Code of Conduct and Ethics for Certified Consulting Meteorologists

March in National Ethics Awareness Month, a time when organizations should reflect on their core values and standards, ensuring the highest quality of professionalism. At our March ACM Small Business Forum, Dr. Gerry Mulvey, CCM, presented about his long tenure on the American Meteorological Society’s (AMS) ethics committee, and the framework of the standard of ethics in the meteorological community, past, present, and future. As Certified Consulting Meteorologists (CCMs), ACM Consulting Members must abide by the highest standards of character and professionalism, including embodying rigorous ethical standards, as laid out in the AMS guidance.

According to Dr. Mulvey:

Over the last five years, the AMS has intensified the internal effort to update and consolidate its Code of Conduct and Ethics for members (https://www.ametsoc.org/ams/about-ams/ams-organization-and-administration/ams-code-of-conduct/).

These updates are especially of interest to CCMs, who are a class of AMS members that have proven to their peers both technical knowledge in the field as well as exemplary qualities of character and devotion to high professional standards. The CCM embrace of these standards is also of special interest to the Society. It has individually tested each of us on the topics of professional ethics and conduct during the CCM qualification process. The Society has also promoted professional ethics through a series of articled on applied ethics published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS) starting in 2012. The keys to ethical behavior are honesty, truthfulness, fairness, transparency, and respect for others. CCMs embody these standards.

New ethical challenges arise as our profession continues to develops. The AMS seeks to stay abreast of these developments, address these challenges, and provide guidance on approaches to them. Each CCM should stay in touch with such updates and guidance in order to uphold the highest professional standards and promote fact-based solutions for our clients and the public.

ACM thanks Dr. Mulvey for his educational seminar and his years of service to the CCM and ACM community.