ESG Strategy and Carbon Accounting Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Sustainability Managers, ESG Reporting 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-CFCM-021

Before you join: Participants should have working familiarity with their organisation's operations, reporting processes, financial planning, sustainability programme or supply chain data.

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

Boards, lenders, regulators and customers require ESG claims that can be traced to decisions, records and financial consequences. Many organisations have published commitments but lack a defensible emissions inventory, clear reporting ownership or a credible route from targets to capital decisions. The result is inconsistent disclosures, unreliable Scope 3 estimates, weak assurance readiness and exposure to greenwashing or missed financing conditions. This course addresses the operating problem: turning climate and sustainability information into governed management data, credible disclosures, transition actions and informed use of carbon markets.

Participants examine ESG strategy, double materiality, climate governance and disclosure architecture alongside carbon accounting under the GHG Protocol. They calculate and manage Scope 1, Scope 2 and material Scope 3 emissions; establish data-quality controls; interpret IFRS S1, IFRS S2, ESRS and CDP requirements; and connect emissions targets to abatement planning, internal carbon pricing and transition finance. The course also examines climate-risk scenario analysis, assurance evidence, carbon credit quality and claims, green bonds, sustainability-linked finance and financed-emissions concepts.

Over five instructor-led days, participants apply standards and methods to realistic cases involving corporate reporting, supply chains, infrastructure investment and financial institutions. Short technical briefings are followed by facilitated case analysis, calculations, group decisions and implementation planning. Participants leave with a practical ESG and carbon accounting implementation pack containing an inventory structure, reporting evidence map, governance model, target pathway and 90-day action plan. Delivery is available in classrooms in 50+ cities or live online, with a certificate of completion issued to participants who complete the course.

The course is suited to professionals who already work with sustainability, finance, risk, operations, procurement or reporting and need to make ESG information decision-ready rather than merely publishable.

What you will be able to do

  • Build a GHG Protocol corporate inventory covering Scope 1, Scope 2 and material Scope 3 emissions.
  • Set organisational and operational boundaries and document an inventory management plan.
  • Assess ESG materiality using double materiality evidence and decision thresholds.
  • Design IFRS S1, IFRS S2, ESRS and CDP disclosure evidence maps.
  • Develop science-based target pathways and abatement cost curves.
  • Evaluate climate risks through scenario analysis and financial-materiality assessment.
  • Conduct carbon credit due diligence using quality, claims and registry criteria.
  • Prepare a phased ESG data, governance and assurance implementation plan.

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Produce defensible Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions calculations
  • Lead ESG reporting discussions with finance, risk and assurance teams
  • Assess carbon credit quality before procurement or public claims
  • Build transition-plan inputs linked to budgets and investment decisions
  • Document evidence suitable for limited assurance preparation

For your organisation

  • Improves consistency between ESG disclosures, emissions inventories and financial reporting
  • Reduces carbon-data errors through defined ownership, controls and audit trails
  • Strengthens readiness for IFRS S1, IFRS S2, ESRS and customer reporting requests
  • Supports credible target setting and prioritised emissions-reduction investment
  • Improves oversight of carbon credit purchases, claims and transition-finance commitments

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can define an ESG strategy architecture with material topics, governance accountabilities and measurable priorities.

  • Materiality assessment using double materiality, stakeholder evidence and decision thresholds
  • ESG value drivers linked to revenue, cost, capital and risk
  • Governance charters define board oversight, management accountabilities and escalation routes
  • Policy architecture connecting climate commitments, controls, targets and operating procedures
  • Stakeholder mapping distinguishes investors, lenders, regulators, customers, employees and communities
  • Baseline maturity assessment identifies data gaps, ownership conflicts and control weaknesses
  • Strategy scorecard translates material topics into measures, milestones and accountable owners

Participants can build a reporting architecture that connects disclosure requirements with controlled evidence.

  • ISSB IFRS S1 and S2 disclosure requirements, structure and decision-useful information
  • ESRS topical standards, materiality assessment and datapoint governance
  • GRI impacts reporting compared with enterprise-value sustainability disclosures
  • CDP questionnaires align with emissions inventories, targets and transition plans
  • Disclosure controls document evidence, review sign-offs, versioning and audit trails
  • Reporting boundary reconciliation between financial consolidation and operational control
  • Crosswalk matrices map one evidence base to multiple reporting requests

Participants can design a controlled corporate greenhouse-gas inventory using GHG Protocol methods.

  • GHG Protocol organisational boundaries: equity share, financial control and operational control
  • Scope 1 stationary combustion, mobile combustion, process emissions and fugitive sources
  • Scope 2 location-based and market-based methods, residual mix and certificates
  • Activity data hierarchies, emission factors, units and conversion controls
  • Base-year selection, recalculation policy and structural-change triggers
  • Inventory management plans assign data owners, calendars and quality checks
  • Emission-factor source hierarchy: supplier data, national factors and databases

Participants can prioritise, calculate and improve material Scope 3 emissions categories.

  • Scope 3 screening identifies material categories using spend, activity and supplier data
  • Purchased goods calculations apply spend-based, average-data and supplier-specific methods
  • Category mapping prevents omissions, double counting and inconsistent procurement classifications
  • Capital goods, fuel-energy activities and transport emissions allocation choices
  • Use-phase and end-of-life modelling applies product lifetime and disposal assumptions
  • Supplier engagement requests primary data, methodology notes and assurance evidence
  • Data-quality scoring assesses temporal, geographic, technological and completeness dimensions

Participants can translate emissions baselines into credible targets, abatement priorities and transition actions.

  • Science Based Targets initiative criteria, boundary rules and target validation pathways
  • Absolute contraction and sectoral decarbonisation approaches compared for target setting
  • Abatement curves rank projects by cost, emissions reduction and implementation readiness
  • Transition plans connect targets, capital expenditure, procurement and operating decisions
  • Internal carbon prices inform investment appraisal, budgets and product decisions
  • Renewable electricity procurement evaluates PPAs, EACs, tariffs and additionality
  • Target dashboards distinguish gross reductions, avoided emissions and residual emissions

Participants can assess climate risks and opportunities using scenarios linked to financial outcomes.

  • Climate risk taxonomy distinguishes physical, transition, liability and systemic risks
  • Scenario analysis tests revenue, asset values, costs and financing under pathways
  • IFRS S2 climate-related risks, opportunities, metrics and targets disclosure requirements
  • Financial materiality links climate drivers to cash flows, enterprise value and credit
  • Climate risk registers specify likelihood, impact, controls, owners and review cycles
  • Transition-plan credibility assessed through governance, finance, actions and dependencies
  • Financed emissions concepts introduce PCAF asset-class attribution methods

Participants can establish control, evidence and review processes for assured ESG and carbon information.

  • Control matrices link emissions assertions to source systems, approvals and evidence
  • Reasonable and limited assurance requirements under ISAE 3410 and ISAE 3000
  • Audit trails retain invoices, meter records, calculations, factors and change logs
  • Data lineage traces reported figures from disclosure tables to primary records
  • Sampling approaches test completeness, accuracy, cut-off and calculation consistency
  • Management representations address estimation uncertainty, boundaries and methodological changes
  • Error correction protocols quantify misstatements and govern restatement decisions

Participants can evaluate carbon market instruments, credit quality and associated claims risks.

  • Compliance and voluntary carbon markets distinguished by legal obligation and claims
  • Allowance trading mechanics: allocation, auctions, surrender obligations and price exposure
  • Carbon credit project cycles cover methodologies, validation, verification, issuance and retirement
  • Additionality, permanence, leakage and double counting tested in credit due diligence
  • ICVCM Core Carbon Principles and VCMI Claims Code applied
  • Credit procurement policies define quality thresholds, vintages, registries and authorisations
  • Offset claims separated from inventory reductions and transition-plan actions

Participants can evaluate climate-finance structures and incorporate carbon exposure into financing decisions.

  • Green bonds, sustainability-linked loans and transition finance structures compared
  • Use-of-proceeds frameworks align projects, eligibility criteria, allocation and impact reporting
  • Sustainability-linked KPI design sets baselines, targets, testing dates and margin adjustments
  • EU Taxonomy screening criteria illustrate activity eligibility and substantial-contribution tests
  • Carbon price sensitivity incorporates allowance costs into project valuation models
  • Climate covenant analysis reviews disclosure, target and reporting obligations
  • Financing memos articulate climate rationale, risk mitigants and measurable outcomes

Participants can prepare a practical roadmap for implementing ESG strategy, carbon accounting and reporting controls.

  • ESG operating model assigns decision rights, workflows, systems and committee mandates
  • Annual reporting calendar coordinates inventory close, assurance, board review and publication
  • Data roadmap prioritises automation, master data, supplier inputs and system interfaces
  • Materiality-to-metrics map links strategy, disclosures, targets, controls and capital allocation
  • Management dashboards present emissions, target progress, risks and financing indicators
  • 90-day action plan sequences owners, milestones, dependencies and governance decisions
  • Implementation review tests feasibility, resourcing, evidence needs and stakeholder communications

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

What you take back to work

  1. GHG Protocol inventory management plan template
  2. ESG materiality and governance scorecard
  3. Disclosure evidence crosswalk matrix
  4. Scope 3 data-quality assessment model
  5. Climate-risk scenario analysis worksheet
  6. 90-day ESG implementation action plan

Who should attend

  • Sustainability Managers — need to establish credible ESG strategy, reporting and emissions governance
  • ESG Reporting Managers — need auditable evidence for investor, regulatory and customer disclosures
  • Finance and Treasury Professionals — need to connect climate metrics with capital allocation and financing
  • Risk Managers — need to assess climate exposures, scenarios and disclosure implications
  • Procurement and Supply Chain Leaders — need to improve supplier emissions data and Scope 3 management
  • Internal Audit and Assurance Professionals — need to test carbon data controls and evidence trails

Skills and tools covered

Carbon inventory designScope 3 quantificationESG reporting governanceClimate risk analysisCarbon credit due diligenceTransition finance structuring

Tools and standards

GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, IFRS S1 and IFRS S2, European Sustainability Reporting Standards, PCAF Standard

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course combines short technical briefings with guided calculations, reporting cases, group analysis and decision simulations. Participants interpret emissions data, test reporting boundaries, assess supplier evidence, compare target-setting choices and review carbon credit documentation. Cases draw on corporate reporting, banking, infrastructure, procurement and investment decisions. Facilitated discussions focus on the trade-offs between accuracy, cost, data availability and disclosure risk. Each participant develops an application plan using their own organisational context or a supplied case where confidential information cannot be shared.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have working familiarity with their organisation's operations, reporting processes, financial planning, sustainability programme or supply chain data. Experience reading management reports, using spreadsheets and interpreting basic financial or operational metrics is useful. Participants should understand the difference between direct operations and purchased goods or services. Prior experience with ESG reporting, greenhouse-gas calculations, climate finance or carbon markets is not required. The course explains relevant standards and calculation methods before applying them to cases. It is not designed for participants seeking introductory sustainability awareness training only.

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 should understand basic business operations, reporting processes or financial and operational metrics. Previous ESG reporting or carbon accounting experience is helpful but not required, as the course introduces the relevant standards before applying them.

Bring a laptop suitable for spreadsheet-based calculations and document review. Participants may bring non-confidential emissions, reporting or target-setting questions from their organisation for use during application planning.

It suits sustainability, finance, risk, procurement, operations, reporting and internal audit professionals. It is particularly useful for teams responsible for building or improving carbon inventories, ESG disclosures and transition plans.

This course focuses on building governed management processes, calculating emissions, preparing disclosures and connecting climate information to finance decisions. Carbon markets are covered through credit quality, claims, procurement and risk rather than trading strategies alone.

Participants can use the templates to assess reporting gaps, assign data ownership, improve Scope 3 methods and prepare assurance evidence. The implementation plan provides a practical sequence for engaging finance, procurement, risk and senior management.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. Time is divided between technical instruction, cases, calculations, group decisions and structured application planning across the ten modules.

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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