{"id":30024,"date":"2020-01-29T12:13:10","date_gmt":"2020-01-29T17:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=30024"},"modified":"2020-01-29T12:43:34","modified_gmt":"2020-01-29T17:43:34","slug":"department-honors-marylands-first-class-of-climate-change-professionals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2020\/01\/29\/department-honors-marylands-first-class-of-climate-change-professionals\/","title":{"rendered":"Department Honors Maryland\u2019s First Class of Climate Change Professionals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">State Developing Leaders to Address Climate Challenges<\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/49460605122_44e76dea84.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of Maryland Climate Leadership Academy graduates receiving  governor's citations at the Board of Public Works meeting on Jan 29, 2020\" width=\"400\" height=\"320\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo by Joe Andrucyk<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Hogan administration today recognized 40 professionals as Maryland\u2019s first class of Climate Change Professionals, an international credential administered by the Association of Climate Change Officers, during the meeting of the Board of Public Works.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">These professionals earned their certifications by participating in six days of training provided through the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mdclimateacademy.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Maryland Climate Leadership Academy<\/a>, the nation\u2019s first state-sponsored climate change training institution. The academy was established to specifically offer training and continuing education for state and local government officials on the matter of climate change.\u00a0<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Since November 2018, the Academy has trained more than 450 professionals through six cohorts conducted at community college and community centers across Maryland. More than 40 professionals, mostly consisting of state agency and local government personnel, additionally took the exams and elective requirements required to become a Certified Climate Change Professional.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The graduates were presented certificates and honored by Gov. Hogan, Comptroller Peter Franchot, Treasurer Nancy Kopp, and DNR Secretary Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The state developed the program in partnership with the Association of Climate Change Officers; the <a href=\"https:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/Pages\/default.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Maryland Department of Natural Resources<\/a> administers the academy on behalf of the state.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cOur goal is to equip leaders and Maryland\u2019s workforce with the skills and knowledge needed to meet the challenges of climate change, flooding and severe weather,\u201d Maryland Department of Natural Resources Secretary Jeannie Riccio said. \u201cThank you Governor, Madam Treasurer and Mr. Comptroller for recognizing the commitment and leadership of Maryland\u2019s first Class of Climate Change Professionals.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sec. Riccio also thanked Gov. Hogan for his support of the department\u2019s resilience efforts. The governor&#8217;s proposed budget includes funding for various programs related to climate change, such as $4.16 million in the Coastal Resiliency Program; record funding of $57.2 million for the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund, which funds resiliency projects, and $2 million in capital and special funds toward the Ocean City Beach Replenishment and Hurricane Protection Program. The budget also includes additional resources for technical assistance related to nuisance flooding.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sec. Riccio additionally thanked Treasurer Kopp for serving as a member of the Academy\u2019s advisory council.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Association of Climate Change Officers\u2019 Executive Director Daniel Kreeger also attended the meeting.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cIt is crucially important that policymakers invest in training their workforce to drive climate change initiatives in critical infrastructure, public services, and agency operations,\u201d Kreeger said. \u201cMaryland is leading this charge and is also recognizing the professionals who are role models for these competencies. Other states will inevitably follow Maryland\u2019s lead.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>State Developing Leaders to Address Climate Challenges The Hogan administration today recognized 40 professionals as Maryland\u2019s first class of Climate Change Professionals, an international credential administered by the Association of Climate Change Officers, during the meeting of the Board of Public Works. These professionals earned their certifications by participating in six days of training provided<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2020\/01\/29\/department-honors-marylands-first-class-of-climate-change-professionals\/\">&nbsp;&nbsp;Read the Rest&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[957,23,33],"tags":[4378,2955,3359,4379,4035,2952,2954,2953],"class_list":["post-30024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appnews","category-land","category-the-bay","tag-association-of-climate-change-officers","tag-board-of-public-works","tag-climate-change","tag-climate-leadership-academy","tag-jeannie-haddaway-riccio","tag-larry-hogan","tag-nancy-kopp","tag-peter-franchot"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30024"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30028,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30024\/revisions\/30028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}