Carbon Footprint Measurement and Reduction Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Sustainability Managers, ESG Reporting Specialists 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-ESR-012

Before you join: Participants should have basic familiarity with their organisation’s operations, energy use, procurement spend, facilities, fleet or reporting processes.

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

Carbon footprint figures are increasingly used in annual reports, customer tenders, lender questionnaires, transition plans and procurement decisions. Yet many organisations still rely on incomplete utility data, inconsistent emission factors, unclear organisational boundaries and untested supplier estimates. These weaknesses can produce misleading reduction claims, weaken assurance readiness and direct investment towards low-impact actions.

This course equips participants to build, review and improve a greenhouse gas inventory using the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, Scope 2 Guidance and ISO 14064-1 principles. Participants establish organisational and operational boundaries, collect and assess activity data, calculate Scope 1, Scope 2 and material Scope 3 emissions, select defensible emission factors, and document assumptions. The course then moves from measurement to target setting, abatement planning, carbon claims and disclosures aligned with ESRS E1, IFRS S2 and CDP requirements.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with sector-based cases from banking, manufacturing, public bodies, real estate, logistics and professional services. Participants work through inventory decisions, calculation models, data-quality assessments, supplier-data requests and marginal abatement cost analysis. They leave with a reusable carbon inventory workbook structure, a data-collection plan, an inventory control checklist and a prioritised emissions-reduction action plan.

The course is designed for professionals who need to own, contribute to or challenge organisational carbon reporting and reduction programmes. It is particularly useful where finance, sustainability, operations, procurement and risk teams need a common method for turning emissions data into accountable management decisions.

What you will be able to do

  • Define organisational and operational boundaries using GHG Protocol consolidation approaches
  • Build an activity-data collection plan with owners, evidence requirements and quality checks
  • Calculate Scope 1, Scope 2 and selected Scope 3 emissions in CO2e
  • Select and document emission factors, global warming potentials and calculation assumptions
  • Assess inventory uncertainty, data quality and assurance readiness using control checklists
  • Set science-based emissions targets using base years, target boundaries and carbon budgets
  • Prioritise reduction initiatives using a marginal abatement cost curve
  • Prepare emissions disclosures and reduction plans for management and reporting requirements

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Produce defensible greenhouse gas calculations rather than relying on vendor outputs
  • Challenge unclear boundaries, emission factors and unsupported carbon claims
  • Translate operational data into board-ready emissions and reduction metrics
  • Contribute credibly to ESRS E1, IFRS S2 and CDP reporting work
  • Build a practical portfolio of carbon accounting templates and decision tools

For your organisation

  • Improve consistency and traceability of Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 reporting
  • Reduce assurance findings through clearer controls, evidence and documented assumptions
  • Identify high-emission activities and prioritise investments with measurable carbon impact
  • Strengthen tender, lender and customer responses requiring verified emissions information
  • Create accountable reduction plans linking targets, budgets, projects and owners

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can define a defensible greenhouse gas inventory boundary and document the decisions supporting it.

  • GHG Protocol principles: relevance, completeness, consistency, transparency and accuracy
  • Organisational boundary selection using equity share and control approaches
  • Operational boundary mapping for Scope 1, 2 and 3 sources
  • Base-year selection, recalculation policy and structural-change triggers defined
  • Consolidation decisions documented in an inventory management plan
  • Materiality screening distinguishes significant emission sources from immaterial activities
  • Boundary decisions reconciled with financial-control and reporting entities

Participants can design a data-collection process that produces traceable and suitable emissions inputs.

  • Activity-data hierarchy prioritising primary records before supplier estimates
  • Utility bills, fuel invoices and meter readings converted into datasets
  • Data owner matrix assigns collection, review and approval responsibilities
  • Spend-based estimation applied where physical activity data remain unavailable
  • Sampling protocols address incomplete site data and representative extrapolation
  • Data quality indicators score technology, time, geography and completeness
  • Audit trail preserves source files, assumptions, transformations and version history

Participants can identify and calculate direct emissions from controlled sources using appropriate methods.

  • Stationary combustion emissions calculated from fuel quantities and calorific values
  • Mobile combustion separates owned vehicles from employee and contractor travel
  • Refrigerant fugitive emissions quantified using refrigerant charge and loss rates
  • Process emissions identified through production chemistry and process-flow mapping
  • Biogenic CO2 reported separately from fossil greenhouse gas emissions
  • Kyoto gases converted to carbon dioxide equivalents using GWP values
  • Facility source register links equipment, fuels, gases and calculation methods

Participants can calculate and explain location-based and market-based Scope 2 emissions.

  • Location-based Scope 2 reflects grid-average electricity emission factors
  • Market-based Scope 2 tests contractual instruments against quality criteria
  • Residual mix factors applied when supplier-specific claims are unavailable
  • Energy attribute certificates matched to consumption periods and generation locations
  • Dual reporting reconciles location-based and market-based electricity emissions
  • Steam, heat and cooling purchases included within Scope 2 accounting
  • Contract review identifies renewable claims, exclusions and double-counting risks

Participants can screen, prioritise and estimate material Scope 3 emissions categories.

  • Scope 3 screening uses the fifteen GHG Protocol categories
  • Purchased goods estimates combine supplier data, spend and lifecycle factors
  • Capital goods separated from operating purchases under category-specific rules
  • Transport and distribution emissions allocated by shipment weight, distance and mode
  • Use-phase calculations model product energy consumption, lifetime and regional grids
  • Financed emissions introduce PCAF attribution factors and asset-class methods
  • Supplier engagement requests product footprints, allocation methods and assurance evidence

Participants can construct transparent calculation models and evaluate the reliability of results.

  • Emission-factor selection considers geography, technology, year and methodological fit
  • Unit conversions control litres, kilowatt-hours, tonnes and passenger-kilometres
  • Calculation workbook separates raw data, factors, formulas and outputs
  • CO2e calculations apply IPCC global warming potentials consistently
  • Uncertainty assessment identifies estimation ranges, sensitivity drivers and priority improvements
  • Automated validation flags missing units, duplicates and implausible consumption values
  • Recalculation log records factor updates, acquisitions and methodological changes

Participants can apply controls that improve inventory reliability and support assurance activities.

  • ISO 14064-1 requirements structure organisational greenhouse gas inventories
  • Inventory control checklist tests completeness, consistency and calculation reproducibility
  • Evidence packs connect reported figures to source documents and approvals
  • Internal review traces selected disclosures through data and calculation chains
  • Limited assurance readiness addresses evidence quality, controls and material misstatements
  • Variance analysis explains year-on-year changes using operational and methodological drivers
  • Management sign-off records accountability for inventory boundaries and reported results

Participants can set credible emissions targets and translate them into managed annual commitments.

  • Base-year inventory establishes a credible starting point for target setting
  • Absolute and intensity targets selected against business-growth assumptions
  • SBTi criteria distinguish near-term targets from long-term net-zero commitments
  • 1.5°C-aligned pathways translate sector decarbonisation rates into annual reductions
  • Scope 3 target coverage assessed against relevant emissions and supplier influence
  • Carbon budget model converts targets into annual emissions allowances
  • Target governance assigns owners, milestones, review cycles and escalation thresholds

Participants can prioritise emissions-reduction projects using cost, feasibility and carbon-impact criteria.

  • Marginal abatement cost curve ranks projects by cost and emissions impact
  • Energy efficiency measures quantify savings, capital costs and operational constraints
  • Renewable electricity procurement compares PPAs, tariffs and energy attribute certificates
  • Fleet transition evaluates electrification, route redesign, fuels and charging requirements
  • Supplier programmes combine specifications, data requests, incentives and procurement criteria
  • Internal carbon pricing informs investment appraisal and capital allocation decisions
  • Abatement roadmap sequences quick wins, dependencies, funding and accountable owners

Participants can communicate emissions results responsibly and establish a practical improvement plan.

  • GHG inventory narrative explains boundaries, methods, assumptions and exclusions
  • ESRS E1 and IFRS S2 emissions disclosures mapped to inventory outputs
  • CDP climate questionnaire evidence aligned with approved greenhouse gas figures
  • Dashboard metrics distinguish absolute emissions, intensity, progress and data quality
  • Claims review avoids misleading carbon-neutral, renewable and net-zero statements
  • Reduction action plan assigns projects, owners, dates, metrics and governance
  • Annual reporting calendar coordinates data collection, assurance and board approval

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

What you take back to work

  1. GHG inventory boundary decision template
  2. Activity-data collection and ownership matrix
  3. Carbon calculation workbook structure
  4. Inventory quality-control and assurance checklist
  5. Marginal abatement cost curve model
  6. Emissions reduction action plan

Who should attend

  • Sustainability Managers — responsible for corporate greenhouse gas inventories and reduction programmes
  • ESG Reporting Specialists — need defensible emissions data for disclosures and assurance
  • Environmental Managers — manage site data, compliance records and operational emissions controls
  • Finance and Risk Managers — assess climate metrics, controls and transition-plan assumptions
  • Procurement Managers — need supplier-emissions data and low-carbon sourcing criteria
  • Operations and Energy Managers — identify practical emissions reductions from facilities and fleets

Skills and tools covered

GHG inventory designScope 3 accountingEmission factor selectionCarbon target settingAbatement cost analysisClimate disclosure controls

Tools and standards

GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance, ISO 14064-1, SBTi Corporate Net-Zero Standard

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short technical briefings followed by guided case work, group exercises and calculation-based simulations. Participants assess boundary choices, prepare activity-data registers, test Scope 2 contractual instruments, screen Scope 3 categories and compare abatement options. Cases reflect decisions faced by property operators, manufacturers, banks, logistics firms and public bodies. Facilitated discussions examine common reporting errors, evidence gaps and carbon-claim risks. Each participant develops an application plan for improving a current or planned emissions inventory.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have basic familiarity with their organisation’s operations, energy use, procurement spend, facilities, fleet or reporting processes. Experience with spreadsheets and simple quantitative analysis is expected, as participants will interpret activity data, emission factors and calculation outputs. Prior exposure to sustainability reporting, environmental management or carbon reporting is helpful but not essential. The course does not require prior greenhouse gas accounting experience, advanced mathematics, lifecycle assessment expertise, programming skills or formal assurance qualifications.

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 should understand basic business operations and be comfortable working with spreadsheet data. Prior carbon accounting experience is useful but not required; the course introduces the required standards, calculation logic and controls.

Bring a laptop if possible, along with any non-confidential examples of energy, fuel, travel, procurement or emissions-reporting challenges. Course materials provide the templates and reference methods used during the sessions.

It suits sustainability, ESG reporting, environmental, energy, procurement, finance, risk and operations professionals. It is particularly relevant to staff who collect emissions data, approve calculations, set targets or respond to customer and investor requests.

This course concentrates on the technical work behind carbon figures: boundaries, activity data, emission factors, Scope 1, 2 and 3 calculations, controls and reduction planning. ESG reporting courses usually cover a wider range of social, governance and materiality topics.

You can use the templates to review an existing inventory, identify missing data owners, test Scope 2 claims and prioritise Scope 3 categories. The reduction-planning methods help convert reported emissions into funded actions, milestones and accountable owners.

Training runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, with about 6.5 contact hours daily. Time is divided between technical briefings, calculation cases, group analysis, reporting scenarios 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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