 countries (as of October 2025), Alison empowers individuals, communities, and organisations to upskill quickly and effectively – at zero cost.
The Alison platform provides immediate access to over 6,000 free, CPD-accredited courses, covering essential areas such as Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Cybersecurity, Digital Marketing, Project Management, Business Operations, Healthcare and Sustainability. Courses are created by a mix of independent experts and global leaders, including IBM, Stanford and Microsoft.
For organisations, Alison offers a Free Learning Management System (LMS) that enables unlimited learners to access thousands of courses with no upfront cost. A premium version with advanced analytics and customisation is also available. Alison's offering includes a full suite of assessments and psychometric tools, including a Workplace Personality Assessment, Mental Health & Wellbeing Assessment, English Language Proficiency Test, as well as Numerical, Verbal, and Abstract Reasoning tests.
To further support career development, learners also gain access to a Career Guide, a Resumé Builder, and the ability to study offline through the Alison App. The platform is also expanding its reach with multilingual versions, starting with complete Spanish, French, and Hindi offerings — reaffirming its mission to make education accessible to anyone, anywhere.
Founded in 2007, Alison pioneered the concept of free, large-scale online learning and is recognised as the world’s first MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) platform. Today, its mission continues: to break down barriers to learning, helping people gain skills, build confidence, and improve their lives — no matter where they live or what they earn.
