For over 40 years the Certified Environmental Professional (CEP) designation has been awarded to senior managers and other qualified individuals as a way to demonstrate their professional skills and high standards of conduct.
Who are we and where are CEPs?
CEPs can be found in every state in US as well as at international locations. Our online listing provides contact information and brief bios. Find out about ABCEP members and the positions they hold the firms, agencies and organizations they work at the CEP Network.
What are the benefits of being a CEP?
If you are a member and you want your profile and contact information in the CEP searchable database please update your membership contact information in your member profile.
Benefits to Being a CEP
Leads to performance awards / promotions
Increases marketability and career opportunities
Provides focus for professional development
Confirms and validates professional skills
Enhances networking opportunities
Conveys privileges such as CEP on letterhead
Affirms commitment to code of ethics
Allows user to perform professional services and seal work products
Gives a personal sense of achievement
Benefits to Employers
Enhances confidence in the knowledge, skills and accomplishments of your employees
Increases your ability to bill employees out at higher rates
Strengthens your technical proposals to customers
Demonstrates the depth of technical skills available to prospective customers and the public
Increases technical credibility of the firm.
Reduces professional liability insurance costs.
Benefits to Clients
Assures confidence in the professional's services addressing a broad array of environmental planning, analysis, education and documentation.
Provides an assurance of engaging competent environmental professionals
Stronger defense in case of lawsuits
Serves as a souce for qualified, practicing environmental professionals.
What are the Benefits of Certification?
The CEP designation provides benefits for both individuals and employers. When you or your employee is certified and a member of the Academy, he/she will be able to tap into the experience and expertise of hundreds of environmental and natural resource professionals - geologists, engineers, cultural specialists, hazardous materials managers, ecosystem restorers, and others. In addition, there will be opportunities for professional growth and recognition, which ultimately benefit you and your company.
In our experience, the value of certification extends to a broad range of individual backgrounds, employers, and fields of work.
The need for environmental professionals to demonstrate our credentials is growing throughout the country and abroad. Many of the current credential programs do not adequately cover the fields that many of us work in today. After 10 years of working in the environmental business, an engineer who has a PE in civil engineering, a planner who has a planning certificate, and a biologist who has a BS in science all may end up as managers of environmental disciplines that are outside their previous educational training or not covered by their previous certifications.
How is the citizen or the employer able to establish the validity of this experience?
The CEP designation provides a nationally-recognized means of providing this verification and applies to individuals who are working in the environmental field in a wide range of disciplines. Furthermore, the CEP covers many job categories today that are not recognized by the traditional registrations.
The value of the CEP in this regard is increasing daily as the public and private sectors find a need for individuals who have more cross-disciplinary expertise. For example, under the quality based selection process that is used to hire professional firms, most state and federal agencies request companies who propose on projects to identify the certifications that their key staff hold.
The CEP is for those professionals who have at least 9 years of experience in the environmental field, and who want to demonstrate the value of this experience in a tangible way. In the private sector, numerous organizations provide recognition in the form of raises or bonuses to those who have a CEP.
While the CEP is not for everyone, it is well-suited for those who have chosen as their career path to be an environmental professional and who wish to promote the value of this experience to their peers and clients.
ABCEP is a member of the Council of Scientific & Engineering Specialty Boards (CESB), an umbrella organization for national and international certification organizations, and our CEP credential has been accredited by the CESB.
