These online courses offer career-building certification on topics like climate action and cleaner chemistry
(Photo: Adobe Stock)
Published July 22, 2026 02:05PM
It’s no surprise that many people who love the outdoors want to pursue a career in the outdoor industry. So, how do you get an edge breaking into the field or advancing your outdoor career? Whatever activities, seasons, or landscapes inspire your work, the Outdoor Industry Association can help support your journey with knowledge and training.
The Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) is a member-supported organization that fights for smart policy, sustainability, and access to the outdoors for all. This collective of passionate business leaders, climate experts, policymakers, and outdoor enthusiasts has been working for the health of the industry for more than 35 years.
As part of its ongoing mission, OIA creates educational tools to help individuals advance their knowledge of meaningful topics, simultaneously supporting career development and industry innovation. This platform—OIA Learning—offers online courses that build expertise in sustainability, advocacy, leadership, business, and more.
Every course is self-paced and directly relates to key topics relevant to outdoor professionals. The extensive library includes courses on topics such as business intelligence and government affairs, with the latest offerings diving deep into real-world sustainability. That’s important, because there’s still a long way to go to make outdoor gear and services truly sustainable.
These certificate-based courses enable participants to immediately start taking action on sustainability within their own companies. Plus, having an OIA course-completion certificate on a résumé adds value for professional growth in the field. Here are just a few of the courses on tap.
Course includes: Seven modules, 8 hours 53 minutes of video.
This comprehensive course is all about converting good intentions into effective actions. Learn about results-driven practices, like phasing out fossil fuels from the supply chain, offsetting operational emissions, and managing target-setting and implementation. Providing relevant case studies that analyze successes and failures, this course will equip you to be a leader in the field.
Course includes: Six modules, 4 hours 22 minutes of video.
The outdoor industry is at a pivotal moment in its relationship with chemicals. This course enables materials scientists, industrial designers, chemical compliance specialists, and ESG managers to walk away as proactive leaders in the critical effort to clean up the chemicals used in manufacturing. While many outdoor gear brands have begun this journey, it’s a challenge, and this course helps you get started and make meaningful progress.
Course includes: One module, 45 minutes of video, one comprehensive course handout.
One irony of the progress made on sustainability? The volume of standards and certifications can itself create confusion in the marketplace. This short course cuts through the clutter to help you understand the differences among the various options, identify which ones matter most, and equip you to ask the right questions. Building a shared vocabulary and foundation is essential to navigating the current state of sustainability efforts in the outdoor industry.
The Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) is a catalyst for meaningful change. A member-based collective, OIA is a passionate group of business leaders, climate experts, policymakers, and outdoor professionals committed to sustainable economic growth while protecting—and growing access to—the benefits of the outdoors for everyone. OIA delivers success for its members through education, events, and business services in the form of solutions and strategies, consultation, collaboration, and opportunities for collective action.
