The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) recently announced that, as of April 2013, more than 300 facility managers globally have earned the Sustainability Facility Professional (SFP) credential.

A facility manager with an SFP credential has been trained and tested to fill a much-needed role in sustainable management of the built environment.

“Facility managers around the world look to the International Facility Management Association for professional training and credentialing,” says Marina Badoian-Kriticos, the sustainability director at IFMA.

IFMA’s SFP is an assessment-based certificate program that delivers a specialty credential in sustainability. It contains three focus areas: strategy and alignment for sustainable facility management; managing sustainable facilities; and operating sustainable facilities. Together, these focus areas provide a complete picture of how SFPs can improve the sustainability of their facilities in all eight major categories of sustainable facility management (as identified by IFMA): energy; water; materials and resources; workplace management; indoor environmental quality; quality of services; waste; and site impact.

Since the SFP credential was first introduced in 2011, the rate at which new facility managers are earning the SFP credential has quadrupled.