Executives face rising expectations from lenders, investors, customers and regulators to show that climate exposure is understood and managed. Floods, droughts, heat and shifting energy markets affect operations in Africa and elsewhere, while carbon border measures and buyer requirements push suppliers to measure and cut emissions. Organisations that cannot quantify their footprint or explain their adaptation choices risk higher costs and lost opportunities.

The programme combines strategy with technical grounding. Participants begin with climate science essentials, policy frameworks and the business case, then learn carbon accounting step by step: boundaries, activity data, emission factors, calculation tools and verification. The programme then moves to target setting and decarbonisation planning, climate risk and vulnerability assessment, adaptation options and resilience investment, and finally to governance, internal carbon pricing, offsets and sustainability disclosure.

Teaching uses a fictitious but realistic organisation whose data participants analyse across the week, supported by calculation templates and short executive briefings. Each participant finishes with a draft emissions baseline, a prioritised list of reduction and adaptation actions and an outline board paper.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Define organisational and operational boundaries for a greenhouse gas inventory.
• Calculate Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions using activity data and recognised emission factors.
• Set emission reduction targets and map decarbonisation pathways with costs and timelines.
• Assess physical and transition climate risks using scenario analysis.
• Select and prioritise adaptation measures for assets, operations and communities.
• Evaluate carbon credits and offsets for integrity and appropriate use.
• Prepare climate disclosures and board reports that withstand investor scrutiny.

The course is intended for senior decision-makers and the specialists who support them, including:

• Chief executives, directors and board members
• Sustainability, environment and climate change managers
• Chief financial officers and finance managers
• Enterprise risk and compliance officers
• Environmental and social safeguards specialists
• Policy advisers in ministries and county or provincial governments
• Programme directors in development organisations and NGOs
• Investment analysts and bankers building climate-aligned portfolios

Participants take with them:

• A draft greenhouse gas baseline built on a recognised calculation method.
• A set of emission reduction targets with a staged decarbonisation roadmap.
• A climate risk register covering physical and transition exposures.
• A shortlist of adaptation measures ranked by cost, benefit and urgency.
• A checklist for testing the credibility of offsets and net-zero claims.
• An outline board paper on climate performance and next steps.

Learning is built around executive decisions and their technical foundations:

• Short briefings from the facilitator, kept to the point for busy leaders
• A running case organisation whose energy, fleet and procurement data are analysed in spreadsheets
• Leadership team simulation weighing abatement options under a limited budget
• Review of real corporate climate disclosures for strengths and gaps
• Peer feedback on each participant's draft board paper

Vision Reach Global Consultancy issues a CPD-accredited Certificate of Completion to every participant who attends the programme and completes its exercises.