Business Sustainability and CSR Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Sustainability Managers, CSR and ESG Officers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 7 Nov 2026 Course code SD-SC-034

Before you join: Participants should have experience in a business, public-sector, NGO or operational role and basic familiarity with organisational policies, performance measures or reporting.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Business sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) decisions now affect operating costs, procurement choices, investor discussions, regulatory exposure, workforce trust and community relationships. Many organisations have public commitments but lack a defensible method for deciding which sustainability issues matter most, assigning ownership, gathering reliable data and reporting progress without overstating performance. This course addresses the practical work behind credible sustainability and CSR management.

Participants examine the relationship between sustainability, CSR and ESG; identify material environmental, social and governance issues; and translate priorities into measurable actions. The course covers stakeholder mapping, double materiality, greenhouse-gas accounting, resource efficiency, human-rights due diligence, responsible procurement, ethics controls, sustainability reporting and claims review. Participants learn how GRI Standards, IFRS S1 and IFRS S2, the GHG Protocol and ISO 26000 can support decisions, disclosures and internal accountability.

Teaching combines short instructor briefings with sector-based cases, facilitated group analysis, reporting simulations and structured application planning. Cases reflect realistic issues such as supplier labour risks, emissions data gaps, community concerns, unsubstantiated environmental claims and conflicting stakeholder expectations. Participants leave with a practical Sustainability and CSR Action Plan, supported by a materiality matrix, stakeholder map, indicator dictionary, reporting checklist and implementation roadmap. The course is suited to professionals expected to contribute to sustainability programmes, CSR commitments, ESG reporting or responsible business decisions.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess sustainability and CSR issues using stakeholder mapping and double-materiality analysis
  • Build a materiality matrix from stakeholder evidence, impact severity and business relevance
  • Calculate organisational greenhouse-gas boundaries using GHG Protocol scope classifications
  • Design sustainability targets, indicators and accountability arrangements for priority issues
  • Apply human-rights due diligence and responsible procurement controls to supplier risks
  • Set up sustainability data controls, baselines and assurance-ready evidence records
  • Draft balanced sustainability disclosures using GRI Standards and IFRS S1 and IFRS S2
  • Produce a twelve-month Sustainability and CSR Action Plan with owners and milestones

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Gain a defensible method for identifying material sustainability and CSR priorities
  • Contribute confidently to ESG, sustainability and annual-report disclosure processes
  • Recognise greenwashing risks before environmental or social claims are published
  • Use GHG Protocol concepts to challenge emissions boundaries and data assumptions
  • Return with a documented action plan for immediate workplace application

For your organisation

  • Clearer prioritisation of sustainability investments, risks and stakeholder concerns
  • More reliable environmental, social and governance data for management decisions
  • Stronger supplier due diligence and human-rights risk controls
  • Reduced exposure to misleading sustainability claims and unsupported disclosures
  • Defined ownership, milestones and performance measures for CSR commitments

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can distinguish sustainability, CSR and ESG and explain their business implications.

  • Corporate sustainability, CSR and ESG distinguished by purpose, scope and accountability
  • Stakeholder value, externalities and shared-value propositions tested against operating decisions
  • Triple Bottom Line used to frame economic, social and environmental impacts
  • Risk, opportunity and licence-to-operate drivers linked to board decisions
  • Business cases quantify avoided costs, revenue effects and capital requirements
  • CSR commitments compared with philanthropy, compliance and marketing claims

Participants can identify priority sustainability issues through evidence-based stakeholder and materiality assessment.

  • Stakeholder mapping uses power-interest grids, dependency analysis and relationship priorities
  • Define affected stakeholders, rights-holders and value-chain actors before consultation
  • Materiality assessment combines impact severity, likelihood and stakeholder evidence
  • Double materiality separates outward impacts from financially material sustainability matters
  • Interview protocols record consent, dissenting views and evidence sources
  • Materiality matrices prioritise topics without masking severe human-rights impacts

Participants can convert material sustainability issues into strategic objectives, targets and governance arrangements.

  • Sustainability strategy converts material topics into outcomes, targets and accountabilities
  • SMART targets distinguish activity measures, output measures and outcome measures
  • Apply theory of change to social and environmental interventions
  • Map value-chain hotspots from sourcing through product use and end-of-life
  • Prioritisation criteria weigh impact magnitude, feasibility, control and stakeholder expectations
  • Board oversight, executive ownership and committee terms define decision rights

Participants can establish environmental priorities and explain the basis of a GHG inventory.

  • GHG Protocol scopes classify direct emissions, purchased energy and value-chain emissions
  • Establish organisational boundaries using equity share, financial control or operational control
  • Activity data, emission factors and calculation assumptions create an auditable inventory
  • Environmental aspect-impact registers assess energy, water, waste and pollution controls
  • Science-based target concepts distinguish absolute reductions from intensity improvements
  • Resource-efficiency projects assess baselines, payback periods and rebound effects

Participants can apply human-rights due diligence principles to workforce, supplier and community issues.

  • UN Guiding Principles frame corporate responsibility to respect human rights
  • Human-rights due diligence identifies salient risks, affected groups and remedial actions
  • Supplier codes translate labour, safety and ethics expectations into contract clauses
  • Grievance mechanisms apply accessibility, confidentiality, non-retaliation and timely resolution
  • Modern slavery indicators guide risk screening, supplier engagement and escalation
  • Community investment criteria separate strategic contribution from unconnected charitable giving

Participants can define governance and control arrangements supporting credible CSR commitments.

  • ISO 26000 core subjects structure CSR governance and organisational behaviour
  • Governance charters assign policy approval, oversight, escalation and reporting responsibilities
  • Anti-bribery controls address third-party risks, gifts, conflicts and facilitation payments
  • Whistleblowing channels protect reporters through confidentiality, investigation and non-retaliation
  • CSR policies align procurement, human resources, operations and communications decisions
  • Control testing checks whether stated commitments operate as intended

Participants can define meaningful sustainability indicators and establish evidence controls for reporting.

  • Indicator dictionaries define metric purpose, formula, owner, frequency and evidence
  • GRI Standards distinguish material-topic disclosures from general organisational disclosures
  • IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 connect sustainability risks with enterprise value
  • Data-quality controls test completeness, accuracy, consistency, traceability and timeliness
  • Establish baselines and target trajectories using documented calculation methodologies
  • Assurance readiness retains source records, approvals, audit trails and change logs

Participants can prepare balanced sustainability disclosures and identify unsupported public claims.

  • Reporting boundaries explain entities, operations, joint ventures and value-chain coverage
  • Draft balanced disclosures covering performance, limitations, incidents and corrective actions
  • Greenwashing tests examine substantiation, material omissions, precision and audience interpretation
  • Claims review links environmental statements to evidence, qualifications and approval routes
  • Annual reports, sustainability reports and websites serve distinct disclosure purposes
  • Stakeholder communications adapt messages without changing underlying facts or targets

Participants can organise sustainability initiatives through accountable implementation and supplier management processes.

  • Implementation roadmaps sequence actions, owners, budgets, dependencies and decision gates
  • RACI matrices clarify accountable executives, delivery leads, consulted groups and informed parties
  • Supplier segmentation focuses due diligence on spend, risk and influence
  • Training needs analysis identifies role-specific knowledge, behaviours and decision points
  • Change plans address incentives, resistance, communications, capability and reinforcement
  • Quarterly reviews compare milestones, indicators, exceptions and corrective actions

Participants can prepare a focused twelve-month action plan for a business sustainability or CSR priority.

  • Diagnose a business scenario using materiality, emissions, social and governance evidence
  • Select priority initiatives using impact, feasibility, cost, risk and stakeholder criteria
  • Translate priorities into a twelve-month sustainability and CSR action plan
  • Build a performance dashboard with leading, lagging and assurance-ready indicators
  • Prepare an executive briefing stating decisions required, trade-offs and resource needs
  • Personal application commitments identify first actions, sponsors and review dates

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Stakeholder mapping template
  2. Double-materiality assessment matrix
  3. GHG inventory boundary checklist
  4. Sustainability indicator dictionary
  5. Sustainability claims review checklist
  6. Twelve-month Sustainability and CSR Action Plan

Who should attend

  • Sustainability Managers — responsible for building or improving sustainability programmes
  • CSR and ESG Officers — needing defensible priorities, metrics and reporting processes
  • Health, Safety and Environment Professionals — connecting environmental controls with sustainability objectives
  • Procurement and Supply Chain Managers — managing supplier social and environmental risks
  • Risk, Compliance and Governance Professionals — strengthening oversight, policies and evidence trails
  • Communications and Investor Relations Managers — reviewing sustainability claims and disclosures

Skills and tools covered

Materiality assessmentStakeholder engagementGHG accountingHuman-rights due diligenceSustainability reportingCSR implementation planning

Tools and standards

GRI Standards, IFRS S1 and IFRS S2, GHG Protocol, ISO 26000

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short briefings to establish concepts, standards and decision criteria, followed by instructor-led case work drawn from corporate, public-sector and supply-chain settings. Participants analyse stakeholder evidence, assess material issues, classify emissions, review supplier risks and test disclosure claims. Group exercises develop shared judgement around trade-offs, priorities and accountability. Reporting and governance simulations show how evidence moves from operational teams to management disclosures. Structured application planning helps participants adapt the methods, templates and controls to their own responsibilities.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience in a business, public-sector, NGO or operational role and basic familiarity with organisational policies, performance measures or reporting. Experience in health, safety, environment, procurement, risk, compliance, communications or corporate affairs is helpful. Participants should be comfortable reading business documents and discussing operational trade-offs. Prior formal training in sustainability, ESG reporting, carbon accounting or CSR is not required. The course explains its core frameworks before applying them, but it assumes participants can relate the material to decisions within their own organisation.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You need general workplace experience and familiarity with how your organisation makes decisions, manages risks or reports performance. Prior training in sustainability, ESG, carbon accounting or CSR is not required.

Bring examples of your organisation's sustainability commitments, policies, annual report or supplier requirements if you can share them appropriately. You do not need specialist software or pre-course calculations.

It suits professionals contributing to sustainability, CSR, HSE, procurement, risk, compliance, communications or governance work. It is particularly useful for people asked to turn broad commitments into managed actions and evidence.

This course covers carbon accounting and reporting as parts of a wider sustainability and CSR management process. Specialist courses usually spend more time on detailed emissions calculations, reporting rules or assurance procedures.

You can use the materiality, stakeholder, indicator and action-planning tools to assess a current initiative or reporting cycle. The final module helps you identify a priority issue, decision owner, evidence requirement and first implementation steps.

Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. Time is divided across ten teaching modules, with instructor input, case analysis, group work, simulations and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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