Sustainability Leadership and Corporate Responsibility Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Sustainability Managers, HSE 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-032

Before you join: Participants should have basic familiarity with their organisation’s environmental, social or governance commitments, operational risks, reporting processes or stakeholder expectations.

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

Organisations face growing scrutiny of emissions, resource use, labour practices, community impacts and public claims. Leaders must make choices when data is incomplete, priorities compete and stakeholders expect evidence rather than promises. The professional task is not simply to publish an ESG report: it is to identify material issues, set credible objectives, assign accountability, manage risk and show progress through decisions, controls and disclosures that can withstand challenge.

This intermediate course equips participants to lead sustainability and corporate responsibility programmes with clear business discipline. Participants assess material issues, map stakeholders, build sustainability strategies, establish environmental and social priorities, manage supply-chain risks and prepare credible performance disclosures. They apply double materiality, GHG Protocol emissions accounting, ISO 14001 environmental management concepts, GRI disclosures and ISSB reporting requirements. The course also addresses board oversight, data governance, greenwashing prevention, employee engagement and implementation planning.

Delivered instructor-led over five days, the course is available in classrooms in 50+ cities or live online. Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. Short expert briefings are combined with cases, group analysis, decision simulations and structured application work. Participants leave with a practical sustainability leadership pack containing a materiality assessment template, strategy roadmap, emissions data worksheet, supplier due-diligence checklist, disclosure evidence map and board dashboard model. A certificate of completion is awarded.

The course is suited to managers who already contribute to sustainability, HSE, risk, operations, procurement, finance, communications or corporate affairs and now need to coordinate action across functions.

What you will be able to do

  • Conduct a double materiality assessment using stakeholder evidence and prioritisation criteria
  • Design a sustainability strategy with targets, owners, KPIs and implementation milestones
  • Apply GHG Protocol principles to define emissions boundaries and data requirements
  • Establish environmental and social controls using ISO 14001 and due-diligence methods
  • Assess supplier sustainability risks and specify corrective-action requirements
  • Prepare GRI and ISSB disclosure evidence maps for material sustainability information
  • Build board dashboards, risk registers and escalation routes for sustainability oversight
  • Develop a 90-day sustainability action plan with accountable owners and review points

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Lead materiality discussions with structured stakeholder and business evidence
  • Translate sustainability commitments into targets, owners, budgets and review dates
  • Recognise unsupported environmental and social claims before public release
  • Contribute confidently to GHG inventories, sustainability reports and board papers
  • Build a credible cross-functional case for sustainability investment and action

For your organisation

  • Clearer prioritisation of material environmental, social and governance issues
  • Better ownership of sustainability targets, controls and reporting responsibilities
  • Reduced exposure to greenwashing, weak disclosures and unsupported claims
  • More consistent supplier due diligence and corrective-action follow-through
  • Board-ready information linking sustainability performance with risk and business decisions

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can distinguish sustainability, corporate responsibility and ESG, then prioritise material issues using stakeholder evidence.

  • Corporate responsibility, sustainability and ESG: distinct purposes, boundaries and decision uses
  • Double materiality assesses financial effects alongside people and environmental effects
  • Stakeholder mapping identifies influence, dependency, legitimacy, urgency and engagement priorities
  • Materiality matrices convert stakeholder evidence into ranked management issues
  • Board oversight roles, delegated authorities and sustainability committee terms of reference
  • Ethical decision tests: legality, rights, consequences, fairness and disclosure
  • Risk appetite statements connect sustainability exposures to management escalation thresholds

Participants can assess external sustainability pressures, identify business implications and test the credibility of public claims.

  • Policy, investor, customer and community pressures shaping sustainability commitments
  • PESTLE screening identifies external drivers, uncertainties and response options
  • Sector peer benchmarking compares targets, disclosures, controls and performance indicators
  • Greenwashing risk tests claims against evidence, qualifiers and substantiation records
  • Material financial risks distinguished from wider stakeholder impacts and dependencies
  • Scenario assumptions stress-test strategy against energy, water and supply disruptions
  • Management briefings translate external signals into decisions, owners and timelines

Participants can build a prioritised sustainability strategy linked to business objectives, risks and measurable outcomes.

  • Purpose, values and business model mapped against material sustainability issues
  • Theory of change links activities, outputs, outcomes and intended impacts
  • Strategic objectives written with baselines, targets, owners and review dates
  • Portfolio prioritisation weighs impact, feasibility, cost, risk and stakeholder expectation
  • Balanced scorecards connect sustainability objectives with operational and financial measures
  • Initiative charters define scope, benefits, dependencies, governance and resources
  • Roadmaps sequence quick wins, enabling projects and long-term commitments

Participants can define environmental priorities, emissions boundaries and performance measures for action plans.

  • GHG Protocol scopes classify direct emissions, purchased energy and value-chain emissions
  • Activity data, emission factors and calculation boundaries support credible inventories
  • Science-based target concepts distinguish absolute reductions from intensity improvements
  • ISO 14001 aspects and impacts register prioritises significant environmental controls
  • Resource efficiency indicators track energy, water, materials, waste and cost
  • Climate adaptation assessments identify physical hazards, exposure, vulnerability and controls
  • Environmental action plans assign controls, metrics, budgets and accountable owners

Participants can identify, assess and address priority social impacts affecting workers, communities and customers.

  • Human rights due diligence identifies salient risks, affected groups and remedies
  • Labour practices assessed through recruitment, wages, working hours and grievance data
  • Community investment criteria distinguish philanthropy, shared value and risk mitigation
  • DEI metrics examine representation, progression, pay gaps and inclusion experience
  • Grievance mechanisms require accessibility, confidentiality, non-retaliation and documented resolution
  • Responsible product assessments consider safety, accessibility, privacy and customer outcomes
  • Social programmes use outcome indicators rather than activity counts alone

Participants can establish risk-based supplier sustainability requirements, assessment processes and improvement actions.

  • Supplier segmentation prioritises spend, criticality, location, category and risk
  • Supplier codes set environmental, labour, ethics and reporting requirements
  • Risk-based due diligence combines questionnaires, document reviews, audits and worker feedback
  • Corrective action plans specify findings, root causes, deadlines and verification
  • Purchasing decisions incorporate life-cycle cost, recycled content and supplier performance
  • Traceability records support origin claims, chain-of-custody and incident response
  • Contract clauses establish audit rights, improvement obligations and termination triggers

Participants can organise sustainability data, evaluate data quality and prepare evidence for external disclosures.

  • Sustainability data governance assigns data owners, controls, evidence and approvals
  • GHG Protocol calculation files document sources, assumptions, factors and exclusions
  • GRI disclosures organise material topics, management approach and topic-specific metrics
  • ISSB reporting focuses on sustainability-related risks, opportunities and enterprise value
  • Data quality tests check completeness, accuracy, consistency, timeliness and traceability
  • Internal assurance readiness uses audit trails, reconciliations and evidence retention
  • Disclosure calendars coordinate finance, operations, legal and communications reviews

Participants can design governance arrangements that support informed oversight, control and escalation.

  • Board dashboards present trends, exceptions, decisions required and strategic implications
  • Three lines model clarifies operational ownership, oversight and independent assurance
  • Risk registers capture cause, event, consequence, control, owner and treatment
  • Internal controls prevent unsupported claims, unauthorised data changes and missed commitments
  • Escalation protocols define thresholds, reporting routes, response times and authorities
  • Executive incentives align selected sustainability measures with accountable performance
  • Incident reviews convert failures into corrective actions and control improvements

Participants can plan engagement and communications that respond to stakeholder concerns with credible evidence.

  • Stakeholder engagement plans define objectives, audiences, methods, cadence and feedback loops
  • Consultation records separate concerns, commitments, decisions and unresolved issues
  • Investor briefings explain material risks, targets, progress and governance evidence
  • Customer communications distinguish verified claims from aspirational statements and marketing
  • Employee engagement connects role-specific actions with organisational targets and feedback
  • Crisis communications prepare holding statements, approval paths, facts and corrective actions
  • Partnership assessments define shared objectives, contributions, governance and exit criteria

Participants can convert diagnostic findings into a resourced action plan with governance, measures and review points.

  • Diagnostic findings translated into prioritised actions, owners, dates and resource needs
  • 90-day plans sequence decisions, evidence gathering, pilots and management reviews
  • RACI matrices clarify accountable executives, responsible teams, consultees and informed parties
  • KPI trees connect board outcomes with operational drivers and data sources
  • Change plans address resistance, capability gaps, communications and reinforcement mechanisms
  • Benefits tracking compares planned outcomes, actual results, costs and variances
  • Personal leadership commitments specify influence actions, sponsors and review checkpoints

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

What you take back to work

  1. Double materiality assessment template
  2. Sustainability strategy and 90-day implementation roadmap
  3. GHG inventory data-collection worksheet
  4. Supplier due-diligence and corrective-action checklist
  5. GRI and ISSB disclosure evidence map
  6. Board sustainability dashboard and KPI tree

Who should attend

  • Sustainability Managers — need to turn commitments into governed programmes and measurable results
  • HSE Managers — need to connect environmental controls with corporate sustainability objectives
  • Corporate Responsibility Managers — need stronger methods for social impact and stakeholder accountability
  • Procurement Managers — need to manage supplier environmental, labour and ethics risks
  • Risk and Compliance Managers — need to incorporate sustainability exposures into governance and controls
  • Finance, Reporting and Investor Relations Managers — need credible sustainability data and disclosure processes

Skills and tools covered

Materiality assessmentSustainability strategyEmissions accountingResponsible sourcingESG reportingSustainability governance

Tools and standards

GHG Protocol, ISO 14001, GRI Standards, ISSB Standards

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course combines focused instructor briefings with sector-based cases from manufacturing, banking, public services, extractives and consumer supply chains. Participants analyse materiality evidence, emissions data, supplier risks, reporting extracts and governance scenarios in small groups. Simulations test board-level decisions, claim approval and incident escalation. Facilitated discussions compare approaches across organisations, while structured application planning helps each participant adapt course methods to a current responsibility or proposed sustainability initiative.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have basic familiarity with their organisation’s environmental, social or governance commitments, operational risks, reporting processes or stakeholder expectations. Experience in HSE, sustainability, procurement, risk, finance, communications, operations or corporate affairs is useful. Participants should be comfortable reading management reports, discussing performance data and contributing to cross-functional decisions. No prior certification in sustainability, environmental management, carbon accounting or ESG reporting is required. The course explains the technical foundations needed for management-level application.

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 your organisation’s basic operations, reporting lines and stakeholder responsibilities. Prior sustainability qualifications, carbon-accounting experience and environmental management certification are not required.

Bring a current sustainability, HSE, procurement, risk or reporting issue that you would like to structure during the course. If permitted, a public sustainability report, policy, target list or supplier code is useful reference material.

It is designed for managers and specialists with responsibility for sustainability, HSE, corporate responsibility, procurement, risk, finance, operations or communications. It is particularly useful for people coordinating work across several functions.

Environmental management courses concentrate on environmental controls, while carbon accounting courses focus on emissions measurement. This course covers those subjects within wider leadership responsibilities including strategy, social impacts, governance, supply chains, reporting and stakeholder accountability.

Participants can use the materiality template, emissions worksheet, supplier checklist, disclosure evidence map and board dashboard model with current organisational information. The final implementation plan identifies priorities, owners, evidence needs and review points for the next 90 days.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 with about 6.5 contact hours. The five days progress from materiality and strategy through environmental and social issues, supply chains, reporting, governance, engagement 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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