Environmental Sustainability Management Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Sustainability Managers, EHS Managers 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-031

Before you join: Participants should have basic familiarity with their organisation's operations, services, facilities, supply chain or environmental responsibilities.

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 management requires more than isolated recycling, energy-saving or reporting initiatives. Organisations need defensible priorities, reliable environmental data, accountable plans and management controls that connect climate, resources, pollution, biodiversity and supply-chain impacts to operational and financial decisions. Managers are increasingly expected to explain material impacts, set credible targets, meet customer and regulatory requirements, and show measurable progress without overstating results.

This five-day course develops the methods needed to plan, implement and monitor an environmental sustainability programme. Participants assess environmental aspects and impacts, apply double materiality, establish greenhouse-gas inventories using the GHG Protocol, identify reduction opportunities, and select meaningful performance indicators. The syllabus also addresses ISO 14001 environmental management systems, life-cycle thinking, circular economy methods, sustainable procurement, environmental reporting and assurance readiness.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with practical case work drawn from manufacturing, infrastructure, financial services, public bodies and service operations. Participants interpret sample utility, waste, procurement and emissions data; make prioritisation decisions; test controls against realistic scenarios; and receive structured feedback. Each participant leaves with an environmental sustainability management plan, a materiality assessment structure, an emissions inventory workbook outline, an action register and reporting measures ready for adaptation at work.

The course suits professionals who contribute to environmental performance but need a clearer management framework than a specialist technical qualification provides. It is particularly useful where sustainability responsibilities sit across EHS, operations, facilities, procurement, risk, finance, corporate affairs or programme management.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess environmental aspects, impacts and material issues using double materiality criteria
  • Build a Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse-gas inventory using GHG Protocol methods
  • Set evidence-based environmental objectives, targets, indicators and action owners
  • Apply ISO 14001 planning and control requirements to an environmental management system
  • Evaluate life-cycle impacts and circular economy options for products and operations
  • Develop sustainable procurement criteria and supplier environmental due-diligence controls
  • Prepare environmental performance disclosures with traceable data and evidence files
  • Produce an environmental sustainability management plan with governance and review cycles

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Ability to turn environmental commitments into funded, owned operational actions
  • Practical confidence discussing Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions data
  • Stronger capability to challenge unsupported environmental claims and targets
  • Reusable methods for prioritising environmental risks, impacts and improvement opportunities
  • Clearer evidence base for sustainability, EHS or operational management roles

For your organisation

  • More consistent environmental priorities linked to material impacts and business decisions
  • Improved quality and traceability of emissions, energy, waste and resource data
  • Action plans with defined owners, milestones, indicators and management review points
  • Better supplier environmental screening and procurement decision records
  • Reduced exposure to misleading claims, weak disclosures and unsubstantiated targets

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can frame environmental sustainability priorities in relation to organisational impacts, risks and decisions.

  • Planetary boundaries, climate science and resource constraints shaping business exposure
  • Environmental sustainability principles: prevention, polluter pays, precaution and stewardship
  • Business dependencies on energy, water, materials, ecosystems and waste services
  • Drivers from regulation, customers, investors, communities and corporate commitments
  • Double materiality distinguishes financial materiality from environmental and social impacts
  • Stakeholder mapping identifies affected groups, information needs and influence
  • Governance roles linking board oversight, executive accountability and operational ownership

Participants can identify significant environmental aspects and prioritise material sustainability issues.

  • ISO 14001 aspect-and-impact registers identify normal, abnormal and emergency conditions
  • Significance scoring considers scale, severity, likelihood, duration and control effectiveness
  • Process mapping traces inputs, activities, outputs, emissions and waste streams
  • Materiality assessment criteria combine stakeholder concern, impact severity and business relevance
  • Evidence sources include permits, incident logs, meter data and complaints
  • Prioritisation matrices distinguish immediate control needs from strategic improvement opportunities
  • Documenting assumptions creates an auditable basis for management decisions

Participants can apply environmental management system controls to planned sustainability improvements.

  • ISO 14001 clauses connect context, leadership, planning, support and performance evaluation
  • Legal registers capture applicable permits, consent conditions and reporting obligations
  • Operational controls define procedures, competence requirements, inspections and records
  • Emergency preparedness addresses spills, releases, extreme weather and contractor incidents
  • Corrective-action methods identify root causes using five whys and fishbone analysis
  • Internal audit programmes test conformity, control effectiveness and evidence retention
  • Management review inputs convert performance data into resource and policy decisions

Participants can establish a defensible emissions baseline and identify reduction priorities.

  • GHG Protocol organisational boundaries apply equity share and control approaches
  • Scope 1 emissions cover stationary combustion, vehicles, refrigerants and process sources
  • Scope 2 methods distinguish location-based and market-based electricity reporting
  • Scope 3 screening identifies material purchased goods, travel, logistics and investments
  • Activity data, emission factors and calculation files support inventory traceability
  • Data-quality scoring assesses completeness, accuracy, timeliness and methodological consistency
  • Marginal-abatement-cost curves compare emissions reduction options and implementation costs
  • Science-based target principles test boundary coverage, ambition and target credibility

Participants can identify and prioritise resource-efficiency opportunities using operational performance data.

  • Energy reviews separate base load, process load and avoidable consumption
  • Energy intensity indicators relate consumption to production, floor area or service output
  • Water balance diagrams identify abstraction, use, reuse, discharge and losses
  • Waste hierarchy prioritises prevention, reuse, recycling, recovery and disposal
  • Metering plans specify data intervals, ownership, validation and exception reporting
  • Opportunity registers rank actions by savings, emissions, capital cost and payback
  • Operational procedures prevent rebound effects after efficiency projects

Participants can use life-cycle thinking to improve product, service and operational decisions.

  • ISO 14040 life-cycle assessment defines goal, scope, functional unit and boundaries
  • Life-cycle inventory maps material inputs, transport, energy use and end-of-life routes
  • Hotspot analysis focuses improvement effort on the largest environmental burdens
  • Circular economy strategies include refuse, reduce, reuse, repair, remanufacture and recycle
  • Design-for-environment criteria address durability, reparability, recycled content and disassembly
  • Packaging assessments compare material choices, protection needs and recovery systems
  • Avoiding burden shifting tests impacts across life-cycle stages and categories

Participants can integrate environmental requirements into procurement and supplier management processes.

  • Supplier segmentation identifies high-spend, high-impact and high-risk purchasing categories
  • Environmental prequalification checks permits, management systems, data and incident history
  • Tender criteria score carbon, materials, waste, packaging and delivery performance
  • Contract clauses define reporting frequency, improvement actions and audit access
  • Supplier scorecards track emissions, certifications, corrective actions and evidence quality
  • Category strategies address deforestation, hazardous substances, recycled content and transport
  • Collaboration plans distinguish supplier development from escalation and replacement decisions

Participants can assess pollution and nature-related risks and specify appropriate controls.

  • Pollution pathways link sources, receptors, transport mechanisms and exposure routes
  • Chemical inventories identify hazardous substances, storage requirements and substitution options
  • Spill prevention plans combine secondary containment, inspections and response responsibilities
  • Biodiversity screening identifies sensitive sites, habitat impacts and mitigation measures
  • Mitigation hierarchy applies avoid, minimise, restore and compensate decision sequence
  • Climate physical-risk assessments consider heat, flooding, drought and supply disruption
  • Environmental incident investigations preserve evidence, determine causes and prevent recurrence

Participants can design credible environmental reporting supported by controls and evidence.

  • KPI design specifies definitions, units, boundaries, owners and reporting frequency
  • Leading indicators track inspections, training, supplier engagement and action completion
  • Lagging indicators measure emissions, resource use, waste, incidents and nonconformities
  • GRI Standards guide topic disclosures, metrics and management approach statements
  • Reporting controls reconcile source data, calculations, approvals and published claims
  • Assurance readiness requires evidence files, version control and documented methodologies
  • Green claims reviews test specificity, substantiation, comparability and qualification language

Participants can produce an accountable environmental sustainability implementation plan for their organisation.

  • Environmental strategy translates material issues into objectives, programmes and milestones
  • SMART targets specify baselines, boundaries, deadlines, owners and measurement methods
  • Business cases quantify capital needs, operating costs, avoided risks and benefits
  • RACI matrices assign decision rights, delivery responsibilities, consultation and information flows
  • Change-management plans address capability gaps, resistance, communications and incentives
  • Implementation roadmaps sequence quick wins, enabling projects and longer-term investments
  • Quarterly review cycles refresh priorities using performance data and emerging risks

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

What you take back to work

  1. Environmental aspects and impacts register template
  2. Double materiality assessment matrix
  3. GHG Protocol emissions inventory workbook structure
  4. Environmental sustainability management plan
  5. Sustainable procurement supplier scorecard
  6. Environmental KPI and reporting-control checklist

Who should attend

  • Sustainability Managers — responsible for converting commitments into managed environmental programmes
  • EHS Managers — integrating sustainability objectives with existing environmental controls
  • Operations Managers — reducing energy, materials, waste and emissions within operational decisions
  • Facilities Managers — managing building utilities, waste contractors and environmental performance data
  • Procurement Managers — embedding environmental criteria within sourcing and supplier management
  • Risk, Compliance and Internal Audit Professionals — testing environmental claims, controls and evidence

Skills and tools covered

Environmental aspect assessmentCarbon accountingSustainability target settingLife-cycle assessmentSustainable procurementEnvironmental reporting

Tools and standards

ISO 14001, GHG Protocol, GRI Standards, ISO 14040

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce standards, methods and decision criteria, followed by guided case work using realistic environmental data. Small-group activities examine aspects registers, emissions inventories, supplier questionnaires, target options and reporting evidence. Scenario simulations test how managers respond to poor data, competing priorities and assurance challenges. Participants apply each method to their own organisational context through structured planning prompts. Facilitated discussion compares approaches from different sectors while keeping decisions tied to practical controls, records and accountability.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have basic familiarity with their organisation's operations, services, facilities, supply chain or environmental responsibilities. Experience reviewing utility bills, waste records, policies, risk registers, supplier information or performance reports is useful. The course assumes confidence with simple spreadsheets and interpreting operational data. Prior knowledge of carbon accounting, ISO 14001, life-cycle assessment or sustainability reporting is not required. This is not an engineering, environmental science or legal compliance qualification; specialist technical calculations and jurisdiction-specific legal advice are outside its scope.

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 operations, services, facilities or supply chain. No prior carbon accounting, ISO 14001 or sustainability reporting experience is required, but confidence with simple operational data is helpful.

Bring a laptop if possible, together with non-confidential examples of utility data, waste records, environmental objectives, procurement requirements or reporting challenges. Participants can also work entirely from the course cases if internal material cannot be shared.

It is designed for sustainability, EHS, operations, facilities, procurement, risk and reporting professionals with environmental performance responsibilities. It also suits managers asked to support sustainability projects without being environmental specialists.

This course uses ISO 14001 as a management framework but does not train participants to certify or lead formal certification audits. It focuses specifically on environmental priorities, data, targets, controls and implementation rather than wider social responsibility, ethics or community programmes.

Participants can use the registers, matrices, inventory structure and action-plan formats to assess a site, department, product category or supplier group. The final implementation planning module helps convert findings into owned actions, measures and review dates.

The course contains ten linked modules delivered over five training days, with approximately 6.5 contact hours each day from 08:30 to 16:30. Time is divided between instructor input, case analysis, group work, scenario decisions and structured 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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