Description

A focused course, tailored for you

ESG Disclosure Practice for Listed Company Advisors

Build ISSB-aligned sustainability disclosures that pass assurance review, from double materiality documentation to board governance attestation.

JSE-listed clients are submitting IFRS S1 and S2 disclosures for the first time and the gap that keeps surfacing is not in the narrative. It is in the governance documentation, the double materiality assessment methodology, and the Scope 3 boundary rationale. Those three artefacts are what assurance partners check first, and most first-year disclosures cannot produce them on demand.

$199 one-time

Tailored to your situation. Access within 24 hours. 30-day money-back.

Includes a hand-built implementation playbook delivered alongside course access, generated for your specific situation.

Why this course

Sustainability advisors who have spent years in GRI or integrated reporting now face a different technical demand. IFRS S1 requires a documented assessment of material sustainability-related risks and opportunities, including the methodology and stakeholder input process. IFRS S2 requires board governance documentation, a climate risk register distinguishing physical from transition risk, Scope 1 through 3 emissions with boundary methodology, a climate transition plan with milestones, and a metrics and targets table in a format the assurance partner can trace to source data. Each of those elements has a specific format requirement that a well-written ESG narrative does not automatically satisfy. The advisor who can build all of them correctly in the first engagement becomes the advisor clients bring back for every subsequent annual cycle. For professionals who also carry marketing responsibilities, the additional pressure is ensuring that public ESG claims align precisely with what the audited disclosure actually says, because assurance teams now cross-check both documents.

What you walk away with

Conduct a double materiality assessment under IFRS S1 and document the methodology in a form that supports external assurance review.
Build a climate risk register distinguishing physical and transition risks and map each to the correct IFRS S2 disclosure category.
Produce the full board governance documentation section of an IFRS S2 disclosure, including the climate competency attestation and committee reporting structure.
Make and document Scope 3 boundary decisions across all 15 GHG Protocol categories and produce the written methodology statement that goes into the disclosure notes.
Prepare the assurance readiness documentation package that limited assurance providers expect at engagement kickoff.
Align marketing and communications claims with audited sustainability disclosures using a structured cross-check workflow.

The 12 modules

Module 1. ISSB vs GRI vs TCFD: Mapping the Disclosure Landscape for JSE-Listed Clients

JSE-listed clients arrive with existing GRI or TCFD reports and ask whether those satisfy IFRS S1 and S2. This module maps all three frameworks side by side, identifies where GRI topics translate to ISSB material sustainability topics, and shows where TCFD pillars map to IFRS S2 disclosure elements. You leave with a gap analysis template used in the first client conversation, so scope decisions are grounded in what already exists rather than starting from zero.

Module 2. Double Materiality Assessment: Methodology and Documentation Under IFRS S1

IFRS S1 requires disclosure of material sustainability-related risks and opportunities, and the assessment methodology itself must be documented. This module builds the two-axis materiality matrix, financial materiality on one axis and impact materiality on the other, documents the stakeholder input process, and produces the written assessment that underlies every disclosure decision in the report. The output is a methodology brief that satisfies the documentation requirement and can be shared with the assurance engagement team.

Module 3. Climate Physical and Transition Risk Register for IFRS S2

IFRS S2 requires systematic identification of physical risks, both chronic and acute, and transition risks across policy, technology, market, and legal dimensions. This module builds a structured risk register with probability-magnitude classification, links each risk to the appropriate IFRS S2 disclosure category, and shows how to document the analysis in a format that supports limited assurance. South African sector examples include mining transition risk exposure and coastal retail physical risk classification for common advisory clients.

Module 4. Board Climate Governance Documentation: The Four Artefacts Assurance Checks First

Assurance reviewers open the IFRS S2 governance section and look for four specific artefacts: board-level climate mandate, documented climate expertise for the designated responsible director, committee reporting cadence documentation, and the board minutes extract confirming review of climate disclosures. This module produces all four in the correct format. The board climate competency attestation is the item most frequently absent in first-year submissions and the first item the assurance partner flags when it is missing.

Module 5. Scope 1, 2, and 3 Emissions: Boundary Decisions and Category Inclusion Logic

The first question in any Scope 3 engagement is which of the 15 GHG Protocol categories are material enough to include. This module works through the category screening logic, documents the organisational boundary decision between operational control and equity share, and produces the written methodology statement that appears in the disclosure notes. Category 1 purchased goods and services and Category 11 use of sold products receive detailed treatment as the largest categories for professional services and consumer-facing clients.

Module 6. Internal Controls Over Emissions Data: Assurance Readiness for Scope 1 and 2

IFRS S2 does not require Scope 3 assurance in the first year, but assurance preparedness starts at data quality. This module builds the internal control checklist for energy consumption data, emissions factor source documentation, third-party verification of supplier emissions factors, and the data completeness review process. You produce a controls memo that positions the client for limited assurance on Scope 1 and 2 in the first reporting cycle and reasonable assurance in subsequent years.

Module 7. Climate Transition Plan: Targets, Milestones, and Baseline Documentation

IFRS S2 asks entities to disclose whether they have a climate transition plan and what it contains. This module constructs the transition plan outline: baseline year selection with rationale, near-term and long-term emissions reduction targets, capital allocation commitments with timeline, and dependency assumptions. You build the disclosure narrative alongside the quantitative milestones table that goes into the annual report sustainability section, including the disclosure language for entities that are still early in their transition planning process.

Module 8. Metrics and Targets Table: Structuring the Quantitative IFRS S2 Disclosure

The IFRS S2 metrics and targets section requires a specific table format: metric, unit, current period, comparative period, target, and progress against target. This module designs the full metrics table for a typical JSE-listed client, resolves the tension between SASB sector metrics recommended by ISSB and client-specific metrics, and produces worked examples for the South African listed market sectors most commonly encountered in advisory engagements, including mining, financial services, and food retail.

Module 9. Integrating IFRS S1 with King IV Integrated Reporting: Alignment Without Duplication

South African listed entities report under King IV alongside IFRS requirements. This module maps King IV's six capital model to IFRS S1 material sustainability topics, identifies where the integrated report narrative can satisfy ISSB disclosure requirements without duplication, and produces a cross-reference matrix showing auditors and JSE reviewers where each IFRS S1 and S2 element appears across the full annual report suite. The matrix also prevents contradiction between the integrated report and AFS sustainability notes.

Module 10. Preparing for External Assurance: Building the Documentation Package

Limited assurance over sustainability disclosures requires a prepared documentation pack. This module produces the assurance readiness checklist: data trail from source systems to reported figures, methodology documentation for each material topic, management representations on boundary decisions, and the reconciliation between sustainability data and financial data where they intersect. You build the file structure the assurance partner expects to receive at engagement kickoff, which reduces the back-and-forth that routinely extends first-year assurance engagements.

Module 11. Sustainability Report vs Annual Financial Statements: Routing Disclosures Correctly

Clients frequently place ESG content in the wrong disclosure vehicle. This module maps the regulatory requirement for each disclosure type: what IFRS S2 requires in the AFS notes, what JSE sustainability guidance requires in the standalone sustainability report, and what King IV requires in the integrated report. You build a disclosure routing table that prevents duplication, inconsistency, and the specific risk of contradiction between two documents that the assurance partner will compare during fieldwork.

Module 12. Green Claims and Marketing Alignment: Keeping Communications Consistent with Disclosures

When a client's marketing material states net zero by a named date, that claim must align precisely with what the IFRS S2 transition plan discloses. This module builds the cross-check process: marketing claim inventory, disclosure reference for each claim, evidence standard required under applicable green claims guidance, and the approval workflow that prevents a marketing publication contradicting the audited sustainability disclosure. Directly relevant to advisors who hold responsibility across both sustainability and marketing functions.

How this addresses your situation

Specific modules that map to what you said you are dealing with.

A client submits a sustainability report written by their marketing team. The assurance partner flags the governance section as incomplete. Modules 4, 6, and 10 produce the three artefacts that resolve the flag in a single working session.

A listed company asks whether their existing GRI report satisfies new JSE ISSB obligations. Module 1 provides the gap analysis framework and Module 2 identifies which materiality documentation needs to be reconstructed from scratch.

A client's Scope 3 inventory is challenged during assurance because the boundary rationale is undocumented. Module 5 builds the written methodology statement and Module 6 adds the controls documentation that supports it.

The marketing team wants to announce a net zero commitment before the annual report is filed. Module 12 provides the cross-check workflow and Module 7 ensures the transition plan disclosure language matches the public claim precisely.

What you get with this course

12 written modules covering the full IFRS S1 and S2 disclosure build for listed-market advisors
Downloadable double materiality assessment template with scoring methodology
Board climate governance documentation pack: mandate, competency attestation, committee reporting template, and board minutes extract format
Scope 3 category screening worksheet with all 15 GHG Protocol categories pre-mapped
Assurance readiness checklist and documentation file structure template
Disclosure routing table for IFRS S2 AFS notes, JSE sustainability report, and King IV integrated report
Green claims cross-check workflow and marketing approval template
Hand-built implementation playbook tailored to your advisory context, delivered alongside course access

What you will have in hand by Day 1, Week 1, Month 1

Access to the learning environment within 24 hours of purchase

Hand-built implementation playbook delivered alongside course access

All 12 modules and downloadable templates available from day one

No scheduled sessions, work through at your own pace alongside live client engagements

Before and after

Before

You can produce a well-written sustainability narrative and a GRI-indexed report. When the assurance partner asks for the double materiality methodology document, the board climate competency attestation, and the Scope 3 boundary rationale, you are building those from scratch under time pressure, and the first-year engagement takes longer than it should.

After

You have a documented methodology for every element assurance reviewers check first. The first client engagement following this course moves from narrative to assurance-ready documentation in the same timeframe that previously covered only the narrative. Subsequent engagements reuse the templates and the second year is materially faster than the first.

What happens if you do not address this

The JSE sustainability disclosure requirements are already in force for listed entities. Each year an advisor cannot produce technically rigorous IFRS S1 and S2 documentation is a year where assurance findings drive scope creep, client confidence drops, and the engagement team that does know how to build the artefacts wins the renewal conversation.

Who it is for

Sustainability consultants and sustainability marketing professionals at professional services firms who advise JSE-listed clients on their ISSB disclosure obligations, and who need to build technically rigorous documentation rather than ESG narratives that look good but do not survive assurance review. Also relevant for in-house sustainability leads at listed companies who work alongside external advisors and need to understand what their assurance partner will ask for.

Who this is NOT for. General ESG awareness or introductory sustainability training. This course assumes you are already working with sustainability data and client disclosure requirements. It is not suitable for someone who wants a conceptual introduction to why sustainability reporting matters.

How it arrives

Text-based course in the Art of Service learning environment, plus downloadable templates and worked examples for every module, plus the hand-built implementation playbook delivered alongside course access.

Time investment. 12 modules at approximately 45 to 60 minutes each, including time to complete the downloadable templates for your own client context. Most advisors work through the course over two to three weeks while applying each module to a live or upcoming engagement.

Why $199 is the right number

Professional body ISSB training covers the conceptual framework and the disclosure requirements at awareness level. This course covers the documentation artefacts that the assurance partner actually checks: the methodology brief, the governance pack, the Scope 3 boundary rationale, and the controls memo. Those artefacts require practitioner-level application and are not covered by awareness training.

FAQ

Is this course relevant to someone working on internal sustainability reporting as well as client advisory?

Yes. The documentation artefacts covered, including the double materiality assessment, the board governance pack, and the Scope 3 boundary rationale, are required for any entity reporting under IFRS S1 and S2, whether produced internally or with external advisory support. Module 9 covers the King IV alignment specifically for entities preparing their own integrated report.

Does the course address the JSE Sustainability Disclosure Guidance specifically?

Yes. Module 1 maps the JSE guidance requirements against IFRS S1 and S2, and Module 9 covers the King IV integrated reporting alignment. The JSE requirements reference ISSB as the primary standard, so the documentation built across the 12 modules satisfies the JSE Sustainability Disclosure Guidance requirements for the substantive disclosure elements.

What if a client does not yet have a climate transition plan in place?

Module 7 covers both how to build a transition plan from scratch and how to correctly disclose when a transition plan is not yet in place. IFRS S2 requires disclosure of whether a transition plan exists, not that one must exist. The module includes the disclosure language for entities at early stages of transition planning.

30-day money-back guarantee. If after a week of working through the materials this is not what you needed, reply to the receipt email and a full refund is processed. No questions, no forms.

Within 24 hours your account in the learning environment is provisioned and the tailored implementation playbook is delivered alongside it.