Program facts
- Study fee
- Free
- subjects
- 5
- lessons
- 20
- Estimated time
- 14 hours
- Access period
- 60 days
- Study language
- Arabic and English
About the program
The program shows how sustainability moves from a broad idea to measurable decisions. It begins by distinguishing sustainability and ESG and separating impacts, risks and opportunities, then introduces stakeholders, the value chain and two materiality lenses: impact materiality and financial materiality. It builds a foundation for climate risk, greenhouse-gas inventories and Scopes 1, 2 and 3, then covers workforce issues, human rights, governance and controls. The final subjects address metrics, targets and data quality, a foundational comparison of ISSB and GRI, connected disclosure, transition-plan logic and testing sustainability claims for greenwashing risk. Cases are fictional and country-neutral. No advanced prior experience is assumed, and the program does not suggest that one framework serves every reporting purpose.
Practical relevance
By the end, learners can draft an initial material-topics map, follow the logic of a GHG inventory, design a basic set of metrics, connect ESG issues to risk and decisions, and review a sustainability disclosure or claim for scope, methodology, evidence, baseline, targets, progress and limitations.
Why this program
Sustainability decisions and disclosures matter increasingly, but the terminology and frameworks do not perform the same job. This diploma builds the reasoning needed to ask the right questions: What is the impact? Who is affected? What could affect the organization’s prospects? What are the measurement boundaries? What evidence supports an indicator or claim? Which requirements are current, future-effective or non-mandatory guidance?
Career relevance
Useful for people working in or alongside sustainability, ESG, risk, strategy, finance, operations, human resources, governance and reporting. It provides a structured foundation for understanding and working with specialist teams; it is not a professional licence or an external credential from a standards body.
What you will learn
- Distinguish sustainability, ESG and the environmental, social and governance dimensions and their connections.
- Analyze stakeholders and the value chain using impact-materiality and financial-materiality lenses.
- Distinguish physical and transition climate risks and understand Scopes 1, 2 and 3.
- Understand workforce, human-rights, governance and control issues within ESG.
- Design metrics, baselines and targets with appropriate data-quality controls.
- Compare the purpose, audience and materiality logic of ISSB and GRI at a foundational level.
- Build a practical disclosure and transition-plan logic and test claims for greenwashing risk.
Learning outcomes (10)
- Explain sustainability and ESG, distinguishing environmental, social and governance dimensions and separating impacts, risks and opportunities.
- Analyze stakeholders and the value chain and prioritize topics using impact-materiality and financial-materiality lenses without conflating them.
- Distinguish physical climate risks, transition risks and opportunities, and explain how they connect to strategy and risk management.
- Build a basic greenhouse-gas inventory logic covering boundaries, Scopes 1, 2 and 3, activity data, emission factors and uncertainty.
- Assess core social issues including workforce, human rights, due diligence and affected communities across the value chain.
- Explain the role of governance, oversight, controls, ethics, incentives and accountability in managing ESG matters.
- Design a basic ESG metric set with clear boundaries, definitions, baselines, targets, responsibilities and data-quality controls.
- Compare the purpose, audience and materiality logic of major disclosure frameworks such as ISSB and GRI and select an appropriate use for a case.
- Evaluate the credibility of a sustainability or climate claim by checking scope, methodology, evidence, baseline, target, progress and limitations.
- Prepare a simple applied ESG plan linking priorities to risks and opportunities, actions, owners, metrics, disclosure and, where relevant, transition planning.
Who it is for
- Learners and professionals seeking a structured foundation in sustainability and ESG.
- People seeking applicable knowledge without advanced prior experience.
- Professionals whose work intersects with risk, strategy, operations, finance, human resources or reporting.
Prerequisites
- No advanced sustainability or ESG experience is required.
- Comfort with simple business tables and indicators is helpful for applied exercises.
What it does not offer
- People who need jurisdiction-specific legal advice or proof of regulatory compliance.
- People seeking an external professional certification from ISSB, GRI or GHG Protocol.
Curriculum
- Subject 1 Open for free
Foundations of Sustainability, ESG, Materiality and Stakeholders
Builds the conceptual foundation: sustainability and ESG, E/S/G distinctions, stakeholders and value chain, then materiality as a way to prioritize what deserves measurement, management and disclosure.
- Subject 2
Climate, Emissions and Environmental Risk
Covers climate risks and opportunities, then the logic and boundaries of GHG inventories and Scopes 1, 2 and 3, ending with baselines, targets, emissions reduction and uncertainty.
- Subject 3
Social Dimension, Governance and Accountability
Covers workforce issues, human rights, due diligence and affected communities, then connects them to governance, oversight, controls, ethics and accountability.
- Subject 4
Measurement, Metrics, Data and ESG Risk Management
Turns issues into a measurement system: metrics and definitions, boundaries, data quality, baselines and targets, action plans, and integration of ESG into risk and decision processes.
- Subject 5
Disclosure, Transition Plans and Credible Claims
Connects measurement to disclosure: a foundational ISSB–GRI comparison, connected disclosure logic, transition plans, claim testing and assurance readiness without implying external assurance.
Subjects unlock in sequence as you progress.
Strengths
- Separates E, S and G clearly, then reconnects them to decisions, risk and data.
- Distinguishes impact materiality from financial materiality instead of treating materiality as one vague concept.
- Treats emissions as a measurement system with boundaries, assumptions and uncertainty, not as a single number.
- Checks actual versions and effective dates so future-effective standards are not presented as current requirements.
- Connects disclosure to evidence, controls, transition planning and greenwashing risk.
Evidence basis
The blueprint is grounded in primary and official sources including ISSB Standards, GRI Standards and official materials, GHG Protocol, the G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and the UN report on integrity in net-zero commitments. Future-effective standards are labelled as future-effective at the verification date.
Reference organizations
- IFRS Foundation / ISSB
- Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
- GHG Protocol
- OECD
- OHCHR
- United Nations
Frameworks used
- G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance — 2023
- UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights — 2011
- UN Integrity Matters recommendations for net-zero commitments — 2022
Methodology
The design starts from the program outcome and maps measurable outcomes across five progressive subjects. Primary sources anchor changing concepts, versions and dates, while teaching cases remain fictional and country-neutral. The curriculum distinguishes measurement, management and disclosure from claims of compliance.
How the route works
Short Diplomas are relatively comprehensive learning pathways that cover a major subject through five connected learning subjects and structured assessments, with a diploma transcript available with the credential.
Self-paced sequential study. Content unlocks progressively and each subject combines reading, examples, exercises, knowledge checks, and assessment.
- Build integrated knowledge in a major subject.
- Study through five clear, connected learning subjects.
- Complete a defined assessment for each subject.
- Receive a diploma transcript showing subjects and results when the credential is issued.
Assessment
Each Short Diploma contains five subjects, each with an approved assessment. A sixth final exam is not required when the five assessments adequately cover the learning outcomes.
Assessment attempts: 2 per assessment, 7 days apart
The pass mark is announced before the program is published.
Certificate
Successful completion makes the learner eligible for the Short Diploma certificate and Diploma Transcript under the credential policy.
Every certificate has a public verification code. Verify a certificate
Disclaimer: Training completion credential, not a university degree, professional licence or proof of ESG compliance.
Program questions
Does the program explain the difference between sustainability and ESG?
Yes. It starts with that distinction and explains how environmental, social and governance dimensions connect to impacts, risks, opportunities and decisions.
Does it cover emissions accounting?
It covers the foundational logic of GHG inventories, boundaries, Scopes 1, 2 and 3, activity data, emission factors and uncertainty without turning the diploma into specialist technical inventory training.
Does it cover ISSB and GRI?
Yes, at a foundational and applied level. It explains differences in audience, purpose and materiality logic and avoids treating the frameworks as interchangeable.
Is the program based on one country’s law?
No. The learning context is country-neutral. International standards and bodies are described within their actual scope and date, not converted into local-compliance claims.
Does completing the program prove that an organization is compliant or green?
No. Compliance depends on applicable jurisdictional requirements, and credible performance cannot be proven by one label or indicator. The program teaches learners to inspect boundaries, methods, evidence and progress.
Is it suitable without advanced prior experience?
Yes. R01 is a connected foundational route, while still expecting an adult learner who can work with ordinary business concepts and simple data.
Is the credential an ISSB or GRI certification?
No. Any credential issued under the platform policy is a program-completion credential, not endorsement, certification or licensing by the referenced standards bodies.