Business Sustainability Management Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Sustainability Managers, HSE Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-SC-045

Before you join: Participants should have basic familiarity with their organisation’s operations, products, services or support functions.

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 management requires leaders to turn environmental and social commitments into operating decisions, investment cases, supplier requirements, performance measures and credible disclosures. Organisations face increasing scrutiny from regulators, lenders, customers, employees and communities on emissions, resource use, labour practices, health and safety, biodiversity and corporate conduct. Poorly defined sustainability programmes can create compliance gaps, unreliable data, missed efficiency opportunities and exposure to greenwashing claims.

This course provides a structured approach to designing, managing and reporting a business sustainability programme. Participants assess material sustainability issues, map stakeholders, set governance arrangements, establish greenhouse-gas inventories, develop reduction roadmaps, evaluate circular economy opportunities and strengthen responsible supply-chain controls. The course also addresses sustainability reporting using GRI Standards and IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards, climate-risk assessment, sustainability investment appraisal and assurance-ready performance data.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with sector-based cases, facilitated group analysis, reporting simulations and practical planning sessions. Cases draw on issues faced by banks, manufacturers, public agencies, infrastructure operators, consumer businesses and NGOs. Participants build a Sustainability Management Action Plan containing priorities, targets, accountabilities, metrics, reporting requirements and a first-year implementation sequence. A certificate of completion is awarded to participants who complete the five-day course.

The course suits managers who contribute to environmental, social, governance, HSE, operations, procurement, risk, finance or corporate affairs decisions. It is particularly useful where an organisation needs to move from separate CSR activities towards managed sustainability objectives linked to strategy, operations and disclosure obligations.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess material sustainability issues using stakeholder mapping and double materiality principles
  • Design a sustainability governance model with defined accountabilities, controls and escalation routes
  • Calculate organisational greenhouse-gas emissions using the GHG Protocol Scope 1, 2 and 3 structure
  • Develop science-informed emissions reduction roadmaps, targets and implementation measures
  • Evaluate circular economy, resource-efficiency and pollution-prevention opportunities using lifecycle thinking
  • Apply responsible supply-chain due diligence methods to environmental and human-rights risks
  • Prepare sustainability disclosures aligned with GRI Standards and IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 requirements
  • Produce a phased Sustainability Management Action Plan with metrics, owners and review cycles

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Build a practical framework for leading sustainability work beyond isolated CSR projects
  • Gain confidence discussing emissions, materiality, disclosure and climate risk with senior leaders
  • Improve ability to prepare investment cases for energy, waste and resource-efficiency initiatives
  • Learn to challenge weak ESG claims and identify greenwashing exposure
  • Create a structured action plan applicable to the participant’s own role

For your organisation

  • Establish clearer ownership, controls and reporting lines for sustainability performance
  • Improve emissions data quality and prioritise practical reduction initiatives
  • Strengthen readiness for customer, lender, regulator and investor sustainability information requests
  • Reduce environmental, supply-chain and reputational risks through documented due diligence
  • Link resource-efficiency projects with cost reduction, resilience and operational performance

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can explain how sustainability management connects strategy, operations, risk and corporate responsibility.

  • Business sustainability drivers: regulation, markets, finance, communities and workforce expectations
  • CSR, ESG and sustainability management: distinctions, overlaps and management implications
  • Triple Bottom Line applied to economic, environmental and social performance
  • UN Sustainable Development Goals mapped to business impacts and opportunities
  • Value-chain perspective from raw materials through product use and end-of-life
  • Sustainability maturity models for diagnosing current management capability
  • Greenwashing risk created by unsupported claims, selective metrics and vague targets

Participants can identify priority sustainability issues using evidence-based materiality and stakeholder methods.

  • Stakeholder mapping by influence, interest, dependency, impact and engagement priority
  • Double materiality distinguishes enterprise value effects from outward impacts
  • Issue registers combining regulatory, operational, social and environmental evidence
  • Materiality assessment criteria: scale, scope, irremediability, likelihood and financial significance
  • Interview, survey and workshop techniques for structured stakeholder evidence collection
  • Materiality matrices tested against governance decisions and reporting boundaries
  • Documenting assumptions, evidence sources and unresolved stakeholder concerns

Participants can structure governance and strategy arrangements for accountable sustainability management.

  • Board oversight roles for sustainability strategy, risk appetite and disclosure
  • RACI matrices assigning executive, functional and site-level sustainability responsibilities
  • Sustainability policy architecture: commitments, standards, procedures, controls and records
  • Strategy maps linking material issues to objectives, initiatives and measures
  • SMART targets with baselines, boundaries, deadlines and accountable owners
  • Management review cycles using performance dashboards and corrective-action tracking
  • Incentive design linking leadership objectives to verified sustainability performance

Participants can establish a basic emissions inventory and prioritise decarbonisation actions.

  • GHG Protocol organisational boundaries: equity share, financial control and operational control
  • Scope 1 emissions from stationary combustion, mobile sources and refrigerants
  • Scope 2 accounting using location-based and market-based electricity methods
  • Scope 3 screening across purchased goods, logistics, travel and product use
  • Emission factors, activity data, units and calculation-quality checks
  • Marginal abatement cost curves compare reduction potential and implementation cost
  • Decarbonisation roadmaps sequence efficiency, electrification, renewable energy and supplier action
  • Science-based target concepts, limitations and governance requirements

Participants can identify operational sustainability opportunities using lifecycle and circularity methods.

  • Lifecycle thinking identifies upstream, operational and downstream environmental hotspots
  • Material flow analysis traces resource inputs, losses, waste streams and outputs
  • Waste hierarchy prioritises prevention, reuse, recycling, recovery and disposal
  • Circular economy business models: repair, reuse, remanufacture and product-service systems
  • Water balance mapping quantifies withdrawal, consumption, discharge and reuse opportunities
  • Pollution prevention controls address chemicals, effluent, air emissions and spills
  • ISO 14001 environmental aspects and impacts register structure
  • Resource-efficiency business cases combine savings, risk reduction and capital requirements

Participants can apply supplier due diligence to key environmental, labour and human-rights risks.

  • Supplier segmentation using spend, criticality, geography and inherent-risk indicators
  • OECD due diligence steps for identifying, preventing and addressing impacts
  • Supplier codes covering labour, health, safety, environment and business ethics
  • Human-rights risk assessment considers workers, communities, vulnerable groups and remedy
  • Audit programmes distinguish document review, worker interviews and site observations
  • Corrective-action plans specify findings, root causes, owners and closure evidence
  • Responsible purchasing practices reduce pressure driving labour and environmental harm
  • Contract clauses establish reporting, audit access and remediation expectations

Participants can assess climate and environmental risks and incorporate them into business planning.

  • Physical climate risks include heat, flooding, drought, storms and sea-level rise
  • Transition risks arise from policy, technology, markets, litigation and reputation
  • Scenario analysis tests strategic assumptions under plausible climate futures
  • Risk registers record causes, consequences, controls, owners and residual risk
  • Climate adaptation measures protect assets, people, supply continuity and service delivery
  • Biodiversity dependencies and impacts assessed through location and activity screening
  • Environmental emergency preparedness integrates incident response, communications and recovery

Participants can define reliable sustainability metrics, data controls and management reporting.

  • KPI design links objectives, indicators, formulas, boundaries and decision use
  • Leading indicators measure prevention activities before incidents or performance failures
  • Data-owner matrices identify source systems, approvers, frequency and evidence retained
  • Data-quality checks test completeness, accuracy, consistency, timeliness and traceability
  • Environmental and social dashboards show trends, targets, variances and corrective actions
  • Internal controls document calculations, change management and review responsibilities
  • Assurance readiness requires audit trails, supporting evidence and reproducible calculations

Participants can plan credible sustainability reporting and communication using recognised disclosure frameworks.

  • GRI Standards structure impact reporting through topics, disclosures and management approach
  • IFRS S1 disclosure covers sustainability-related risks and opportunities affecting enterprise value
  • IFRS S2 requirements address climate governance, strategy, risk and performance
  • Reporting boundaries align entities, value chains, periods and material topics
  • Disclosure controls reconcile narrative claims with metrics, evidence and approvals
  • Balanced communications report progress, limitations, setbacks and future commitments
  • Green claims substantiation uses documented evidence, clear scope and qualified language
  • Annual reporting calendars coordinate data collection, drafting, review and publication

Participants can build a practical implementation plan for a managed sustainability programme.

  • Gap analysis compares current arrangements against priorities, standards and stakeholder expectations
  • Roadmaps sequence quick wins, foundational controls, investments and longer-term transformation
  • Implementation charters define scope, sponsors, deliverables, resources and decision rights
  • Change-management plans address capability, communications, resistance and adoption measures
  • Budget proposals separate operating costs, capital expenditure and expected benefits
  • Quarterly reviews assess performance, emerging risks, corrective actions and target revisions
  • Sustainability Management Action Plan integrates priorities, milestones, owners and measures

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

What you take back to work

  1. Double Materiality Assessment Template
  2. Sustainability Governance RACI Matrix
  3. GHG Inventory Data Collection Workbook
  4. Decarbonisation Roadmap Template
  5. Responsible Supplier Due-Diligence Checklist
  6. Sustainability Management Action Plan

Who should attend

  • Sustainability Managers — need to establish or improve enterprise sustainability programmes
  • HSE Managers — need to connect environmental management with business sustainability priorities
  • CSR and Corporate Affairs Managers — need measurable programmes and credible stakeholder reporting
  • Procurement Managers — need supplier sustainability requirements and due-diligence controls
  • Risk and Compliance Managers — need to assess ESG risks, controls and disclosure obligations
  • Operations and Facilities Managers — need to identify emissions, resource and waste improvements

Skills and tools covered

Sustainability strategy designMateriality assessmentCarbon managementESG reportingResponsible procurementClimate risk assessment

Tools and standards

GRI Standards, IFRS S1 and IFRS S2, GHG Protocol, ISO 14001

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce standards, management methods and decision criteria, followed by facilitated case work and group analysis. Participants work with materiality matrices, emissions inventories, supplier-risk scenarios, climate-risk registers and disclosure extracts. Simulations examine management decisions on target setting, capital allocation and public claims. Application planning sessions help participants translate course methods into priorities, owners, measures and reporting cycles suitable for their own organisation.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have basic familiarity with their organisation’s operations, products, services or support functions. Experience in HSE, CSR, procurement, risk, operations, finance, reporting or corporate affairs is useful because course discussions use organisational decisions and data sources. Participants should be comfortable reading management reports and working with qualitative and numerical information. Prior knowledge of GRI Standards, IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards, carbon accounting or environmental management systems is not required. This is not a specialist environmental science, greenhouse-gas verification or financial assurance course.

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

Participants need a basic understanding of their organisation’s operations or support functions. Previous experience with ESG reporting, carbon accounting or environmental standards is helpful but not required.

Participants should bring a laptop if possible and may bring public sustainability reports, policy documents or non-confidential performance data. These materials can inform their individual application planning.

The course is designed for managers and professionals with responsibilities connected to sustainability, HSE, CSR, procurement, risk, operations, finance or reporting. It also suits project leaders assigned to establish a sustainability programme.

CSR courses often focus on community programmes, volunteering and stakeholder relations, while environmental management courses concentrate on environmental controls and ISO 14001 systems. This course connects ESG governance, emissions, supply chains, risk, strategy, reporting and operational implementation.

Participants leave with a Sustainability Management Action Plan that can be adapted for their function or organisation. The plan provides priorities, accountabilities, metrics, evidence requirements and a sequence for the first year.

Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides approximately 6.5 contact hours. The five days cover ten modules in teaching order, combining briefings, cases, 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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