The Climate Action Competency Framework v2 (CACF) is an interactive, Creative Commons licensed tool designed to support Climate Action (Adaptation and Mitigation) workforce development. Launched in 2025, the CACF a robust, evidence-informed framework offering a practical, systematic road map or tool for individuals, organizations, teams and others wishing to build their climate literacy and climate action capacity.

Based on the original Climate Adaptation Competency Framework (v1) – which was developed as part of the Adaptation Learning Network project- the CACF v2 is based on research that included consultation with professional associations to identify knowledge and skills gaps in their professions; interviews with climate adaptation experts in senior policy, scientific and academic roles, and desktop research exploring peer-reviewed literature and the adaptation and mitigation skills, knowledge, and attributes described in that research.. The CACF the first comprehensive climate action competency framework in Canada.

Since its official launch in 2025, the CACF v2, the framework has been employed by post-secondary institutions, government organizations, and a range of individual consultants and teams to deepen their understanding of climate-action (adaptation and mitigation) competencies and guide their skills development. The CACF v2 is a bilingual tool that allows you to explore what competencies are needed using the Competency Explorer and conduct a customizable self-assessment to assess your current skill level across all six domains and their associated competency areas.

Each domain includes 3-7 competency areas with a unique set of competencies detailing the skills, knowledge, and attributes of that competency. These competencies are detailed across four levels of complexity or performance criteria which relate to the increasing amount of autonomy, responsibility, accountability, impact and expertise that each requires.:

The Climate Action Competency Framework 

  1. is a practical approach for managing workforce development and performance monitoring in this interdisciplinary professional field;
  2. helps those hiring and those applying for jobs to understand what skills, behaviours and attitudes are needed to perform climate adaptation work effectively;
  3. provides a basis for instructional designers, who build courses for training and educational purposes, to identify learning outcomes focused on climate-related issues, hazards, and solutions. Plus, other competencies focused on adaptation now available for both individuals and employers to better align skills to the new types of emerging jobs to address the climate crisis and identify gaps in knowledge to line up appropriate training for emergent workforce requirements.

You can access information about and access to the CACF v2 on the Resilience by Design lab’s website. You can go directly to the English or French version of the Competencies Explorer or do a deeper dive on:

  • an overview of the CACF v2 here;
  • how the CACFv2 was restructured here,
  • the self-assessment tool here; and
  • a snapshot of all the domains here.

We continue to welcome your feedback on this Creative Commons Licensed Tool via the RbD website.

Download: The Climate Action Competency Framework

Watch: You can watch a webinar on the original framework, The Climate Adaptation Competency Framework Webinar – or read about the more up-to-date CACF v2 in this detailed open Textbook.

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