Is this for you
Sustainability is now part of the job, whatever the job is
5
competence units
60+
performance criteria
0
exams
USD 1,299
one fee, monthly plan available
Most sustainability work is done by people whose title does not say sustainability. The procurement lead who now scores suppliers on emissions and labour practices. The HR partner who owns the inclusion program. The facilities manager who reports energy and water. The analyst who compiles the data for the annual report. The graduate hired into a two-person sustainability team and asked to do everything. The CSF is written for them.
It certifies that you can do this work to a published standard, with evidence, and it says so in a form an employer can verify. It is GPM's entry point to a career in sustainability and the first step on the path to the Certified Sustainability Professional.
Functional roles
Operations, procurement, HR, facilities, finance
You have been given sustainability targets, a supplier code, an emissions inventory or a workforce program to run, and you want your competence recognized outside your own company.
Sustainability teams
Coordinators, analysts and officers
You do the assessments, the data and the stakeholder work that the reports are built on, and you want a qualification that reflects what you actually do.
Early career
Graduates and career changers
You have a degree or a first role and real work to show. The CSF turns that work into a certification and tells you exactly what to build next.
Consultants and small firms
Advisers who need a recognized mark
Clients ask what qualifies you. A competence-based certification against a public standard answers that better than a course certificate.
What it certifies
Five units from the Sustainability Competence Standard
The CSF assesses five of the eight shared units of the GPM Sustainability Competence Standard, the units a person needs in order to contribute to sustainability work competently in any organization. Each unit is broken into elements and performance criteria, and every criterion asks for evidence of what you did and what resulted.
| Unit | What you show evidence of |
|---|---|
| Ethical leadership | Acting on stated values, being transparent about trade-offs, and holding yourself and others accountable in real decisions. |
| Living systems stewardship | Meeting environmental requirements and acting to protect and restore natural systems in the work you influence: resources, emissions, land, water, biodiversity. |
| Talent acquisition, retention and empowerment | Fair, inclusive practices in hiring, development and workplace culture, including support for people at a disadvantage. |
| Assessing and responding to sustainability impacts, with stakeholder engagement | Collecting data, analysing performance, engaging the people affected, and turning findings into responses that are tracked. |
| Regenerative design | Contributing to work that measurably improves the capacity of the social and natural systems it touches, beyond a baseline. |
How the assessment works
Six steps, no exam
Enrol on the portal, free
Open the submission guide on GPM's learning portal and read the introduction. The competence units, elements and performance criteria are all visible before you pay anything.
Check your fit
Map your own work against the units. If you can point to real outputs for most criteria, you are ready. If not, the gaps tell you what to build first.
Pay the assessment fee, USD 1,299
One payment, or a monthly plan. The fee covers the assessor's review of your portfolio, the interview and the certification itself.
Upload your CV and declaration
A current CV and a signed candidate declaration, including any access needs and consent for GPM to verify what you submit.
Submit evidence unit by unit
For each performance criterion, attach the document, record or measurement that shows it and write a short note on your role and the result. Most candidates complete the portfolio in four to eight weeks alongside their job.
Interview, decision and badge
A GPM assessor reviews the portfolio and then meets you online to probe the evidence. A pass leads to certification, a digital badge and a listing in the GPM certification registry. A shortfall comes back as specific feedback so you can resubmit.
Why competence-based
What an employer learns from a CSF
| Exam-based certificate | GPM competence-based certification | |
|---|---|---|
| What it proves | That you can recall a body of knowledge on the day of the test. | That you have done the work, with results, to a published performance standard. |
| How it is assessed | Multiple choice, timed. | Evidence portfolio reviewed by a practising assessor, then a one-to-one competence interview. |
| The standard behind it | A syllabus or exam content outline. | The GPM Sustainability Competence Standard: units, elements and performance criteria you can read before you apply. |
| Process discipline | Varies. | Aligned with ISO 17024, the international standard for bodies certifying persons. |
| What an employer learns | That you studied. | What you can be trusted to do on Monday. |
GPM has certified individuals in sustainability since 2011, and the same assessment discipline runs across every GPM certification: a public standard, evidence, a practising assessor, an interview and a registry entry that anyone can check. The process is aligned with ISO 17024, and the head of GPM's assessor pool sits on the ISO committee that governs that standard.
Why now
The demand side
Sustainability competence has moved from a specialist function to a hiring criterion. LinkedIn's Green Skills Report found that one company in three now treats sustainability knowledge as critical for career advancement. In GPM's 2024 Insights survey, 80 percent of executives said sustainability is a top priority for long-term business success. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development puts the economic opportunity from sustainability-driven business models at 12 trillion dollars by 2030. The people who can show, with evidence, that they know how to do the work are the ones who will be asked to do it.
The path
From fundamentals to leadership
Step 1
CSF, Certified Sustainability Fundamentals
Five units. You contribute to sustainability work competently and can prove it. This page.
Step 2
CSP, Certified Sustainability Professional
Eight units. You lead sustainability work: strategy, procurement, change, impact management. The CSF evidence carries forward.
For project professionals
CSPP, CSPMs and CSPMx
GPM's project management certifications, for people who deliver sustainability through projects, programs and portfolios.
The standard behind all of them
Sustainability in Practice
GPM's professional standard for regenerative leadership: what certified professionals are expected to assess, document and refuse.
Getting started
Read the criteria first, then decide
Enrol on the portal. Enrolment is free and shows you every unit, element and performance criterion before you pay.
Map your work against the criteria. If you can point to real outputs for most of them, submit. If not, you have a development plan.
Talk to us if you are unsure. GPM's certification team will tell you honestly whether the CSF or the CSP is the right starting point.
Questions
Frequently asked
What is the CSF certification?
The Certified Sustainability Fundamentals (CSF) is GPM's competence-based certification for professionals who support or carry out sustainability work in any organization. It assesses evidence of your own work against five units of the GPM Sustainability Competence Standard and more than 60 performance criteria, followed by an interview with a GPM assessor.
Is the CSF a project management certification?
No. The CSF is for sustainability work in any function: operations, procurement, human resources, facilities, finance, communications, compliance and consulting, as well as people in dedicated sustainability roles. GPM's project management certifications are the CSPP, CSPMs and CSPMx.
Who is the CSF for?
People who have started doing sustainability work and want it recognized: a coordinator who runs the supplier questionnaire, an analyst who compiles the emissions data, an HR partner who owns the inclusion program, a graduate hired into a sustainability team, or a manager who has been handed the sustainability targets for a site or a department.
Is there an exam?
No. You submit evidence from your own work against each performance criterion and then discuss it with an assessor. The process is aligned with ISO 17024, the international standard for the certification of persons.
What does it cost and how long does it take?
USD 1,299, with a monthly payment plan available. Enrolment on the portal is free, so you can read every criterion before you pay. Most candidates complete the portfolio in four to eight weeks alongside their job; the interview is scheduled when the portfolio is in.
What comes after the CSF?
The Certified Sustainability Professional (CSP), which assesses eight units at the level of someone who leads sustainability work. The CSF units are a subset of the CSP units, so the evidence you build for the CSF carries forward.
How long is the CSF valid?
Five years from the date of award. Renewal is arranged with GPM's certification team ahead of the expiry date.
Who issues it?
GPM, the sustainability organization that wrote the Sustainability Competence Standard, the P5 Standards and the Sustainability in Practice professional standard. Certified professionals are listed in GPM's public certification registry.
Page updated 5 September 2026. Fees in US dollars; a monthly payment plan is available on the portal.
GPM®, Green Project Management® and Sustainable Project Management® are registered trademarks of GPM Ltd. PRiSM™, P5™, CSPP™, CSPMs™, CSPMx™, CSP™, CSF™, GPM360°™ and PSM3™ are trademarks of GPM Global and, where applicable, PMI-GPM. PMI and PMBOK are registered marks of the Project Management Institute.
Also on this site
The CSP: the next step. The Sustainability Competence Standard: the units in full, free. P5 for Business Practice: the impact standard for organizations. All GPM certifications.