Building in-demand green skills and opening doors to new careers: More than 500 learners across nine African countries have participated in an online Carbon and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) Analyst programme delivered by University of Cambridge Advance Online and career intelligence platform Localized.
With demand for green skills growing twice as fast as supply (LinkedIn Global Green Skills Report 2024), the eight-week courses, supported by the Africa Climate Collaborative, were free to participants and shaped by insights from African business leaders on the green skills employers need most.
Participants were recruited through the Localized platform and completed the course in cohorts of 100 learners, with some already working in ESG-related roles and others keen to do so.
Impact in numbers:
- 63% of learners passed, earning a University of Cambridge certificate – significantly above the industry average for a demanding, eight-week online course offered free of charge.
- 97% of participants rated the course good or excellent.
- 48% of learners from cohort one have already secured a new job or a promotion within six months of completing the course.
Real world application
The courses combine real-world ESG applications with practical, locally relevant learning – an approach that has won awards, including the Bett Further and Higher Education Technology Award earlier this year.
Learners select an organisation to study and apply the concepts they learn throughout the course to real-world business practice, before completing the final assessment – a detailed evaluation of the organisation’s ESG practices.
Case studies are discussed with Cambridge-based and local tutors, as well as other learners, during fortnightly live sessions, on course discussion boards and in cohort WhatsApp groups.
This hands-on approach extends to actively supporting learners to secure related employment following the course. As well as creating a green jobs board to signpost learners to relevant roles, the Localized team proactively engages with employers to showcase participants’ talent.
The practical application was the highlight for me. Building a comprehensive, real-world sustainability action plan for a heavy industry entity and structuring the final strategic pitch allowed me to put theory directly into practice.
I came in with a general awareness of sustainability but left with a working knowledge of carbon accounting, ESG disclosure frameworks, and how to apply tools like the GHG Protocol, SBTi, GRI Standards, and double materiality assessments to real companies.
One of the biggest lessons I gained from this course is that sustainability should not only be viewed as a reporting obligation, but as a strategic investment that can improve environmental performance, social impact and long-term business competitiveness.
Feedback from learners, September 2026
Scaling up
With support from the Africa Climate Collaborative, the University of Cambridge Advance Online and Localized team is preparing to roll out the programme’s next phase: recruiting and training up to 10,000 young people across Africa ahead of the COP32 climate change conference in November 2027.
Learners will receive the same level of career support after completing the course and will also be eligible to enter an Africa-wide ESG hackathon, with winners announced at the first jobs fair to be held alongside COP32.
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Interested in taking part?
Courses restart in January 2027 and will be advertised on Localized, Cambridge Advance Online and Africa Climate Collaborative channels from November 2026.