CIWEM offers the widest range of charterships and technical membership grades of any professional institute in the water and environment sector, reflecting our engagement with the widest spectrum of environmental issues.
When you become a chartered member of CIWEM, you also have the opportunity to apply for the Society for the Environment registration Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv), which can be applied for at the same time. If you are already a chartered member of CIWEM, you can submit an application for CEnv in a separate application.
For environmental professionals independent of discipline, chartership reflects a high level of skill and experience, setting Chartered Environmentalists (CEnv) apart from others working in their field. It enhances career prospects through establishing proven expertise, experience and commitment to professional standards.
In the UK and across the world, Chartered Environmentalists utilise their specific expertise to lead departments, advise governments and work hands-on as practitioners.
Watch the Society for the Environments webinar on 'How to Become a Chartered Environmentalist' below:
As the prominence and reputation of Chartered Environmentalists continues to grow in the profession, chartered status is increasingly seen internationally as a highly desirable demonstration of an individual’s competence. Registration as a Chartered Environmentalist demonstrates that an individual has been judged by their peers to be working at the highest possible standards in the environmental profession. Chartered Environmentalists demonstrate:
The application process for becoming a Chartered Environmentalist requires master’s degree level (Grade 7) thinking, demonstrated either through achievement of a relevant master’s degree or through the submission of written work deemed to be at an equivalent level by the registration assessors.
If you do not hold a relevant master's degree (Level 7), you can apply for CEnv through CIWEM’s Work Based Learning route. This provides a means of enabling experienced applicants who lack the exemplifying academic qualifications to demonstrate the knowledge and understanding which they have acquired through their working experience against the QAA qualification descriptor for Masters level. Guidance on completing the Work Based Learning route can be downloaded here. When you are ready to complete the application the 'Grade 7 Work Based Learning Statement Form' can be downloaded here.
All applicants for CEnv, need to demonstrate the required professional competences and commitment. Individuals generally develop these through education and working experience, these can also be viewed below.
Please note: All applicants for Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv) with CIWEM are assessed against the standards as defined by the Society for the Environment (SocEnv). All CEnv applications received for the 30 November 2023 application deadline onwards will be assessed against the updated standards (viewable here), these include updates to the CEnv Competences.
A1: Understand the sustainability principles applicable to the management of the environment.
(1) Critically analyse complex environmental information, concepts and theories to determine sustainable courses of action.
(2) Understand the environmental impact of the area of study or work.
(3) Understand the importance of natural cycles and biodiversity in sustainability and identify strategies for their maintenance and enhancement.
A2: Apply environmental knowledge and principles in pursuit of sustainable environmental management.
(1) Develop strategies to address complex situations that involve many interacting environmental factors.
(2) Determine measures to deliver continuous improvement in sustainable environmental management.
(3) Negotiate contracts and arrangements with relevant stakeholders.
A3: Identify, analyse, and anticipate the impact of problems and environmental trends to develop practical sustainable solutions.
(1) Identify and assess the impact of complex problems working sometimes with incomplete data.
(2) Demonstrate self-direction and originality in tackling and addressing problems.
(3) Demonstrate a critical awareness of current environmental matters and trends and trends reflecting relevant heritage where appropriate and anticipate and assess future impacts.
(4) Critically analyse and embrace new environmental information and advance knowledge, skills, and competence in the environmental field to develop practical sustainable solutions.
B1: Promote behavioural and cultural change by influencing others to secure environmental improvements that go beyond statutory requirements.
(1) Develop good practices that go beyond statutory requirements by learning from results.
(2) Lead, advise and support others to improve their understanding of the wider environmental context.
(3) Advocate sustainable management of the environment by identifying issues, potential risks, benefits and opportunities and influence others, in particular from other disciplines, to contribute to environmental protection and improvement.
B2: Develop and maintain a strategic environmental approach.
(1) Develop innovative strategies for sustainable development and environmental improvement.
(2) Promote inclusion and diversity and engage and collaborate with others to promote inter-disciplinary approaches to environmental challenges.
(3) Evaluate constraints and exploit opportunities for the development and transfer of environmentally appropriate techniques, skills, methods, processes, and behaviours.
4) Identify and manage risks to the environment encompassing health and safety, technologies, business, and reputation.
B3: Demonstrate leadership and management skills.
(1) Demonstrate autonomy and judgement in managing complex environmental and sustainability issues.
(2) Lead, motivate and convince others to agree and deliver environmental and sustainability objectives.
(3) Specify the objectives of a task, implement it and critically evaluate the outcome.
(4) Plan and manage continuous environmental improvement.
C1: Communicate the environmental case, confidently, clearly, autonomously and competently.
(1) Deliver presentations to a diverse range of audiences.
(2) Chair, lead and contribute to debates, meetings, and discussions.
(3) Lead and promote stakeholder engagement.
C2: Ability to liaise with, negotiate, handle conflict and advise others, in individual and/or group environments (either as a leader or member).
(1) Build relationships to capture and incorporate the opinions and contributions of others.
(2) Understand the motives and attitudes of others to reach agreement.
(3) Lead decision-making and champion group decisions.
(4) Resolve conflict to achieve common goals within groups, and tasks.
D1: Plan, undertake and evaluate CPD activities to maintain and enhance competence in area of practice.
(1) Plan, undertake, reflect on, and evaluate CPD activities.
D2: Assess and resolve environmental ethical issues.
(1) Identify, assess, and resolve, and encourage others to resolve, environmental ethical issues.
(2) Improve environmental practice by addressing complex ethical issues.
D3: Understand demonstrate and advocate compliance with relevant codes of conduct and practice.
(1) Understand, comply, and advocate compliance with relevant codes of conduct and practice.
To apply for Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv) you will need to
Watch SocEnv's "The Pathway to Become a CEnv or REnvTech" webinar here.
Information about becoming a C.WEM can be found here.
Apply nowProfessional Interview guidance 
Work Based Learning route guidance
Grade 7 Work Based Learning Route form
You may be required to undertake a Profession Review Interview (PRI), our membership team can provide guidance, please contact membership@ciwem.org or call +44(0)207 831 3110 for more information.
We’re with you every step of your application, please get in touch if you have any questions about your application or to find out which grade is right for you and someone will be
delighted to help.
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