Introducing the NY Clean Energy Certification & Workforce Provider Database
- TGL Team
- Sep 18
- 6 min read
Overview
The NY Clean Energy Certification & Workforce Provider Databases is a centralized resource designed to bring much-needed transparency to New York’s green workforce development landscape. As demand for skilled professionals in clean energy and sustainability grows, stakeholders face persistent challenges: program details are often hard to find, information is outdated, and the relevance of many certifications is unclear. This lack of visibility makes it difficult for jobseekers, employers, and training providers to make informed decisions.
Created by The Green Launchpad, the database organizes certifications by sector, segment, and system, and includes details on accrediting bodies, relevant technologies, and training providers. Information was gathered through industry research, stakeholder engagement, and direct verification with workforce organizations.
The tool helps workforce developers identify gaps and referral partners, employers locate qualified talent, jobseekers find and compare certifications, and funders target support. Users can search or browse by accrediting organization, sector or system, or alphabetical listing, making it easier to connect training, career pathways, and industry needs.
Introduction
As clean energy, green economy, and sustainability become increasingly central to our economy, the demand for skilled professionals in the green sector continues to grow. Whether it's experts in electric vehicle battery systems or certified installers of solar photovoltaic systems, the need for a well-trained and industry-aligned green workforce is more urgent than ever.
Workforce development organizations across New York have stepped up to meet this demand, offering vital training programs for the next generation of green professionals. Yet a critical gap remains: limited visibility into which certifications are most relevant in the industry and where training for them is available.
To address this challenge, The Green Launchpad is thrilled to introduce the NY Clean Energy Certification & Workforce Provider Database. This new resource is designed to provide employers, workforce developers, jobseekers, and other workforce stakeholders with a centralized, user-friendly platform to navigate the certification landscape and access information on local training opportunities.
In this post, we’ll cover:
An overview of the current green workforce development landscape (as of August 2025)
Who this database is designed to support
An explanation of our methodology and research
A preview of the interfaces and how to navigate them
The Current Landscape of Workforce Development in the Green Sector
Through our work at The Green Launchpad, it has become increasingly clear that the green workforce development ecosystem lacks transparency and consistency. Even with our own concerted effort, it is often difficult to determine which certifications are offered by workforce development programs – and what those certifications actually represent.
Based on our research, we’ve identified three major roadblocks facing the field:
Accessibility of Information: Critical details – such as which certifications are included in specific training programs, who the accrediting body is, or what the requirements are for testing and credential maintenance – are often buried, incomplete, or unavailable altogether.
Outdated or Premature Information: Even when information is available, it is frequently outdated or refers to programs that have not yet launched. This creates confusion and leads to misinformed decisions by jobseekers, employers, and developers.
Lack of Clarity on Certification Relevance: In many cases, once a relevant certification is found, it is unclear what systems or technologies a certification applies to, what skills or competencies it signals, or what specific content is covered in a training program.
These informational gaps make it difficult for key stakeholders – jobseekers, workforce developers, and employers alike – to make informed decisions in such a fast-paced, evolving industry. The NY Clean Energy Certification & Workforce Provider Database is our response to this challenge: a tool designed to bring clarity, structure, and visibility to the green workforce development landscape.
Who Benefits from These Resources?
Workforce Developers: Too often, workforce development programs concentrate on a limited set of certifications – many of which overlap – while leaving out other high-impact or emerging credentials. This results in duplicated efforts in some areas and unmet needs in others. Our database helps developers identify gaps in their offerings, discover certifications aligned with industry demand, and design programs that better prepare workers for the full range of opportunities in the green economy. It also serves as a practical referral guide, helping organizations identify trusted partners who can train jobseekers in areas they do not currently cover.
Employers: Employers face a crowded and fragmented training landscape, making it difficult to assess candidate qualifications or identify reliable talent pipelines. By showing which certifications are in circulation and where training is available, this tool provides transparency to help identify qualified professionals and assess what expertise is needed to meet current and future project demands.
Job Seekers: Navigating a green career path can be daunting – especially when information about training options and certification value is scattered or unclear. The database offers jobseekers a clear, centralized view of which certifications exist, what they represent, and where they can be earned. Whether new to the field or looking to upskill, this resource can guide jobseekers toward more informed, strategic career decisions.
Ecosystem Stakeholders: The green workforce development ecosystem suffers from inefficiencies, overlap, and uneven coverage across certification areas. The database gives advisors, funders, and other ecosystem partners a clear view of where resources are most needed and which credentials or training gaps are underserved. By highlighting both duplication and opportunity, it supports more strategic investment and stronger coordination across the sector.
Our Methodology
We began by categorizing available certifications in the green sector using three key frameworks: Sector, Segment, and System.
Sector refers to the broad field that the certification falls under – such as Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy, Clean Transportation, or Energy Storage.
Segment captures whether the certification generally pertains to electrical or thermal training pathways.
System identifies the specific technological systems or applications the certification is relevant to –such as HVAC, Solar PV, or Weatherization.
While the database also contains more detailed, certification-specific information, these three categories provide users with a high-level understanding of what each credential represents and where it fits within the broader green workforce landscape.
Using these tools, we compiled an extensive list of certifications relevant to the clean energy sector. This process began over a year ago, drawing on our team’s internal expertise, industry knowledge, and direct experience. We created a preliminary draft of relevant certifications and accompanying descriptions outlining their function and focus.
We then expanded this data through firsthand conversations with workforce developers participating in The Green Launchpad’s Accelerator Program (Accelerator for Green Workforce Developers) and NYSERDA’s Community of Practice. During these sessions, we facilitated mapping exercises to identify which organizations are active in the space and which certifications and technology systems are most prevalent. All organizations included in the database are past participants in these programs.
From June to August of this year, we conducted secondary research to fill in missing data points and collect all publicly available information online. Finally, we confirmed and validated the information through direct outreach to workforce development organizations.
How to Navigate The NY Clean Energy Certification & Workforce Provider Database
In this database, each certification entry includes key details: the accrediting organization, the relevant sector, segment, and system, a brief description of the skills or competencies it covers, and a direct link to the certification’s official website (if available).
Clicking on a certification reveals additional information, including which workforce developers offer training for that credential. From there, users can explore individual developer profiles to see which training programs they offer and access links to their websites.
There are three main ways to navigate the NY Clean Energy Certification & Workforce Provider Database:
Certifications by Accrediting Organization: This interface organizes certifications by the accrediting organization – such as the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) or the Building Performance Institute (BPI) – allowing users to quickly see which credentials each body offers in the clean energy sector.
Certifications by Sector and System: This interface groups certifications based on their relevance to specific sectors (e.g., Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency) and technological systems (e.g., Geothermal, Battery Electric Vehicles), helping users explore credentials tied to their area of interest.
Alphabetical List of All Certifications: This comprehensive list displays all certifications in alphabetical order, making it simple to look up a specific credential by name.
Finally, all the interfaces includes a convenient search function. For example, typing “EPA” will return all certifications associated with the Environmental Protection Agency—making it quick and easy to locate specific credentials or topics of interest.
By consolidating and clarifying information that has historically been fragmented, the NY Clean Energy Certification & Workforce Provider Database offers a practical tool to strengthen connections between training, career pathways, and industry needs. We hope this resource will help workforce developers, employers, and jobseekers alike navigate the clean energy landscape with greater confidence and clarity.
Note for Workforce Developers: If your organization offers training programs that are not currently listed in the database, we invite you to share them with us. Please fill out this form to submit new programs for inclusion.