Sustainability Leadership 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 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-SC-048

Before you join: Participants should have experience working with business planning, HSE, CSR, operations, procurement, risk, reporting or stakeholder relations.

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

Sustainability leaders are expected to turn environmental, social and governance commitments into operational decisions, measurable targets and credible reporting. This requires more than environmental knowledge. Managers must reconcile commercial priorities with stakeholder expectations, assess material impacts, establish accountability, manage supply-chain risks and explain progress to boards, employees, customers, regulators and communities. Poorly defined commitments can create compliance exposure, reputational damage and missed opportunities for cost reduction, resilience and innovation.

This course develops the leadership skills needed to design and manage a practical sustainability and corporate responsibility programme. Participants examine the business case for sustainability, stakeholder mapping, double materiality, ESG governance, carbon accounting, responsible procurement, social impact, employee engagement and sustainability reporting. They learn to convert high-level commitments into policies, objectives, key performance indicators, implementation plans and management review processes. Attention is given to recognised references including the GHG Protocol, GRI Standards, IFRS S1 and IFRS S2, and ISO 26000 guidance on social responsibility.

Teaching combines concise instructor briefings with cases from manufacturing, banking, public services, extractives, consumer goods and NGOs. Participants use structured group analysis, decision simulations and facilitated planning to test leadership choices involving competing stakeholder demands, limited budgets and incomplete data. Each participant leaves with a Sustainability Leadership Action Plan, supported by a materiality assessment structure, governance model, KPI scorecard and stakeholder engagement plan. The five-day course is delivered classroom-based in more than 50 cities or live online, from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, with approximately 6.5 contact hours daily. Participants receive a certificate of completion.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess sustainability risks and opportunities using stakeholder, materiality and value-chain analysis
  • Build a sustainability business case linking ESG priorities to financial and operational decisions
  • Conduct a double materiality assessment using evidence, stakeholder input and scoring criteria
  • Design ESG governance structures with defined board, executive and operational accountabilities
  • Calculate organisational greenhouse gas emissions using GHG Protocol Scope 1, 2 and 3 categories
  • Set sustainability objectives, KPIs and reporting controls for management review
  • Develop stakeholder engagement plans for employees, communities, customers, investors and suppliers
  • Produce a phased Sustainability Leadership Action Plan with owners, milestones and measures

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Lead sustainability discussions with clearer commercial, operational and stakeholder evidence
  • Create credible ESG priorities rather than relying on broad corporate statements
  • Gain practical confidence using materiality, carbon and reporting frameworks
  • Prepare board-ready sustainability recommendations, KPIs and implementation plans
  • Strengthen career capability for sustainability, HSE, CSR and responsible business roles

For your organisation

  • Clearer sustainability priorities linked to material risks, impacts and business objectives
  • Improved accountability for ESG commitments through defined governance and ownership
  • More reliable emissions, resource and social performance data for reporting decisions
  • Reduced reputational and supply-chain exposure through structured stakeholder and supplier processes
  • A practical action plan that converts sustainability intent into scheduled management activity

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can explain sustainability leadership responsibilities and frame a credible business case for action.

  • Corporate sustainability, CSR and ESG: distinct purposes and management implications
  • Triple Bottom Line applied to economic, environmental and social value
  • Business case categories: risk reduction, efficiency, resilience, revenue and reputation
  • Board duties, executive sponsorship and management accountability for sustainability performance
  • Systems thinking identifies trade-offs between environmental, social and commercial outcomes
  • Greenwashing risks assessed through evidence, claims governance and communication controls

Participants can identify stakeholder expectations and apply ethical decision methods to sustainability choices.

  • Stakeholder mapping using power, interest, legitimacy and urgency criteria
  • Salience Model prioritises stakeholder claims requiring leadership attention
  • Map affected groups across employees, communities, customers, regulators and investors
  • Human rights due diligence identifies adverse impacts and response responsibilities
  • Ethical decision matrix compares consequences, duties, rights and fairness
  • Grievance mechanisms designed for accessible reporting, investigation and remedy

Participants can conduct a structured materiality assessment and select defensible sustainability priorities.

  • Double materiality distinguishes enterprise value effects from external impacts
  • Define assessment boundaries across operations, products, suppliers and downstream activities
  • Evidence register captures stakeholder input, risk data and impact indicators
  • Score topics using scale, scope, irremediability and likelihood criteria
  • Materiality matrix presents priority issues for executive and board review
  • Validate findings through documented challenge, approval and periodic reassessment

Participants can translate material priorities into strategy, targets, KPIs and accountable delivery plans.

  • Theory of Change links activities, outputs, outcomes and intended impacts
  • SMART targets define baselines, boundaries, deadlines and accountable owners
  • Leading and lagging indicators measure implementation and performance outcomes
  • Balanced Scorecard aligns sustainability measures with strategic business objectives
  • KPI data dictionary specifies formulas, sources, frequency and quality checks
  • Management review cycles address variance, corrective action and resource decisions

Participants can design governance arrangements and controls for reliable sustainability management.

  • Three Lines Model assigns management, oversight and assurance responsibilities
  • Board committee terms define remit, information needs and escalation routes
  • RACI matrix clarifies decision rights for sustainability programme activities
  • Sustainability policy architecture connects principles, commitments, procedures and standards
  • Internal controls protect ESG data quality, approvals and audit trails
  • Assurance readiness tests evidence, calculation methods and control documentation

Participants can frame an emissions inventory and develop an organisational climate action approach.

  • GHG Protocol organisational boundaries use equity share or control approaches
  • Scope 1 emissions cover owned fuel combustion and process sources
  • Scope 2 accounting compares location-based and market-based electricity methods
  • Scope 3 screening identifies material value-chain categories and data sources
  • Marginal abatement cost curves compare emissions reductions and investment options
  • Transition plans connect decarbonisation actions, capital decisions and milestones

Participants can identify environmental performance priorities and select practical improvement controls.

  • Life cycle thinking identifies impacts from materials through end-of-life
  • Resource flow mapping traces energy, water, materials, waste and emissions
  • Waste hierarchy prioritises prevention, reuse, recycling, recovery and disposal
  • Environmental aspect-impact registers rank significance using defined evaluation criteria
  • ISO 14001 objectives link significant aspects to operational control measures
  • Circular economy principles inform product design, procurement and recovery choices

Participants can set supplier expectations and address social impacts within purchasing decisions.

  • Supplier Code of Conduct establishes environmental, labour and ethics expectations
  • Risk segmentation combines country, commodity, spend and supplier performance data
  • Supplier self-assessments gather evidence on policies, controls and improvement actions
  • Corrective action plans specify root causes, owners, deadlines and verification
  • Modern slavery indicators identify recruitment, working-hours and grievance risks
  • Social value measures track local employment, skills, inclusion and community outcomes

Participants can select relevant reporting references and communicate sustainability performance credibly.

  • GRI Standards report significant impacts and stakeholder-relevant performance information
  • IFRS S1 defines sustainability-related financial disclosure requirements for investors
  • IFRS S2 structures climate-related disclosures around governance, strategy and metrics
  • Reporting boundary reconciles subsidiaries, joint ventures and value-chain disclosures
  • Evidence packs support narrative claims, metrics, calculations and management approvals
  • Material claims review prevents vague language and unsupported sustainability statements

Participants can lead implementation through engagement, communication, review and action planning.

  • Kotter's eight-step model structures sponsorship, urgency and sustained change
  • Change impact assessment identifies affected roles, processes, behaviours and systems
  • Communication plans tailor messages, channels, timing and feedback mechanisms
  • Sustainability champions build local ownership and report implementation barriers
  • Implementation roadmap sequences quick wins, dependencies, resources and governance gates
  • Ninety-day action plan assigns priorities, commitments, measures and review dates

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

What you take back to work

  1. Double materiality assessment template
  2. Stakeholder mapping and engagement plan
  3. ESG governance RACI matrix
  4. Sustainability KPI scorecard
  5. GHG emissions inventory worksheet
  6. Ninety-day Sustainability Leadership Action Plan

Who should attend

  • Sustainability Managers — responsible for translating commitments into managed programmes and measurable results
  • HSE Managers — integrating environmental performance with wider social and governance responsibilities
  • CSR and Community Relations Managers — strengthening stakeholder programmes, impact measures and governance
  • Operations Managers — embedding resource, emissions and social priorities into operational planning
  • Procurement and Supply Chain Managers — addressing supplier ESG risks, standards and due diligence
  • Senior Managers and Directors — providing oversight, sponsorship and accountable sustainability decisions

Skills and tools covered

Sustainability strategyMateriality assessmentESG governanceCarbon accountingStakeholder engagementSustainability reporting

Tools and standards

GHG Protocol, GRI Standards, IFRS S1 and IFRS S2, ISO 26000

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce standards, leadership methods and decision tools. Participants work through sector-based cases involving emissions targets, community concerns, supplier risks, reporting claims and competing investment choices. Facilitated group exercises apply materiality scoring, stakeholder mapping, governance design and KPI selection. Simulations test how leaders respond to board scrutiny and stakeholder challenge. Individual application planning connects course methods to each participant's organisational priorities, responsibilities and available evidence.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience working with business planning, HSE, CSR, operations, procurement, risk, reporting or stakeholder relations. They should be comfortable reading basic performance data and discussing organisational priorities with colleagues from different functions. Familiarity with sustainability terminology, environmental management systems or ESG reporting is helpful but not essential. No prior carbon-accounting qualification, legal training, specialist environmental science background or previous use of GRI, IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards or the GHG Protocol is required.

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

Experience in management, HSE, CSR, operations, procurement, risk or reporting is useful. You do not need prior technical training in carbon accounting, ESG reporting or environmental science.

Bring a laptop if possible, plus non-confidential information about your organisation's sustainability priorities, targets or reporting challenges. Participants can also work from the supplied case material if organisational information is unavailable.

It is designed for managers who lead, support or oversee sustainability and corporate responsibility activity. It is particularly relevant to sustainability, HSE, CSR, operations, procurement, risk and senior management roles.

This course addresses leadership, governance, stakeholder expectations, social responsibility, strategy and reporting alongside climate and environmental performance. Environmental management and carbon accounting courses usually examine their specialist technical disciplines in greater depth.

You will use the course templates to assess priorities, clarify accountabilities, set KPIs and structure stakeholder engagement. The final action plan identifies immediate steps, owners, evidence needs and review dates for your organisation.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides approximately 6.5 contact hours. Time is divided between instructor input, case analysis, group work, simulations and individual application planning across ten teaching 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

More courses in Sustainability & CSR

Sustainability & CSR Smart Mobility and Sustainable Transport Training Course 10 days · from USD 2,200 · next 16 Nov Sustainability & CSR Social Audit and Accountability Training Course 5 days · from USD 1,100 · next 16 Nov Sustainability & CSR Social Enterprise and Sustainable Business Training Course 10 days · from USD 2,200 · next 16 Nov Sustainability & CSR Sustainability Leadership and Corporate Responsibility Training Course 5 days · from USD 1,100 · next 16 Nov Sustainability & CSR Sustainable Business Management Training Course 5 days · from USD 1,100 · next 16 Nov Sustainability & CSR Sustainable Business Strategy Training Course 10 days · from USD 2,200 · next 16 Nov Sustainability & CSR Sustainable Development Goals for Business Training Course 5 days · from USD 1,100 · next 16 Nov Sustainability & CSR Sustainable Development and SDG Integration Training Course 5 days · from USD 1,100 · next 16 Nov