51 courses to sort through the details of sustainability disclosure standards

by Trish Kenlon

These training resources delve into the details of the four most significant global reporting and disclosure standards — GRI, ESRS, IFRS and CDP.

Note: This article was originally published on Trellis.net – click here to read the article on Trellis.net.

Editor’s note: This is part of a series on closing the sustainability skills gap that includes more than 300 training opportunities in areas such as climate and net-zero strategy, procurement and supply chain, ESG and sustainable finance, professional certifications and free upskilling.

Yesterday’s article provided an overview of the four most globally significant sustainability reporting and disclosure standards — the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards, the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Sustainability Disclosure Standards and the CDP Full Corporate Questionnaire — to help you learn how the various reporting tools relate to one another and determine what your company’s reporting needs are. This article’s focus is on standard-specific resources.

Below are 51 courses that can help you to achieve mastery of these standards. When evaluating an offering, be sure to confirm that the course materials have been updated to cover the latest version of the standard or at least cover the key concepts that you wish to learn. Some standards organizations such as GRI and the IFRS Foundation manage official training partnership programs, so I encourage you to ask if the provider you’re considering learning from is accredited. Accreditation isn’t required or relevant for every learning opportunity listed here, but for the courses offered by accredited providers, you can be confident that you’re learning exactly what the standards-issuing organization wants you to know.

As is often the case with these types of lists, I’m sure I’ve missed some. If your favorite offering isn’t included here, I warmly invite you to join the conversation on LinkedIn to tell me and your fellow readers about it. Thanks in advance for your help with bringing these resources out into the open so that more people can get to work on advancing sustainable business practices.

GRI courses

The GRI Certified Sustainability Professional is one of the most established and widely recognized sustainability credentials available. Many courses below are designed to enable practitioners to achieve professional certification, but several focus on providing more hands-on support for developing a report or cover special topics such as assurance or biodiversity.

To earn GRI certification, candidates must pass an exam after completing four required courses: Introduction to Sustainability Reporting and the GRI Standards; Reporting with the GRI Standards; Reporting on Human Rights with the GRI Standards; and Integrating the SDGs Into Sustainability Reporting. Candidates can take the required courses from GRI via the GRI Academy or from a certified training partner. Training partners often use their own unique names for GRI-related courses, so confirm that any course you take will count toward your certification journey if that is your goal.

The GRI Academy from the Global Reporting Initiative

The GRI Academy offers over 20 on-demand courses produced by the Global Reporting Initiative. In addition to training related to professional certification, there are also courses on advanced reporting skills such as external assurance and how to use the GRI standards to meet ESRS requirements, how to report on topics such as waste management and biodiversity, and specific guidance for sectors such as agriculture, coal and mining.

Cost: Free up to €300 (approximately $335) per course; €1,250 (approximately $1,390) for the certification bundle
Time to complete: Between 45 minutes and 3.5 hours per course; 16 hours for the certification bundle
Training format: On-demand e-learning

Sustainability Reporting Practitioner Regarding GRI Standards from Earth Academy

This course is designed to help sustainability practitioners understand the basics of the GRI standards and how to apply them. It can be taken individually or as a part of several reporting learning paths available from Earth Academy.

Cost: €195 (approximately $215)
Time to complete: 1.5 hours
Training format: On-demand e-learning, quiz
Key topics covered: The structure of the GRI Standards; the reporting process; applying the GRI reporting principles; general disclosures; identifying and reporting on material topics; presenting information

GRI Standards Training: Sustainability Reporting for Organizations from Arizona State University

This on-demand training covers the concepts from the first two courses required for GRI certification. The videos include interviews with current sustainability practitioners that bring the reporting concepts to life and case studies featuring U.S.-based organizations who report in accordance with GRI Standards. Arizona State University also offers courses on the Fundamentals of ESG Reporting and Fundamentals of GRI Reporting for shorter introductions to these topics.

Cost: $595
Time to complete: 12 hours
Training format: On-demand e-learning, reading
Key topics covered: Introduction to Sustainability Reporting and the GRI Standards; Reporting with the GRI Standards

GRI Standards, Certified Training Course from the Center for Sustainability and Excellence

This highly interactive program provides an approach for effectively developing a sustainability ESG report in accordance with the 2021 GRI Universal Standards, aligning the report with various reporting frameworks, identifying the most important impacts, improving stakeholder engagement, developing high quality report content and communicating with the investor community.

Next start date: Nov. 20
Cost: Contact CSE for pricing
Time to complete: 14.5 hours across 3 days
Training format: Live online classes, on-demand videos, exercises, quiz
Key topics covered: GRI standards: GRI 1, 2 and 3, sector standards, topic standards; how to apply the in-accordance requirements; how to determine material topics; general disclosures; stakeholder engagement; reporting material topics; presenting reported information; leveraging the GRI process for ESRS reporting

GRI Standards Plus from ISOS Group

This live training experience covers the content from the first two courses required for GRI certification. ISOS Group also offers free online GRI study sessions, live versions of the Reporting on Human Rights with the GRI Standards and Integrating the SDGs Into Sustainability Reporting courses, and live training on additional GRI and reporting topics.

Next start date: Nov. 4
Cost: From $700
Time to complete: 2 days, 4 hours per day
Training format: Live online classes
Key topics covered: Introduction to Sustainability Reporting and the GRI Standards; Reporting with the GRI Standards

GRI Standards Reporting Pack from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants

This training pack includes all four courses required to achieve the GRI Certified Sustainability Professional credential. Students must successfully complete the four courses and then pass the exam administered by GRI Academy in order to earn the certification.

Cost: £600 British (approximately $785)
Time to complete: 16 hours
Training format: On-demand e-learning
Key topics covered: Introduction to Sustainability Reporting and the GRI Standards; Reporting with the GRI Standards; Reporting on Human Rights with the GRI Standards; Integrating the SDGs Into Sustainability Reporting

Sustainability Reporting with the GRI Standards from the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship

This course was developed to support sustainability professionals responsible for producing a sustainability report in accordance with the GRI standards. The action-oriented content provides practical steps for using the GRI principles to create a strategic, focused, credible and user-friendly report.

Cost: From $1,350
Time to complete: 17 hours
Training format: On-demand e-learning
Key topics covered: The five-part GRI reporting process; how to identify the activities and decisions to be made; what nonfinancial materiality is and why it matters; how to identify material topics for your organization; aspects vs. indicators; how best to meet the needs of your audiences; connections between GRI and other standards; GRI resources

CSRD and ESRS courses

These courses provide varying levels of instruction related to the ESRS and how to comply with the CSRD. As I mentioned in yesterday’s article, companies are required to complete a double materiality assessment to determine their reporting requirements, so all of the organizations listed here either include a module on double materiality or offer entire courses focused on it.

It’s also important to know what the standards are so that you can determine if an offering covers them in sufficient depth for your needs. The ESRS are likely to evolve over time but currently there are 12 standards — two cross-cutting standards and 10 topical standards:

ESRS 1 and ESRS 2 outline general reporting principles and disclosure requirements
E1-E5 are the Environmental standards
S1-S4 are the Social standards
G1 is the Governance standard

Deep Dive Into the CSRD & ESRS for Corporates from Greenomy Academy

This is part of a free five-course series that provides a robust introduction to the major components of the CSRD and ESRS. The other courses in the series include The EU Taxonomy and Sustainable Finance Reporting, Deep Dive on the Double Materiality Assessment, Deep Dive into the Gap Analysis for CSRD, and The Voluntary European Sustainability Reporting Standards for Non-Listed Small- and Medium- Sized Enterprises.

Cost: Free
Time to complete: 1 to 2 hours
Training format: On-demand e-learning, quizzes
Key topics covered: Who is subject to the CSRD, when do they need to comply and where?; What is covered by the CSRD?; double materiality; changes to assurance and auditing under the CSRD; ESRS templates and their implementation; how to get started

Introduction to the CSRD and Reporting with the ESRS from GRI Academy

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the CSRD and ESRS, including a discussion of the CSRD and its role in the sustainability reporting landscape, mastering ESRS fundamentals and the exact steps needed to prepare for your first reporting cycle. The course follows a real-life example of a company preparing for its ESRS reporting and shares its tips and tricks. The GRI Academy also offers a course on Stakeholder Engagement for ESRS Reporting.

Cost: €100 (approximately $110)
Time to complete: 2 hours
Training format: On-demand e-learning
Key topics covered: The CSRD and its place in the EU sustainability reporting landscape; introduction to the ESRS; preparation activities; case study on preparing for your first ESRS report

Introduction to the European Sustainability Reporting Standards from PwC Academy

This learning path comprises three individual courses designed to teach business professionals what the ESRS are and how to use them: Introduction to Cross-Cutting Standards Under the ESRS (ESRS 1 and ESRS 2), Introduction to Environmental Standards Under the ESRS (E1–E5) and Introduction to Social and Governance Standards Under the ESRS (S1–S4 and G1). This is part of a catalog of more than 50 courses on ESG topics developed by PwC for audiences in Central and Eastern Europe.

Cost: €120 (approximately $133)
Time to complete: 2.5 hours
Training format: On-demand e-learning
Key topics covered: How to categorize reporting areas and reporting layers under the ESRS; the difference between sector-agnostic and sector-specific standards; the relevant reporting areas under each environmental ESRS standard; the appropriate definitions of worker populations for each of the social ESRS standards

Unlocking ESRS for GRI Reporters from ISOS Group

This training is designed to help experienced GRI practitioners understand how to leverage their existing reporting processes and practices to report in accordance with the ESRS. The course provides examples, exercises and advisory tools to enable ESRS reporting.

Next start date: Nov. 21
Cost: From $250
Time to complete: 6 hours across 2 days
Training format: Live online classes
Key topics covered: The structure and key characteristics of the ESRS; how to leverage current reporting processes and practices; how GRI Standards and ESRS are aligned

Online Certificate on CSRD & ESRS Standards from Sustainability Academy

This course introduces the CSRD within the wider context of the EU Sustainable Finance Framework and covers the ESRS, double materiality and the transition from GRI to ESRS standards. Course content includes case studies and examples from the latest ESRS reports from companies such as Arla, SGL Group and Ørsted.

Cost: $470
Time to complete: 25 hours
Training format: On-demand e-learning
Key topics covered: CSRD goals and objectives; EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D/CSDDD); EU Taxonomy; Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR); the relationship among CSRD, SFDR and EU Taxonomy; CSRD application and compliance; external assurance; ESRS reporting schedule; double materiality overview, assessment and matrix; ESRS 1 and 2; topical standards; GRI vs ESRS; mapping ESRS topical standards with GRI

Certified CSRD E-Learning from CSRD Academy by Impact Institute

This course equips learners to initiate and execute CSRD projects within their organizations. Participants learn the ESRS disclosure requirements, how to conduct a gap analysis and set targets, how to assess double materiality, and how to develop a personalized CSRD action plan. This is part of a suite of offerings from the CSRD Academy that includes a free CSRD introduction course and a Certified CSRD Materiality Assessment E-Learning course.

Cost: €450 (approximately $500)
Time to complete: 10 hours
Training format: On-demand e-learning
Key topics covered: Unfolding the CSRD; CSRD project management; ESRS requirements; CSRD materiality assessment; environmental ESRS; social ESRS; governance ESRS; action plan & ESRS gap analysis; data management

CSRD Advanced from CSRD Institute

This is one of three trainings from the CSRD Institute, which also offers a free CSRD Fundamentals course and a CSRD Professional course that goes into additional depth on each topic, covers the alignment of the CSRD with other frameworks and provides implementation strategies.

Cost: €495 euros (approximately $554)
Time to complete: 4 hours
Training format: On-demand e-learning, quizzes
Key topics covered: History, structure and scope of the CSRD; entities required to report and reporting timelines; ESRS; double materiality including Impacts, Risks and Opportunities (IROs), materiality thresholds, Minimum Disclosure Requirements (MDRS), and value chain reporting; data collection, reporting and presentation for compliance

Advanced Course on CSRD from Earth Academy

This course is part of Earth Academy’s CSRD Hub, which also offers a live masterclass on Advanced Double Materiality and will be launching courses related to the 10 topical standards soon. All CSRD Hub participants receive access to SmartCSRD, a chatbot that can answer questions on the standards, and join a private LinkedIn group focused on standards updates. Higher levels of membership receive access to the Academy’s Double Materiality Tool and live support.

Next start date: The last class started Sept. 10; new dates will be announced soon.
Cost: €700 (approximately $781)
Time to complete: 10 hours across 2 days
Training format: Live online classes
Key topics covered: Structure of the ESRS; ESRS 1 and 2; topical ESRS; the reporting process; double materiality; stakeholders and their role in materiality assessment process; impact materiality; financial materiality; comparison of IFRS, TCFD, and GRI with ESRS

IFRS, SASB, FSA and TCFD courses

A bit of history is required to understand the offerings in this section. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, the IFRS Foundation became the steward of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Standards, the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) Framework, the International (IR) Framework and the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) Recommendations. The 2023 IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 standards leverage all of the assets under the IFRS Foundation’s management so some of the individual components no longer exist as independent tools. CDSB has been sunsetted, the TCFD has disbanded and the SASB Standards have become a valuable source of guidance for applying IFRS S1.

The Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting (FSA) Credential is a highly regarded, rigorous certification that was originally based on the SASB Standards; the FSA Level I materials have been updated to incorporate the new IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards and the updated FSA Credential Level II materials should be available in 2025. There are no prerequisites and anyone who registers for an exam is provided with self-study materials for free; however, several prep courses are available for those who desire the support.

While the TCFD website is no longer being updated, the recommendations are still an important component of the IFRS standards. The TCFD Knowledge Hub continues to host excellent free training on how to use the TCFD recommendations and conduct a scenario analysis, which are both still relevant skills.

Introduction to IFRS S1 and Introduction to IFRS S2 from the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation

The IFRS Foundation is developing an e-learning course for getting started with implementing IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 that should be released in the near future. In the meantime, the foundation has produced two free in-depth webinar explainers to assist practitioners with understanding the new reporting standards. The sessions include background on the drivers behind the development of the standards as well as detailed explanations of each requirement.

Cost: Free
Time to complete: 1 hour per course
Training format: On-demand video
Key topics covered: IFRS S1 General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information; IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures

SASB FSA Level 1 Prep Course from ISOS Group

This live 8-hour virtual training experience is designed to help candidates understand the key learning objectives of the updated FSA Level I course materials. Learners are encouraged to invest the estimated 20-plus hours of additional independent test preparation recommended by the IFRS Foundation prior to taking the Level I exam.

Next start date: Dec. 16
Cost: From $350
Time to complete: 2 days, 4 hours per day
Training format: Live online classes
Key topics covered: The need for sustainability disclosure standards; the sustainability information ecosystem; understanding the IFRS sustainability disclosure standards; corporate and investor use: going beyond disclosure

Online Certificate on SASB & TCFD Reporting-Alignment with IFRS S1-S2 from Sustainability Academy

This certification program enables learners to utilize both the SASB standards and TCFD recommendations when reporting on their organization’s sustainability performance. It also covers the ISSB Standards IFRS S1 and S2 and provides an understanding of how they streamline and strengthen the integration of sustainability into corporate reporting practices.

Cost: $590
Time to complete: 25 hours
Training format: On-demand e-learning, quiz
Key topics covered: Why SASB matters to investors; how to use the SASB standards; how to develop and build a climate change scenario; how to use the TCFD guidelines; ISSB standards; transitioning to ISSB & IFRS

IFRS Sustainability Reporting Standards (S1 and S2) from Earth Academy

The global version of this course features relevant case studies and hands-on exercises designed to equip learners with the knowledge and skills needed to effectively report in accordance with the IFRS Sustainability Standards. This is part of Earth Academy’s IFRS Hub which also offers a live masterclass and an updated FSA certification preparation program and will be launching country-specific training in Turkish, Portuguese, Spanish and Japanese soon. All IFRS Hub participants receive access to SmartIFRS, a chatbot that can answer questions on the standards, and can join a private LinkedIn group focused on standards updates.

Cost: €350 (approximately $390)
Time to complete: 6 hours
Training format: On-demand e-learning, exercises, test
Key topics covered: IFRS S1: general disclosure standards; IFRS S2: climate related disclosure standards; IFRS, SASB and CDSB

CDP courses

These courses are designed to help practitioners understand the history, process and scoring methodology of CDP. CDP previously offered three separate questionnaires for companies on climate change, water security and forests. These were consolidated into a single questionnaire in 2024. The CDP Full Corporate Questionnaire reflects the interconnected nature of these topics and eliminates questions that were duplicated across the different questionnaires. While these courses were developed when the questionnaires were separate, they would still be helpful to practitioners interested in learning about the underlying principles of responding to a CDP request.

CDP reporting series from Arizona State University

This three-part series includes Fundamentals of CDP Reporting, Intermediate CDP Reporting and Advanced CDP Reporting and provides an understanding of CDP, the climate change questionnaire and how disclosure reports are evaluated so that learners can generate quality reports and maximize scores. Keep an eye out for the updated version of these courses in the near future.

Cost: $29 per course
Time to complete: 1 to 2 hours per course
Training format: On-demand video
Key topics covered: Why report to CDP; key sections in the questionnaire; report format & question types; deciding to report to CDP; risks and opportunities; business strategy; emissions data and supply chains; reporting timeline and budget; understanding scoring bands; improving CDP scores; planning for improvement

CDP Practitioner from Earth Academy

This course provides insight into the CDP’s mission, organization and scoring methodology and gives practical examples of how to respond to key parts of the climate change questionnaire along with tips for responding effectively. This is part of Earth Academy’s School of Strategy and Sustainability Reporting, which also offers live masterclasses and a certification program.

Cost: €195 (approximately $215)
Time to complete: 1 hour and 15 minutes
Training format: On-demand e-learning
Key topics covered: CDP vision, mission & structure; key themes and mapping opportunities of CDP; boundary setting; sections and categorization of the climate change questionnaire; CDP scoring principles and their categories

CDP Reporting: Measure and Manage Environmental Impact from the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship

This course was developed to support sustainability professionals responsible for responding to an investor or customer disclosure request and is particularly helpful for those who are considering a decision to report or who are reporting for the first time. All four CDP reporting questionnaires are covered with special attention given to the climate and supply chain programs. This is one of many executive-level courses on ESG offered by the center.

Cost: From $1,350
Time to complete: 17 hours
Training format: On-demand e-learning
Key topics covered: The history of CDP; how to respond to a CDP questionnaire request; the four CDP programs; data verification for CDP; sectors; tips for achieving higher scores while saving time; deep-dives into the strategy, climate change metrics, stakeholder and supply chain sections

Join the conversation

I hope this article series has helped you find at least one great new resource to help you better understand and support the sustainability reporting and disclosure process. Remember, if I’ve missed one of your favorites or if you want to tell me about a resource that could be relevant to a future article, please join the conversation on LinkedIn. Until next time!