Corporate Social Responsibility and Climate Change Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Sustainability Managers, CSR 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-039

Before you join: Participants should have basic familiarity with their organisation’s operations, environmental or social commitments, and internal 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

Corporate social responsibility commitments often sit separately from climate risk, emissions data, procurement controls and public reporting. This creates inconsistent decisions: a community programme may be well received while material supply-chain impacts remain unmanaged; a net-zero statement may lack a credible baseline, ownership or funding. Boards, investors, regulators, customers and affected communities increasingly expect evidence that stated responsibilities inform decisions. Professionals need to turn broad commitments into defined priorities, measurable targets, controls, disclosures and corrective action.

This course examines CSR strategy, stakeholder engagement, climate risk, greenhouse gas accounting, decarbonisation planning, responsible procurement and sustainability reporting. Participants apply recognised approaches including the GHG Protocol, GRI Standards, ESRS and AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard. They learn to assess material issues, establish organisational and operational emissions boundaries, evaluate transition actions, assign governance responsibilities and prepare substantiated reporting content. The course also addresses human rights due diligence, community investment, supplier expectations, greenwashing risk and assurance readiness.

Instructor-led sessions combine short technical briefings with sector cases from banking, manufacturing, infrastructure, public services and international supply chains. Participants work through stakeholder mapping, materiality decisions, emissions-data quality checks, climate-risk analysis and reporting-control scenarios. They leave with a reusable CSR and climate action plan portfolio containing a materiality assessment structure, emissions inventory checklist, transition-plan outline, reporting-control model and implementation roadmap. The course is delivered over five days in classrooms in 50+ cities or live online, with a certificate of completion issued to participants who complete the course.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess CSR priorities using stakeholder mapping, materiality criteria and governance evidence
  • Calculate organisational greenhouse gas emissions boundaries using the GHG Protocol
  • Analyse physical and transition climate risks through scenario analysis and risk registers
  • Design decarbonisation roadmaps using baselines, abatement options and implementation milestones
  • Develop responsible procurement controls covering supplier screening, codes and corrective actions
  • Prepare sustainability disclosures aligned with GRI Standards and ESRS materiality requirements
  • Establish CSR and climate governance using RACI matrices, KPIs and assurance controls
  • Produce a practical CSR and climate action plan for a defined business unit or organisation

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Build credible CSR and climate plans supported by measurable actions and owners
  • Improve confidence when discussing emissions, climate risk and sustainability claims with senior leaders
  • Apply GHG Protocol principles to assess inventory boundaries and data-quality weaknesses
  • Prepare reporting inputs that withstand internal review, stakeholder scrutiny and assurance requests
  • Strengthen career capability across sustainability, HSE, procurement, risk and corporate affairs roles

For your organisation

  • Connect CSR commitments to climate priorities, governance controls and operational decisions
  • Improve emissions-data consistency through defined boundaries, evidence requirements and recalculation rules
  • Reduce greenwashing exposure through substantiated claims, balanced disclosures and approval controls
  • Strengthen supplier accountability for labour, ethics, environmental performance and corrective actions
  • Create clearer implementation roadmaps for climate targets, reporting cycles and board oversight

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can distinguish CSR approaches and define accountability for material social and environmental responsibilities.

  • CSR responsibilities, material impacts and accountability within corporate governance systems
  • Carroll's CSR pyramid tested against contemporary business responsibility expectations
  • Shared value, philanthropy and compliance distinguished through decision criteria
  • Board oversight, executive accountability and delegated sustainability management roles
  • Stakeholder capitalism debates compared with fiduciary duties and legal obligations
  • Corporate purpose statements assessed for measurable commitments and trade-offs

Participants can conduct a structured materiality assessment based on stakeholder evidence and business impacts.

  • Stakeholder mapping using influence, dependency, impact and vulnerability criteria
  • AA1000 principles applied to stakeholder inclusivity, materiality and responsiveness
  • Engagement methods matched to affected groups, decisions and information needs
  • Material topics prioritised using impact severity, scale, scope and irremediability
  • Double-materiality concepts connect outward impacts with financial effects
  • Interview evidence, survey findings and grievance data consolidated into priorities

Participants can identify climate-related risks and connect them to business decisions and controls.

  • Physical and transition climate risks separated using causal pathways
  • Scenario analysis tests strategic resilience under alternative temperature pathways
  • Climate hazard registers connect assets, operations, suppliers and communities
  • Risk heat maps distinguish likelihood, consequence, velocity and control effectiveness
  • Greenhouse gas sources linked to financial, operational and reputational exposure
  • Adaptation responses prioritised through residual-risk and decision-owner analysis

Participants can define emissions boundaries and assess the quality of greenhouse gas inventory data.

  • Organisational boundaries set using equity share and control approaches
  • Scope 1 emissions calculated from stationary, mobile and process sources
  • Location-based and market-based Scope 2 methods compared with evidence requirements
  • Scope 3 screening identifies material categories and supplier data gaps
  • Emission factors, activity data and units checked for calculation quality
  • GHG Protocol inventories documented through audit trails and recalculation policies

Participants can develop a credible emissions-reduction roadmap with accountable delivery actions.

  • Science-based target design connects baseline years, boundaries and reduction pathways
  • Abatement curves rank emissions initiatives by cost, impact and feasibility
  • Transition plans assign milestones, capital needs, owners and dependencies
  • Internal carbon pricing informs investment appraisal and procurement choices
  • Renewable electricity claims tested against contractual instruments and market rules
  • Decarbonisation roadmaps address operations, products, logistics and value-chain partners

Participants can integrate social responsibility, human rights and supplier expectations into CSR strategy.

  • CSR strategy links material issues, corporate purpose and measurable commitments
  • Human rights due diligence identifies salient risks and affected rights-holders
  • Supplier codes translate labour, ethics and environmental expectations into controls
  • Community investment criteria distinguish social outcomes from public-relations activity
  • Responsible procurement integrates supplier screening, contract clauses and remediation
  • Grievance mechanisms assessed for accessibility, confidentiality, remedy and non-retaliation

Participants can translate CSR and climate commitments into controlled operational implementation.

  • Policy hierarchies connect board commitments, operational procedures and accountability
  • Environmental aspects and impacts prioritised through significance-rating criteria
  • Control plans specify actions, owners, deadlines, resources and verification evidence
  • Supplier engagement combines capability building, data requests and corrective actions
  • Incident learning converts environmental events into corrective and preventive actions
  • Change-management communications address incentives, resistance and frontline adoption

Participants can prepare reliable sustainability reporting inputs supported by evidence and disclosure controls.

  • GRI Standards disclosures selected from material topics and reporting boundaries
  • ESRS double-materiality assessment distinguishes impact and financial materiality
  • Data owners, evidence files and approval controls support disclosure reliability
  • Report narratives connect targets, performance, setbacks and remedial actions
  • Greenwashing risks reduced through substantiated claims and balanced disclosures
  • Assurance readiness tested through traceability, consistency and documented methodologies

Participants can establish governance and monitoring arrangements for CSR and climate performance.

  • Board committees receive climate and CSR information suited to oversight decisions
  • Key performance indicators pair leading controls with outcome measures
  • Dashboards separate absolute emissions, intensity metrics and target progress
  • Materiality reviews update priorities after acquisitions, incidents or regulatory change
  • Assurance scopes define evidence, sampling, independence and management representations
  • Corrective-action tracking closes gaps identified through audits and stakeholder feedback

Participants can produce a sequenced implementation plan for their CSR and climate priorities.

  • Baseline maturity assessment identifies governance, data, capability and control gaps
  • Priorities sequenced using impact, urgency, feasibility and resource criteria
  • RACI matrices allocate executive sponsorship, delivery ownership and assurance roles
  • Implementation milestones align policy updates, data collection and reporting cycles
  • Budget cases connect sustainability actions with risk reduction and value creation
  • Personal action plans define first steps, sponsors and review dates

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

What you take back to work

  1. CSR materiality assessment template
  2. Climate risk and opportunity register
  3. GHG inventory boundary checklist
  4. Decarbonisation roadmap model
  5. Sustainability reporting evidence checklist
  6. CSR and climate implementation plan

Who should attend

  • Sustainability Managers — responsible for translating commitments into measurable programmes and reporting
  • CSR Managers — managing social investment, stakeholder relations and responsible business initiatives
  • HSE Managers — integrating environmental impacts, climate risks and operational controls
  • Risk and Compliance Managers — assessing climate, conduct and disclosure-related exposures
  • Procurement and Supply Chain Managers — strengthening supplier standards, data and corrective-action processes
  • Finance, Strategy and Reporting Professionals — supporting climate targets, investment cases and disclosures

Skills and tools covered

CSR strategy designClimate risk assessmentGHG inventory managementSustainability reportingResponsible procurementESG governance

Tools and standards

GHG Protocol, GRI Standards, ESRS, AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to establish concepts, standards and decision criteria, followed by structured case work and group analysis. Participants assess stakeholder priorities, review climate-risk scenarios, test emissions inventory boundaries and examine examples of reporting claims and evidence files. Simulations focus on board reporting, supplier escalation and target-setting choices. Facilitated discussions compare approaches used in banking, manufacturing, infrastructure and public-service settings. Each participant develops an application plan using their own organisational context or a supplied case.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have basic familiarity with their organisation’s operations, environmental or social commitments, and internal reporting processes. Experience in sustainability, HSE, procurement, risk, compliance, finance or corporate affairs is useful. Participants should be comfortable reading simple performance data and discussing business decisions involving suppliers, assets, budgets or stakeholders. Prior greenhouse gas accounting, climate science, sustainability reporting or CSR qualifications are not required. The course explains the relevant terminology, calculation logic and reporting structures before applying them to cases.

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 basic familiarity with their organisation’s activities, stakeholders and internal reporting processes. No prior qualification in sustainability, CSR, greenhouse gas accounting or climate science is required.

Bring a laptop if possible, along with any public sustainability report, emissions data, supplier code or CSR policy relevant to your role. These documents are optional; course cases and templates are provided for participants without organisational materials.

The course is designed for professionals working in sustainability, CSR, HSE, procurement, risk, compliance, finance, strategy and corporate affairs. It is particularly useful for people asked to turn policy commitments into measurable actions and reporting inputs.

This course connects reporting and emissions accounting with CSR strategy, stakeholder engagement, human rights, supply-chain controls, climate risk and governance. It provides the management context needed to use reporting and carbon data in decisions.

Participants can use the materiality template, emissions checklist, risk register and implementation-plan structure to assess an existing programme or begin a new one. The methods are applicable to corporate, public-sector, financial-services and NGO settings.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours, excluding breaks. The five days cover ten modules in teaching order, combining technical instruction, 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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