Addressing a Gap in the Canadian Bioeconomy: Micro-Certificate Programs Provide Life Cycle Assessment and Clean Fuel Policies Training to Professionals across North America.

July 23, 2025

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(BC Bioenergy Network/Canadian Biomass) Canada’s growing bioeconomy is charting a course towards a low-carbon future, but a crucial skills gap has emerged as a significant challenge. As the country’s Clean Fuel Regulations (CFR) mandate liquid fossil fuel suppliers to reduce the carbon intensity of fuels by 15 per cent by 2030, the demand for professionals skilled in life cycle assessments (LCA) continues to surge.

In response to this rising need, the BC Bioenergy Network (BCBN) and University of British Columbia (UBC)’s Faculty of Forestry are expanding their educational offerings with two new advanced online micro-certificate programs designed for experienced professionals.

Advanced LCA of Clean Liquid Fuels, launching on Oct. 6, 2025, will provide technical training in modelling biodiesel, renewable diesel and SAF pathways, and is ideal for professionals already familiar with LCA tools and regulatory framework, including environmental analysts, compliance specialists, technical staff or consultants in the fuel, energy or regulatory sectors looking to deepen their modelling experience. Participants will gain proficiency in regulatory compliance modelling, carbon intensity application preparations, comparison in model outputs and scenario analysis for clean liquid fuels.

Following in spring 2026, Advanced LCA of Gaseous Fuels will provide in-depth, hands-on training for practitioners in the clean fuels, LCA or policy space with previous modelling exposure, especially those working with hydrogen and renewable natural gas in compliance, consulting or academic settings.

“These next two micro-certificates are more of a deep dive into using models and getting […] people a lot more hands-on experience with a variety of different fuels that they can use and translate for submitting a carbon intensity application under the two different programs in Canada. And we’ve also expanded it to include the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard,” explains course instructor Anna Ringsred (formerly known as Anna Beavers).

Students in both advanced programs will gain experience using the GHGenius and Fuel LCA models, as well as the CA-GREET model (for California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard). This multi-jurisdictional approach reflects the increasingly interconnected nature of North American clean fuel markets.

Ringsred, who is also the senior manager, energy compliance services at Weaver and principal consultant of ARB LCA Consulting, and previously served as chief engineer at the B.C. Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation from 2018 to 2024, says the decision to focus on specific fuel types was driven by feedback from potential students.

“We realized there’s a lot of appetite for [this]. For someone who is potentially just focused on a specific fuel – maybe they work at a renewable natural gas facility, and they want to be able to sell their fuel in Canada, for example, they would need to get a carbon intensity score for that and to understand how to use the models for their particular fuel type,” Ringsred explains. “Those people who want to really understand how to model the fuel that’s relevant to them, they can take this course then and they’ll get that experience.”

Demand for this type of knowledge and understanding will only continue to grow now that the Clean Fuel Regulations are in place, Ringsred adds.

“All fuel that’s supplied in Canada now must have a carbon intensity associated with it, and that carbon intensity must be determined using a life cycle assessment within the prescribed model. So, it’s something that expanded greatly this need for this type of experience and expertise,” she notes.

Building on proven success

The advanced programs build on the foundational success of the initial micro-certificate program launched in October 2024. Life Cycle Assessment of Clean Fuels is an eight-week program that professionals can take to understand how to conduct, analyze and interpret LCAs and evaluate the carbon intensity of ethanol fuels. The course provides a high-level overview of LCAs, clean fuel policies in North America and how to apply this knowledge to carbon intensity modelling.

“It gets into the details around how to conduct a life cycle assessment, the different phases and the parameters you need to understand,” Ringsred says.

Students get hands-on experience with the two LCA models used in Canada – GHGenius and Fuel LCA. The GHGenius model is used to conduct a carbon intensity under the B.C. Low Carbon Fuel Standard, while the Fuel LCA model is used for the Clean Fuel Regulations.

So far, feedback from students has been extremely positive. According to survey results, many students ended the program with a better understanding of the differences between the models, how to navigate the Clean Fuel Regulations and apply these learnings in their jobs.

Alex Lee, an environmental social governance/greenhouse gas verification auditor at LRQA and the founder and principal of Emerald Terra Climate Solutions, is one such student. He completed the micro-certificate in spring 2025, with a goal of gaining a more comprehensive understanding of the environmental impact of different fuel sources from start to finish, rather than just a “snapshot of compliance,” he says.

Before completing the course, Lee says he felt more like an accountant, adopting the carbon intensity number publicized by the government. But, his employer, LRQA, wants to apply an Environmental Social Governance (ESG) lens to their work, which requires Lee to have a better understanding of the full environmental impact of fuel sources.

“So, when they do their calculations, for instance, they want to know the emission quantity in their ESG report – they’re not only using the fuel, but they also have to know if the fuel is coming from a different source, if it contains a biosource,” Lee explains. “[The program] helped me snap up the idea of what is market-based and location-based, those kinds of fuel reporting processes. It helped me resolve those Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 relations and bring those connections together.”

In Lee’s role, it’s important to understand not just what the fuel source is, but where that fuel is coming from. Local renewable energy has a different life cycle and smaller impact than fuel coming from further away, he explains.

“This course opened my eyes,” he shares. “We’re not only using the emission factors publicized by government – we also have to know how to use that information.”

Broader implications for Canada’s clean energy future

Together, these educational programs are designed to give professionals from diverse backgrounds and sectors a comprehensive understanding of LCA modelling and its applications – something critical to the development of the Canadian bioenergy and Canada’s ability to meet its clean energy goals, Ringsred says.

“If you don’t have expertise in these types of areas, it’s really hard to develop programs like the Clean Fuel Regulations,” she explains. “By enhancing and expanding the expertise in this area, I think it really helps these regulations become successful.”

And it’s not just limited to the clean fuels sector. Programs like these could be developed to teach professionals how to conduct LCAs and carbon intensities for other products, such as building materials in the construction industry, she adds.

“Life cycle assessments assess the environmental impact of different products, rather than, say, point-source emissions that happen regionally. So, it’s a way of […] being able to procure products and determine which one has a low climate change impact,” she says. “It’s an environmental analysis tool that has really far-reaching impacts that are beyond fuels, and I think it could support reductions in almost every sector across Canada.”

Learn more about the three BCBN/UBC Life Cycle Assessment of Clean Fuels micro-certificates here. READ MORE