REnvP Profile | Jo Cerejeira REnvP, Senior Sustainability Consultant AECOM

Joana Cerejeira shares her journey to REnvP registration:

The environmental problems we all face and what we can do to help tackle them has always been something I was interested in from an early age, so when it came to choose a degree for further education, Environmental Science was a no brainer for me. As a result, I completed a BSc in Environmental Science at Teesside University, and an MRes in Ecosystems and Climate Change at Imperial College London.

Early Career:

My first job in this field was as an Environmental Consultant with GHD Ltd. During the four years I had that job, I worked on a variety of sectors and disciplines such as contaminated land, permitting, sustainability and environmental impact assessments. Having this variety in the work I was doing during my first role in the sector was incredibly beneficial, as it gave a well-rounded experience in the environmental sector and helped me understand which aspects I enjoyed the most and should consider for specialisation.

It was during these years at GHD that I applied for my first professional accreditation – IEMA Associate – which require me to sit an exam. If you’re like me and find exams nerve-racking, the thought of sitting the required exam can be daunting, however I did find that revising for the exam was a great opportunity to review the theory behind the knowledge I was applying on a daily basis as part of my role.

Current Career:

Realising that carbon accounting and climate change mitigation was the field that most interested me, after four years at GHD I changed position and joined AECOM’s Carbon and ESG Team, where I’m now a Senior Sustainability Consultant. My role now focuses on providing support to a wide range of private and public sector clients, on carbon accounting, carbon management and net zero strategies.

During my first year at AECOM, I upgraded my professional accreditation to Registered Environmental Practitioner and IEMA Practitioner status. For this upgrade, I was asked to sit an exam and submit case studies to showcase the required level of experience. Similar to what I mentioned about the Associate application process, I found this to be a great opportunity to review existing knowledge and reflect on acquired experience, which often gets forgotten about when we’re busy with our day-to-day job activities.

Advice for people wanting to become a REnvP:

I have found that the process of applying for professional accreditation is always a good opportunity to do a self-reflection on your past experience, but this can be quite a challenge if you’re working from memory, so I would suggest keeping a tracker of your experience and skills, so you can quickly refer back to it when needed.

Profile accurate as of April 2024

Joana Cerejeira is registered as a Registered Environmental Practitioner via membership of:

The Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA)

Useful links: