Board and C-Suite Sustainability Governance Training
A one-day briefing written for directors and senior management rather than for practitioners. Sustainability reporting has moved from a voluntary communications exercise to a disclosure that is regulated, will be assured, and carries the same director accountability as any other statement the board approves. The governance requirement is explicit: IFRS S1 asks an organisation to describe the body responsible for oversight, how it is informed, how often it considers these matters, and how it sets and monitors targets.
The session is built around the questions a director should be able to answer and the questions a director should be asking. It is short, non-technical where it can be, and specific where it matters: what has to be minuted, which committee should own what, what competency the board is expected to have, and how to read a sustainability report critically enough to spot the numbers that will not survive assurance.
HRD Corp SBL-Khas Claimable
Course at a Glance
| Duration | 1 day |
|---|---|
| Delivery | Physical or online. Tell us your preference when you enquire. |
Programme Agenda
9:00 AM - 9:15 AM
Welcome and Session Overview
Introduction, objectives, and housekeeping.
9:15 AM - 10:15 AM
What Changed and Why It Reaches the Board
The shift from voluntary sustainability statements to a regulated disclosure regime under Malaysia's National Sustainability Reporting Framework, with assurance following. Director responsibility for the accuracy of disclosed information, the interaction with the Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance, and the reputational and regulatory consequences of a disclosure that cannot be supported.
10:15 AM - 10:30 AM
Break
10:30 AM - 11:10 AM
The Governance Disclosures and What They Demand
What IFRS S1 and S2 require the organisation to say about its own governance: the responsible body or individual, how responsibilities are reflected in terms of reference and mandates, how the body ensures it has the appropriate skills, how often and through what channel it is informed, and how it oversees target-setting and monitors progress. Reading those requirements backwards into the board calendar, the committee charters and the minutes.
11:10 AM - 11:50 AM
Structure, Competency and Delegation
Where oversight should sit: full board, audit committee, risk committee, or a dedicated sustainability committee, and the trade-offs of each in a Malaysian board of typical size. The relationship between the audit committee's oversight of assured information and the sustainability committee's oversight of strategy. Board competency expectations, how boards are closing the gap, and the role of management's sustainability lead in briefing the board honestly.
11:50 AM - 12:30 PM
Strategy, Targets and Remuneration
Setting sustainability targets the board is willing to be held to, including the difference between a target, an ambition and an aspiration in disclosure terms. Capital allocation and transition planning. Linking sustainability metrics to executive remuneration: what works, what invites gaming, and what an investor will look for in the disclosure.
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
Lunch
1:30 PM - 2:05 PM
Climate Risk, Scenario Analysis and Transition Plans
What directors need to understand about climate-related risks and opportunities, how scenario analysis works and where its limits are, and how to judge whether a transition plan is credible, funded and consistent with the targets the company has disclosed.
2:05 PM - 2:40 PM
Assurance, Controls and the Audit Committee
Bringing sustainability information under the same discipline as financial reporting: internal controls over sustainability data, the role of internal audit, preparing for external assurance as it is phased in, and what the audit committee should ask before sign-off.
2:40 PM - 3:15 PM
Greenwashing and Disclosure Liability
How overstated or unsupported sustainability claims create legal, regulatory and reputational exposure for the company and its directors, and the review steps that stop a marketing claim or a report statement running ahead of the evidence.
3:15 PM - 3:30 PM
Break
3:30 PM - 4:10 PM
Reading a Sustainability Report Critically
A structured set of challenge questions a director can put to management: where did this number come from, what is estimated, what changed from last year and why, what did we exclude from the boundary, what would our assurance provider question, and what are we claiming that we cannot evidence. Worked through against a sample disclosure.
4:10 PM - 4:45 PM
Board Simulation: Approving the Sustainability Statement
Participants sit as a board reviewing a draft sustainability statement and its supporting pack, challenge management on the numbers and claims, and decide what must change before they approve it.
4:45 PM - 5:00 PM
Wrap-Up and Q&A
Key takeaways and close.
Key Outcomes
- Explain the board's accountability for sustainability disclosures under Malaysia's reporting framework
- Describe what the governance disclosures require and how the board calendar and minutes must evidence it
- Decide where oversight should sit across board and committee structures and why
- Assess the board's own competency gap and the options for closing it
- Set targets and remuneration linkages that are defensible to investors and assurance providers
- Apply a structured set of challenge questions when reviewing a sustainability report
- Judge whether scenario analysis and a transition plan are credible and consistent with disclosed targets
- Oversee controls and assurance readiness for sustainability information
- Recognise greenwashing risk before a statement is approved
Training Mode Physical / Online / Hybrid / e-learning
HRD Corp SBL-Khas Claimable
Level Board and senior management level, suitable for directors, audit and risk committee members, chief executives, chief financial officers and company secretaries
Duration 1 Day (8 Hours) | 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Venue In-house at the client's premises, or delivered via the client's preferred platform (Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or equivalent)
Assessment Facilitated case discussion; no written assessment
Certificate Certificate of Completion issued to all participants upon full attendance