# Sustainability Excellence The Sustainability Excellence credentials have been designed by sustainability practitioners, for sustainability practitioners, through global collaboration and expertise. The goal of these credentials is to serve as global benchmarks for sustainability professionals, providing industry- recognized credentials that can be carried across national borders by: * bringing cohesion and definition to the emerging profession of sustainability * providing credibility for employers and assurance of a standard level of competency of a sustainability professional * imparting evidence of competency for practitioners in the field, furthering their credibility, influence and career advancement opportunities The Sustainability Excellence credentials define and standardize the competencies employers, and seekers of consultants should expect from sustainability professionals. In 2016, the [International Society of Sustainability Professionals](https://www.sustainabilityprofessionals.org/) (ISSP) launched the ISSP Sustainability Associate (ISSP-SA) and ISSP Certified Sustainability Professional (ISSP-CSP) credentials. These were acquired by [Green Business Certification Inc.](https://www.gbci.org/) (GBCI) in November 2019 and renamed in December 2020 to the Sustainability Excellence Associate (SEA) and Sustainability Excellence Professional (SEP). GBCI is the premier organization independently recognizing excellence in green business industry performance and practices globally. GBCI offers two Sustainability Excellence credentials available to sustainability practitioners: * **Sustainability Excellence Associate (SEA):** This is an introductory level credential for individuals who are new to the field of sustainability but have sufficient education and training to pass a test on basic knowledge and understanding of key sustainability concepts. The SEA is a prerequisite for the SEP. * **Sustainability Excellence Professional (SEP):** This credential is for experienced sustainability practitioners who demonstrate a combination of sustainability-related work experience and formal education. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://usgbc.gitbook.io/sustainability-excellence/sustainability-excellence.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.