Sustainability reporting - micro course

The demand for ESG information from shareholders and other external stakeholders has been growing. With increasing pressure from stakeholders and regulators, it is becoming expected that organisations will provide meaningful disclosures about ESG risks and opportunities and their impact on the organisation. This is a move away from the traditional model, where business performance has been largely reported externally in financial terms through financial statements.

This micro course is designed to advise you of the current sustainability reporting landscape and prepare you to start drafting sustainability reports for your own organisation or clients.

Throughout this micro course, you will learn about the importance of sustainability reporting and what readers of these reports are looking for. You will also start to identify where you can use existing information and how to decide on a reporting framework.

Topic areas:

• What is sustainability reporting and why do we need it?
• What is sustainability reporting?
• Reporting considertions
• Sustainability reporting options
• Current challenges
• TCFD and climate related disclosures
• Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
• Materiality
• SDG reporting
• ESG initiatives
• Towards International Sustainability Standards and the ISSB
• The need for common reporting
• ISSB exposure drafts

Benefits of attending this course:

• Stay up to date in an ever-changing environment – alleviate fears of obsolescence or being left behind.
• Add value by guiding your organisation towards the best reporting framework for their context.
• Identify fraudulent or misleading sustainability claims by others within your organisation and industry.

By attending this micro course, you’ll be able to:

• Evaluate changes that affect sustainability practices and reporting
• Critique and prepare ESG disclosures
• Analyse the benefits and disadvantages of adopting different sustainability frameworks
• Prepare to draft sustainability reports.

Sustainability reporting consists of one 4hr self-paced digital learning course and one 2hr virtual practical application workshop.

The above self-paced timings are an estimate. The courses provide the flexibility to access the online content at any time and study at your own pace. The time it takes you to complete the digital learning component will depend on your level of prior knowledge, competency level and pace of study.

The courses do not have a mandatory assessment component. However, you are encouraged to attempt online quizzes to challenge yourself and validate your understanding of the course topics.

Workshops will be provided at scheduled intervals and will be readily available so you can join a workshop when you are ready to do so; but ideally after you’ve completed the corresponding digital component.