Sustainable Business Strategy Training Course

Duration 10 days 20 modules · 65 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Sustainability Managers, CSR and ESG Specialists and others
Fee from USD 2,200 KSh 190,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-SC-050

Before you join: Participants should have experience in a business, public-sector or NGO role involving planning, operations, risk, reporting, procurement, finance, HSE or stakeholder engagement.

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

Sustainable business strategy turns environmental, social and governance issues into decisions about markets, operations, capital allocation, risk and reputation. Organisations face increasing scrutiny from customers, regulators, investors, employees and communities, yet many sustainability programmes remain disconnected from commercial strategy. Leaders need credible ways to identify material impacts, prioritise investments, set measurable targets and show how sustainability improves resilience and long-term value creation.

This course equips participants to build and manage a sustainability strategy grounded in business evidence. Participants assess sustainability maturity, conduct stakeholder and materiality analysis, establish environmental and social baselines, evaluate climate and supply-chain risks, and design strategic priorities. The programme covers greenhouse-gas accounting, circular economy models, responsible sourcing, human rights due diligence, occupational health and safety, sustainability governance, ESG data controls and recognised reporting frameworks.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with sector cases from financial services, manufacturing, infrastructure, consumer goods and public institutions. Participants work through a continuing organisational case and apply each method to their own context where appropriate. They leave with a structured sustainability strategy pack containing a materiality assessment, baseline metrics, strategic objectives, target architecture, implementation roadmap, governance model and reporting plan. Participants who complete the programme receive a certificate of completion.

The course suits managers who contribute to sustainability, ESG, CSR, risk, operations, procurement, finance, health and safety or corporate strategy. It is particularly useful where an organisation needs to move from separate initiatives and policy statements to a managed programme with accountable owners, measurable outcomes and board-ready reporting.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess sustainability maturity, business drivers and externalities using a structured diagnostic
  • Conduct stakeholder mapping and double materiality assessment for strategic priority setting
  • Calculate organisational greenhouse-gas emissions using the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard
  • Design sustainability objectives, targets, KPIs and accountable governance arrangements
  • Evaluate climate, nature, supply-chain and human-rights risks within enterprise decisions
  • Develop circular economy, responsible sourcing and resource-efficiency business initiatives
  • Prepare decision-useful sustainability disclosures aligned with GRI, SASB and IFRS requirements
  • Present a complete sustainability strategy, implementation roadmap and performance dashboard

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Build a board-ready sustainability strategy rather than isolated CSR initiatives
  • Gain practical fluency in materiality, emissions, ESG metrics and disclosure frameworks
  • Make credible business cases for sustainability investments and operational changes
  • Apply recognised reporting standards when preparing sustainability information
  • Strengthen cross-functional influence with finance, operations, procurement and senior leadership

For your organisation

  • Prioritise sustainability investments against material risks, impacts and business value
  • Improve consistency between ESG commitments, operating plans and performance measures
  • Reduce exposure to climate, supplier, regulatory and reputational risks
  • Create clearer accountability for sustainability targets, data quality and reporting
  • Produce decision-useful disclosures for investors, customers, regulators and communities

Course modules

20 modules over 10 days

Participants can distinguish sustainability concepts and identify the business case for strategic action.

  • Sustainability, CSR and ESG distinguished through decision-useful management questions
  • Corporate purpose, value creation and externalities mapped to business models
  • Triple Bottom Line strengths, limitations and common misuses examined
  • Shared Value compared with philanthropy, compliance and risk management
  • Material business drivers: revenue, cost, resilience, licence and capital
  • Strategic sustainability maturity assessed using a five-stage diagnostic

Participants can analyse external sustainability forces shaping strategic choices.

  • PESTLE analysis applied to sustainability policy, markets and societal expectations
  • Porter's Five Forces examined through environmental and social pressures
  • Regulatory obligations separated from voluntary commitments and stakeholder expectations
  • Investor, customer and lender requirements translated into management implications
  • Sector benchmarking identifies credible ambition levels and performance gaps
  • Megatrend scenarios test assumptions about resources, climate and demographics

Participants can identify priority stakeholders and design appropriate engagement approaches.

  • Stakeholder mapping ranks influence, interest, impact and relationship strength
  • Affected-rights-holder analysis distinguishes communities from commercial stakeholders
  • Engagement objectives linked to decisions, evidence needs and accountability
  • Power-interest matrices reveal consultation risks and partnership opportunities
  • Grievance mechanisms assessed for accessibility, remedy and learning value
  • Stakeholder feedback converted into documented strategic requirements

Participants can conduct a defensible materiality assessment for strategy and disclosure.

  • Double materiality separates impact materiality from financial materiality
  • Impact pathways trace activities, outcomes, affected groups and consequences
  • Materiality criteria define scale, scope, irremediability and likelihood
  • Evidence registers record sources, assumptions, scores and decision rationale
  • Materiality matrices communicate priorities without oversimplifying underlying judgments
  • Management validation assigns issue owners and board review responsibilities

Participants can define reliable baselines, metrics and data ownership for priority issues.

  • Baseline design specifies boundaries, reporting periods, units and data owners
  • KPI dictionaries define formulas, sources, controls and reporting frequency
  • Leading and lagging indicators selected for management decision-making
  • Data-quality assessments test completeness, accuracy, timeliness and traceability
  • Environmental and social metrics linked to operational performance drivers
  • Dashboard structures separate board indicators from operational control measures

Participants can establish an organisational emissions inventory and identify reduction priorities.

  • GHG Protocol organisational boundaries apply equity share and control approaches
  • Scope 1 emissions calculated from fuels, refrigerants and process sources
  • Scope 2 reporting compares location-based and market-based electricity methods
  • Scope 3 screening identifies material purchased goods, travel and logistics categories
  • Emission factors selected, documented and quality-checked for inventory calculations
  • Carbon hotspots translated into practical abatement opportunities and owners

Participants can assess physical and transition climate risks and plan strategic responses.

  • Physical climate hazards linked to assets, people, suppliers and services
  • Transition risks cover policy, technology, market, legal and reputation changes
  • Scenario analysis tests strategic resilience under plausible climate futures
  • Risk registers document likelihood, consequence, controls and residual exposure
  • Adaptation options prioritised through cost, feasibility and risk-reduction criteria
  • Transition plans connect decarbonisation actions with capital allocation decisions

Participants can identify nature and resource dependencies that require strategic management.

  • Nature dependencies assessed across land, water, materials and ecosystem services
  • Water-risk mapping considers basin stress, quality, access and community needs
  • Resource-flow analysis identifies material inputs, waste streams and losses
  • Waste hierarchy prioritises prevention, reuse, recycling, recovery and disposal
  • Biodiversity mitigation follows avoidance, minimisation, restoration and compensation
  • Site-level environmental objectives linked to corporate sustainability priorities

Participants can identify salient social impacts and establish due diligence responses.

  • UN Guiding Principles frame corporate responsibility to respect human rights
  • Salient human-rights issues prioritised by severity and likelihood of harm
  • Human-rights due diligence maps operations, suppliers and affected groups
  • Labour practices assessed for wages, hours, freedom and worker voice
  • Community impacts evaluated through livelihoods, access, displacement and cultural rights
  • Remediation processes distinguish prevention, mitigation, remedy and grievance handling

Participants can integrate worker health, safety and wellbeing into sustainability priorities.

  • ISO 45001 principles connect leadership, consultation and operational control
  • Hazard identification distinguishes routine, non-routine and contractor activities
  • Bow-tie analysis links threats, preventive controls and recovery measures
  • Safety performance measures balance injury rates with critical-control verification
  • Worker wellbeing indicators address fatigue, mental health and psychosocial risks
  • HSE objectives aligned with social sustainability commitments and governance

Participants can design governance arrangements that support credible sustainability decisions.

  • Board oversight defines sustainability mandates, information needs and escalation thresholds
  • RACI matrices assign accountability, responsibility, consultation and information roles
  • Executive incentives examined for alignment with sustainability target delivery
  • Codes of conduct address bribery, conflicts, conduct and responsible business
  • Whistleblowing systems assessed for confidentiality, protection and investigation quality
  • Policy hierarchies connect commitments, standards, procedures and operating controls

Participants can convert material issues into strategic choices and value propositions.

  • Strategic themes consolidate related material issues into manageable priorities
  • Theory of change links inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes and impacts
  • Value-chain mapping identifies intervention points from sourcing through end-of-life
  • Business-model canvas tests sustainability implications for customers and partners
  • Priority portfolios balance risk reduction, value creation and stakeholder benefit
  • Strategic narratives connect sustainability commitments to corporate direction

Participants can identify circular business models and resource-efficiency opportunities.

  • Circular economy principles distinguish technical cycles from biological cycles
  • Life-cycle thinking identifies impacts from design through end-of-life
  • Material circularity opportunities include durability, repair, reuse and remanufacture
  • Design-for-environment criteria address materials, energy, toxicity and disassembly
  • Product-service systems tested for customer value and operational feasibility
  • Resource-efficiency cases quantify savings, investment requirements and payback periods

Participants can establish sustainability requirements and due diligence within supply chains.

  • Supplier segmentation prioritises spend, criticality, risk and improvement potential
  • Supplier codes specify environmental, labour, ethics and safety requirements
  • Risk-based due diligence combines self-assessments, audits and external intelligence
  • Supplier scorecards track corrective actions, capability and performance trends
  • Contract clauses address data access, remediation and termination rights
  • Scope 3 engagement plans focus suppliers on material emissions categories

Participants can prepare financially credible cases for sustainability initiatives.

  • Business cases quantify capital costs, operating savings and avoided losses
  • Net present value compares sustainability investments across alternative scenarios
  • Internal carbon pricing incorporates emissions costs into investment appraisal
  • Sensitivity analysis tests energy prices, carbon costs and adoption assumptions
  • Green financing criteria examined for eligible projects and reporting duties
  • Capital allocation gates include sustainability risks and non-financial benefits

Participants can create a sequenced implementation roadmap with measurable targets.

  • SMART targets specify baselines, boundaries, timeframes and accountable owners
  • Science-based target concepts connect emissions goals with reduction pathways
  • Milestone plans sequence policy, data, capability, investment and operational actions
  • Dependency mapping identifies decisions, resources and cross-functional handoffs
  • Implementation risks assessed through probability, impact and response planning
  • Programme charters define scope, governance, budget and success measures

Participants can establish ESG data controls and prepare evidence for assurance.

  • Control matrices link ESG metrics to risks, owners and verification activities
  • Audit trails retain source data, calculations, approvals and methodological changes
  • Estimation methods documented with assumptions, uncertainty and recalculation rules
  • Internal assurance reviews test evidence quality before external reporting
  • Limited and reasonable assurance distinguished by scope and evidence requirements
  • Management representations support accountability for reported sustainability information

Participants can select appropriate disclosure frameworks and prepare a reporting plan.

  • GRI Standards address material impacts and stakeholder-facing sustainability reporting
  • SASB Standards identify industry-specific sustainability disclosure topics
  • IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 focus investor-oriented sustainability information
  • Disclosure mapping aligns material topics, metrics, evidence and report sections
  • Claims substantiation prevents greenwashing through traceable supporting evidence
  • Reporting calendars coordinate data collection, review, approval and publication

Participants can build internal commitment and capability for strategy implementation.

  • Change stakeholder analysis identifies sponsors, resisters, users and influencers
  • Communication plans tailor messages to executives, employees, suppliers and communities
  • Training needs analysis identifies role-specific sustainability capability gaps
  • Manager toolkits translate strategic commitments into operational decision rules
  • Communities of practice share lessons, barriers and improvement ideas
  • Recognition mechanisms reinforce behaviours that support strategic sustainability objectives

Participants can build, review and present a complete sustainability strategy pack for a defined organisation.

  • Strategy packs integrate materiality, baselines, risks, priorities and target architecture
  • Implementation roadmaps assign owners, milestones, resources and governance forums
  • Dashboard designs combine strategic outcomes with operational leading indicators
  • Disclosure plans connect reporting frameworks, evidence sources and approval controls
  • Peer review tests strategic logic, feasibility, omissions and stakeholder implications
  • Executive presentations defend priorities, trade-offs, investment needs and expected outcomes

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 baseline and KPI dictionary
  3. Greenhouse-gas inventory worksheet
  4. Sustainability strategy and target architecture
  5. Implementation roadmap and RACI matrix
  6. ESG reporting and assurance checklist

Who should attend

  • Sustainability Managers — responsible for converting ESG commitments into managed programmes
  • CSR and ESG Specialists — need stronger strategic, reporting and measurement methods
  • Strategy Managers — need to integrate sustainability drivers into corporate planning
  • Health, Safety and Environment Managers — connect HSE performance with sustainability priorities
  • Procurement and Supply Chain Managers — address supplier impacts, emissions and human-rights risks
  • Risk, Finance and Investor Relations Managers — assess sustainability risks and disclosure obligations

Skills and tools covered

Materiality assessmentClimate risk analysisESG reportingSustainability governanceResponsible sourcingTarget setting

Tools and standards

GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, GRI Standards, SASB Standards, IFRS S1 and IFRS S2

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings followed by case analysis, facilitated group work, simulations and structured application planning. Participants examine realistic decisions involving carbon reduction, supplier due diligence, resource efficiency, community impacts and ESG disclosure. A continuing case organisation provides shared evidence for materiality, risk, target-setting and reporting work. Individual application time helps participants adapt tools to their own organisation. Instructor feedback focuses on assumptions, data quality, trade-offs, governance and the credibility of proposed actions.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience in a business, public-sector or NGO role involving planning, operations, risk, reporting, procurement, finance, HSE or stakeholder engagement. Familiarity with their organisation's sustainability commitments, annual report, environmental data or CSR activities is helpful. Participants should be comfortable interpreting basic business metrics and discussing strategic choices. Prior sustainability qualifications are not required. The course does not assume prior greenhouse-gas accounting, ESG reporting or climate-science expertise; these methods are introduced and applied during the programme.

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 operations, planning processes or reporting responsibilities. No prior sustainability qualification, carbon-accounting experience or ESG reporting experience is required.

Bring any relevant sustainability policy, annual report, emissions data, supplier requirements, risk register or strategic plan if these can be shared appropriately. Participants can also work entirely from the course case materials.

It is designed for managers and specialists with responsibilities connected to sustainability, ESG, CSR, HSE, strategy, procurement, risk, finance or reporting. It is suitable for private companies, public bodies, banks, NGOs and multinational organisations.

Carbon accounting and reporting are important parts of the programme, but they are not the sole focus. This course shows how materiality, climate, social impacts, operations, governance, targets and reporting fit into one business strategy.

Participants use reusable templates for materiality, baselines, targets, governance, roadmaps and disclosure planning. The final strategy pack can be adapted into an internal proposal, programme charter or board discussion paper.

The programme contains 20 modules of approximately three contact hours, supported by integrated case work, application planning and instructor feedback. Training runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, providing about 6.5 contact hours daily.

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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