Environmental Sustainability and Compliance Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends HSE Managers, Sustainability 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-055

Before you join: Participants should have basic workplace experience in HSE, facilities, operations, procurement, sustainability, audit or compliance.

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

Environmental sustainability is now a management issue with direct consequences for permits, operating costs, procurement decisions, investor scrutiny, customer requirements and community relations. Organisations must meet applicable environmental laws while showing credible progress on emissions, resource use, waste, pollution prevention and biodiversity. Poorly defined commitments, weak data controls and fragmented responsibilities can result in non-compliance, inaccurate disclosures, avoidable incidents and missed efficiency opportunities.

This course equips participants to build and manage an environmental sustainability and compliance programme. It covers environmental aspects and impacts, legal registers, ISO 14001 environmental management systems, greenhouse-gas inventories, life-cycle thinking, waste and pollution controls, sustainable procurement, reporting and assurance. Participants learn to identify material risks, set defensible objectives and targets, assign operational controls, evaluate compliance, investigate environmental incidents and communicate performance using recognised reporting approaches.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with sector cases from manufacturing, infrastructure, financial services, public bodies and supply chains. Participants work with realistic permit conditions, emissions data, waste records, supplier questionnaires and incident scenarios. They leave with a practical environmental sustainability and compliance action pack: an aspects-and-impacts register, legal compliance checklist, emissions data plan, environmental objectives structure, audit checklist and 90-day implementation plan.

The course is suited to HSE professionals, sustainability practitioners, facilities and operations managers, procurement staff, internal auditors and managers responsible for environmental performance. It is particularly relevant for professionals who need to connect sustainability commitments with daily controls, documented evidence and accountable management decisions.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess environmental aspects and impacts using an ISO 14001-aligned significance method
  • Build a legal and regulatory compliance register with ownership and review controls
  • Prepare a Scope 1, Scope 2 and relevant Scope 3 emissions data plan
  • Set measurable environmental objectives, targets, indicators and operational control measures
  • Apply life-cycle thinking to procurement, product, service and waste decisions
  • Conduct environmental compliance audits using evidence-based sampling and corrective actions
  • Evaluate sustainability disclosures against GRI Standards and assurance-ready evidence requirements
  • Produce a 90-day environmental sustainability and compliance implementation plan

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Gain a structured method for turning sustainability commitments into controlled work programmes
  • Build confidence reviewing environmental permits, legal duties and compliance evidence
  • Develop practical emissions, waste and resource-performance data skills
  • Prepare stronger environmental objectives, audit findings and management reports
  • Contribute credibly to ISO 14001, reporting and supplier-improvement initiatives

For your organisation

  • Reduce exposure to permit breaches, environmental incidents and enforcement action
  • Create clearer ownership for environmental risks, controls and corrective actions
  • Improve consistency of emissions, waste, energy and water performance data
  • Support credible customer, investor and public-sector sustainability reporting requests
  • Identify resource-efficiency opportunities through aspects, impacts and life-cycle analysis

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can define an environmental sustainability programme aligned with governance, risk and performance priorities.

  • Environmental sustainability drivers: legal duties, stakeholder expectations and operating costs
  • Board oversight, executive accountability and environmental management responsibilities
  • Materiality assessment linking environmental issues to organisational decisions
  • Environmental risk appetite, escalation thresholds and management review inputs
  • Stakeholder mapping for regulators, communities, customers, investors and employees
  • Policy commitments translated into accountable environmental programme requirements

Participants can identify significant environmental aspects and prioritise controls using a documented assessment method.

  • ISO 14001 environmental aspects and impacts identification process
  • Process mapping from inputs, activities and outputs to impacts
  • Significance criteria using severity, likelihood, scale and control effectiveness
  • Normal, abnormal and emergency conditions within aspect assessments
  • Direct, indirect and supply-chain environmental impacts distinguished clearly
  • Aspect registers linked to risks, controls, objectives and monitoring

Participants can establish a practical system for identifying, tracking and evaluating environmental compliance obligations.

  • Legal register structure for legislation, permits, licences and commitments
  • Compliance obligations assigned to accountable owners and review dates
  • Permit conditions translated into operating limits and monitoring tasks
  • Regulatory change monitoring through authoritative legal and regulator sources
  • Compliance evaluations using documented evidence, sampling and findings
  • Non-compliance escalation, regulator notification and remedial action records

Participants can apply ISO 14001 requirements to structure, operate and improve an environmental management system.

  • ISO 14001 clauses 4 to 10 and documented information
  • Context, interested parties and environmental management system scope
  • Operational planning and control for significant environmental aspects
  • Competence, awareness and communication controls for environmental responsibilities
  • Internal audit, management review and continual improvement cycles
  • Corrective action methods addressing causes rather than repeated symptoms

Participants can plan a defensible greenhouse-gas inventory and prioritise emissions-reduction actions.

  • GHG Protocol organisational boundaries: equity share and control approaches
  • Scope 1 emissions from fuel combustion, refrigerants and process sources
  • Scope 2 location-based and market-based electricity reporting methods
  • Relevant Scope 3 categories screened using spend and activity data
  • Emission factors, data quality checks and calculation audit trails
  • Abatement options assessed through cost, emissions reduction and feasibility

Participants can select operational controls and indicators for resource use, waste and pollution risks.

  • Resource flow mapping for energy, water, materials and waste
  • Waste hierarchy applied to prevention, reuse, recycling and disposal
  • Hazardous waste classification, segregation, storage and consignment controls
  • Air emissions, wastewater discharges and noise monitoring requirements
  • Spill prevention plans, secondary containment and emergency response arrangements
  • Environmental performance indicators for intensity, absolute use and compliance

Participants can incorporate environmental criteria into procurement and life-cycle decision-making.

  • ISO 14040 life-cycle stages from raw materials to end-of-life
  • Life-cycle thinking without conducting a full life-cycle assessment
  • Supplier environmental screening using risk-based questionnaires and evidence
  • Procurement specifications for recycled content, energy efficiency and durability
  • Total cost of ownership including maintenance, resource use and disposal
  • Contract clauses covering environmental data, controls and corrective action

Participants can design measurable environmental objectives supported by controls, indicators and review routines.

  • SMART environmental objectives linked to significant aspects and compliance risks
  • Targets, baselines and boundaries defined before performance measurement
  • Leading indicators for inspections, training, maintenance and supplier controls
  • Lagging indicators for spills, exceedances, complaints and waste generation
  • Control plans assigning actions, resources, deadlines and accountable owners
  • Management dashboards distinguishing operational metrics from strategic outcomes

Participants can audit environmental controls, investigate failures and prepare evidence for assurance review.

  • ISO 19011 audit principles, planning, sampling and auditor conduct
  • Audit trails from obligations through controls to retained evidence
  • Interview techniques testing awareness, implementation and control effectiveness
  • Environmental incident investigation using five whys and barrier analysis
  • Corrective and preventive actions verified for completion and effectiveness
  • Assurance-ready evidence files for reported environmental performance data

Participants can prepare reporting inputs and a prioritised plan for environmental programme implementation.

  • GRI Standards environmental disclosures and supporting evidence requirements
  • Reporting boundaries, methodologies, assumptions and restatement controls
  • Avoiding unsupported environmental claims through documented substantiation
  • Management reporting that explains trends, variances, risks and actions
  • Ninety-day implementation plan with priorities, owners and milestones
  • Personal application commitments aligned with organisational environmental responsibilities

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

What you take back to work

  1. ISO 14001 aspects-and-impacts register template
  2. Environmental legal compliance register checklist
  3. GHG Protocol emissions data collection plan
  4. Environmental objectives and KPI scorecard
  5. ISO 19011 environmental audit checklist
  6. 90-day sustainability implementation plan

Who should attend

  • HSE Managers — need to integrate legal compliance with environmental performance controls
  • Sustainability Managers — need credible programmes, metrics and reporting evidence
  • Environmental Officers — need practical methods for registers, inspections and corrective actions
  • Operations Managers — need to control site impacts, waste, energy and pollution risks
  • Procurement Managers — need to include environmental criteria in supplier decisions
  • Internal Auditors — need to assess environmental management controls and compliance evidence

Skills and tools covered

Environmental risk assessmentISO 14001 implementationEmissions data managementCompliance auditingSustainability reportingEnvironmental action planning

Tools and standards

ISO 14001, ISO 19011, GHG Protocol, GRI Standards

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings, facilitated discussion, case analysis, group exercises, data-review tasks and structured application planning. Participants examine realistic environmental permits, site records, emissions inventories, supplier information, audit evidence and reporting extracts. Scenarios reflect common issues such as hazardous-waste controls, energy reduction, water discharges, contractor management and disclosure claims. Trainers adapt case emphasis to the cohort's sector while maintaining the core methods, standards and required deliverables.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have basic workplace experience in HSE, facilities, operations, procurement, sustainability, audit or compliance. Familiarity with their organisation's environmental issues, such as energy use, waste, emissions, water, chemicals or permits, is useful. Participants should be comfortable reading policies, procedures, spreadsheets and operational records. Prior knowledge of ISO 14001, greenhouse-gas accounting, life-cycle assessment or sustainability reporting is not required. The course does not require engineering qualifications, legal training or advanced carbon-accounting experience.

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 workplace familiarity with HSE, operations, facilities, procurement, audit or sustainability responsibilities. No prior ISO 14001 certification, carbon-accounting training or environmental law qualification is required.

Participants should bring a laptop if attending in person and, where permitted, examples of their environmental policy, waste data, energy records, permits or reporting requirements. Confidential information is not required; anonymised examples are sufficient.

The course suits managers and specialists with responsibility for environmental performance, legal compliance, site operations, procurement or internal audit. It also suits professionals moving into environmental sustainability responsibilities from broader HSE roles.

Internal auditor courses focus primarily on planning and conducting management-system audits. This course includes auditing but also addresses legal registers, emissions accounting, resource efficiency, sustainable procurement, reporting and programme implementation.

Participants can use the supplied templates to review significant aspects, identify compliance gaps, organise emissions data and set accountable environmental objectives. The final implementation plan helps convert findings into prioritised actions for the first 90 days.

Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The five days progress from environmental governance and compliance foundations through management systems, emissions, controls, auditing, reporting and implementation 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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