Skip navigation

Celebrating an Environmental Chartership Landmark: 10,000 and Rising

A significant milestone for environmental professionalism across sectors.

The Society for the Environment is delighted to announce that the 10,000th environmental professional has met the standard to achieve Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv) registration.

Environmental Chartership is a highly sought after, internationally respected professional registration, valued increasingly highly by environmental professionals and employers* and recognised as showcasing professional competence and expertise.

Current Chartered Environmentalists are members of twenty-four professional bodies across a huge array of different sectors, including but not limited to engineering, ecology, forestry, materials and waste, agriculture and environmental management. Registration is also international, with registered environmental professionals based in 90 countries. Together they represent not only the competence but also the diversity of the environmental profession.

The 10,000th CEnv registered by the Society has been confirmed as Sarah Poulton, Principal Consultant at WSP UK. Sarah, who gained her CEnv registration via the Institution of Environmental Sciences (IES), explains why the achievement means so much:

“Becoming chartered was always something I aspired to achieve during my career; when I first joined the brownfield regeneration sector straight out of university I saw it as the golden milestone you achieve to demonstrate professional competence and expertise – but the thought of getting there was actually quite daunting!

After becoming a member of the IES, I signed up to complete the CEnv in a Day workshop which was recommended to me by a number of colleagues and really helps focus your application. Being a Chartered Environmentalist is a committed journey and one which I am excited to be part of. I believe becoming a CEnv provides opportunities to explore beyond your known professional field, and helps broaden your approach to environmental challenges, which I think is particularly important when faced with a changing world and the environmental and societal changes we’re already faced with.

It feels fantastic to be the 10,000th professional registered as a CEnv by SocEnv, and to have helped achieve this milestone! I’m really glad to be part of such an active and inspiring community who between us have such a wealth of expertise and knowledge from backgrounds all across the board, but at the core have the same commitment to environmental protection. In the short time since becoming chartered, I have already connected with a number of other Chartered Environmentalists across the industry, and we are already working on some pretty exciting things so watch this space!”

Reacting to the news, Dr Emma Wilcox, Chief Executive of the Society for the Environment, said:

“This is a landmark moment for the Society and the profession as a whole and an important milestone in our vision for a future where environmental professional registration is an industry norm.

We need registered environmental professionals – now more than ever. As we aim to move out from the global restrictions enforced as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, we must do so in a way that recognises the urgent need for action in response to the Climate and Environmental Emergency. Consideration for the environment must be present in all key decisions as part of a fully sustainable recovery, and through their demonstrated expertise and commitment, registered environmental professionals have a huge part to play in making the case for and helping deliver the necessary action.”

* As found from our 2019 survey of registered environmental professionals, compared to the results of our 2017 survey: https://socenv.org.uk/ insight

Become a Chartered Environmentalist