Our Cambridge Certificate in ESG Analysis and Carbon Accounting, created in partnership with Localized(Opens in a new window), won the Ahead by Bett – Further and Higher Education Technology Award on 21 January 2026.

The Bett Awards(Opens in a new window) celebrate creativity and innovation in technology for education.

This course’s ambition was to train the next generation of ESG specialists in the new Greenhouse Gas and ESG frameworks – impacting over 50,000 businesses in the next three years.

The award judges praised the design of the online course, how it addresses an important topic and holds significant potential for global impact. They found the feedback from course participants and its impact particularly impressive.

Helping learners embark on sustainability careers

Together with career intelligence platform Localized, we developed an eight-week Certificate in ESG Analysis and Carbon Accounting, which launched in November 2024.

The course was created for female graduates based in Kenya, South Africa and Egypt, and it was designed to help learners embark on sustainability careers, with a focus on practical skills to stand out in a competitive market.

Together with Localized, our goals were to tackle high youth unemployment, build up a skilled workforce of analysts to reduce the carbon footprint of multinational companies and help local economies become less reliant on international consultants for green expertise.

“Invaluable insight and green skills that have opened up career opportunities”

The course was funded by the Mastercard Foundation(Opens in a new window), and over 1,000 women applied for the 110 places, showing the huge demand for green skills training.

The course was led by Dr Tolullah Oni, Public Health Physician Scientist and urban epidemiologist at the University of Cambridge, who also founded UrbanBetter(Opens in a new window), an Africa-led global movement for youth-centred citizen science and civic action.

“This award highlights the promise of tech-enabled learning to accelerate the skills ecosystem that youth across Africa need to lead healthier, climate-resilient urban futures,” says Dr Tolullah Oni.

The Academic Course Module leads were Alex Base, Head Tutor, Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership (CISL) and Founder of Innernature, Alex MacGillivray, Head Tutor, CISL and Executive Director of Joint Impact Model Foundation, and Tercia Jansen Van Vuuren, Research Associate, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge.

One learner said, “the Carbon and ESG analyst program provided me with invaluable insight and green skills that have opened up various career opportunities. […] I am starting my very first consultancy to develop sustainability and impact reports soon, courtesy of a referral from Localized.’”

100% of learners rated their experience as ‘good’ or ‘excellent, and 58% of the graduating cohort have been placed in green jobs or received international academic scholarship offers less than eight months since finishing the course.

“Rooted in African contexts and connected to global knowledge and practice”

The course took a global perspective, but focused on Africa, with input from leading practitioners working on the continent along with University of Cambridge experts.

There were regular live webinars so learners could connect with their tutor in real time, as well as discussion forums and group activities to encourage peer learning and networking. They also received individual tutor feedback on their final project – creating a sustainability action plan for an organisation of their choice.

Dr Tolullah Oni says, “I was pleased to contribute to ensuring the course content is both rooted in African contexts and connected to global knowledge and practice – critical to strengthening and mobilising agency and leadership for transformative change. Truly a case of Hope in Action!”

“Making a real difference to learners’ lives”

Director of Online Education at University of Cambridge Online, Ellen Wilson, says: “Working in partnership, we achieve more. By bringing together Localized’s network of industry leaders, green skills taxonomy and employability support, and University of Cambridge’s world leading academic expertise and sustainability research, we are making a real difference to learners’ lives.

“This is a hands-on, practical Cambridge-certified online course, underpinned by excellent learning design and technology. Learners are developing and applying important and urgent skills addressing key sustainability and industry challenges.

“None of this would have been possible without the support of Mastercard Foundation and Dr Tolullah Oni's visions and leadership of the course along with all our wonderful Cambridge academics and tutors who work tirelessly to support our learners every day.”

“Green skills are becoming more important than ever”

“The impetus to create a carbon and ESG analyst course for African learners was based on the recognition that many entry level roles are disappearing in the age of AI and frontier technologies, and that green skills are becoming more important than ever as a pathway into the labour market,” says Ronit Avni, CEO, Localized.

“The course was a labour of love for our team at Localized. We surveyed industry leaders globally, built a taxonomy of competencies and supported graduates in securing jobs, fellowships and promotions. We’re proud to have received recognition for the hard work that was put in.

“Many thanks to the University of Cambridge Online team, Dr Tolullah Oni of the University of Cambridge and UrbanBetter and the Mastercard Foundation for making this possible. We hope this is the beginning of a much larger push to augment carbon intelligence in learners across the continent and beyond.”

Interested in this course? Learn more about what you’ll learn and how to apply for future cohorts on the Localized website(Opens in a new window).