We Take it Seriously

At IREC, we are unwavering in our commitment to ensuring the value of our credentialing marks and the rigor associated with our credentials.  It’s our job to make sure you – the training community, students, funders and other stakeholders – can depend on it.

We understand that the strength of that value comes from your confidence that an IREC credential distinguishes a training program or instructor that has met the highest industry-driven standards for quality and safety – a program that holds up to the ethical obligations established by the IREC Credentialing Program policies and procedures.

So we wanted to let you know that we are here to protect these hard-earned credentials, and we take this very seriously. We have both the commitment and the legal and ethical obligations to protect the IREC credentialing marks. This protection supports the integrity of our program and the value of the credential for the clean energy market, from renewable energy and energy efficiency educators and trainers, to employers, employees and ultimately consumers.

Unfortunately, there are a small number of organizations and individuals who have made some serious infringements on the use of the IREC mark.  We assure you that these infringements and misrepresentations have been addressed directly and aggressively by IREC.

To further protect the quality assurance associated with an IREC credential, we’ve improved the tools to help employers, consumers and others guard against any false claims of accreditation or certification.

A newly designed Public Registry of all IREC credential holders is on the IREC website.  This is the first place to look to confirm any claim of IREC accreditation or certification. We have also added a page on our website to publicly list any organizations or individuals who have had their credential revoked.  If you have a concern that a claim of accreditation might be false, this is an important page to check.

As the value of the IREC credential grows, so does the temptation, by a small number of organizations, to make false claims. Through our diligence, we are constantly preserving and increasing the value of the IREC mark and continuing to strengthen the foundation for the development of the workforce for the clean energy economy.

We wanted you to know.

Pat Fox

Pat is IREC's Director of Credentialing Development. She serves as a member of the working groups for IREC standards development efforts, and is part the team working with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) to develop and manage the ANSI-IREC Accreditation Program. Pat is also co-founder of the Waltham Energy Action Committee in Massachusetts.