ISO 53001 Internal Auditor
Training

Sustainability expectations are accelerating across regulation, investors, and customers. ISO 53001 provides a management-system backbone for SDG performance — while strengthening the discipline needed for consistent data, controls, and credible evidence.

— Stronger governance and accountability structures

— Better-quality sustainability data for confident decision-making

— A credible roadmap to ISO 53001 certification readiness

— Tangible performance improvements, including carbon footprint reduction

Built for the people driving sustainability performance

This course equips internal auditors, sustainability leads, and managers to evaluate whether SDG processes are effective, evidence-based, and improving — not just documented.

Internal auditors & quality/compliance professionals

Internal auditors & quality/compliance professionals

Sustainability & SDG programme owners

Senior managers — governance, risk & operations

Cross-functional teams in sustainability data & reporting

This is a 2-day, practical internal auditor course built around the tasks you’ll need to perform inside your organisation: planning an audit, testing effectiveness, evaluating evidence, and reporting findings clearly.

How the 2 days run

Short teaching blocks to explain ISO 53001 requirements and what “conformity” looks like in practice

Guided audit practice using realistic SDG management system scenarios (governance, planning, operations, performance evaluation, improvement)

Evidence evaluation drills to judge whether information is reliable, complete, and decision-useful

Audit writing practice: how to phrase findings, nonconformities, and opportunities for improvement so they’re actionable and certification-ready

Context translation time: map the learning to your organisation’s structure, risks, SDG priorities, and reporting pressures

What you’ll work with during the course

An internal audit plan structure (scope, criteria, sampling, interview plan, evidence list)

Example audit questions mapped to ISO 53001 themes (leadership & governance, objectives, operational control/value chain, KPIs, corrective action)

An evidence map showing acceptable evidence types—including when there is no formal “procedure” (dashboards, decision trails, meeting minutes, RACI, competence records, system logs)

What you will learn

Five structured objectives that take you from ISO 53001 fundamentals to real-world audit execution.

1. Outline the key requirements of ISO 53001

Understand the structure and intent of ISO 53001 and how it translates into audit criteria, questions, and evidence expectations across:

- Governance and leadership

- Planning and SDG objectives

- Operational control and value-chain engagement

- Performance evaluation and continual improvement

2. Apply the process model for internal SDG audits

Learn to audit SDG processes end-to-end, testing whether sustainability is managed consistently across departments. You'll gain the skills to:

- Break down organisational silos

- Align teams around shared SDG goals

- Audit SDG prioritisation, stakeholder inputs, target setting, delivery, and review

3. Audit effective implementation in context

Develop the capability to audit whether SDG processes work in the real world — accounting for your organisation's context, risks, and monitoring. You'll audit:

- Organisational context and stakeholder needs

- Risks and opportunities affecting SDG performance

- KPIs, baselines, targets, trends, and corrective actions

4. Audit processes with no documented procedures

ISO 53001 doesn't require a "procedure for everything." This objective shows you how to audit processes implemented without traditional documentation — without losing control or auditability. Evidence sources include:

- Records, dashboards, and system logs

- Roles/responsibilities (RACI), competence, and training records

- Meeting minutes, management review outputs, and decision trails

5. Audit leadership, communication, and evidence quality

Assess whether sustainability is truly led from the top and communicated effectively — so it becomes part of everyday decision-making. You'll identify evidence of:

- Leadership commitment and governance oversight

- Resourcing, accountability, and decision behaviours

- Internal and external communication consistency

What you leave with

By the end of the 2-day course, you will have:\n

A clear internal audit approach aligned to ISO 53001 requirements

A practical audit plan outline you can adapt for your organisation

Example audit questions mapped to key ISO 53001 clauses (governance, planning, operations, performance evaluation, improvement)

A simple evidence map showing what “good” looks like (including options when procedures aren’t documented)

Guidance on writing findings that support improvement and certification readiness

A strong internal audit function accelerates improvement. By auditing what matters — process effectiveness, data quality, and leadership behaviours — organisations move beyond reporting and achieve real results.

1. Increased awareness

Leadership awareness of sustainability's impact on environment, society, and long-term organisational success — grounded in ISO 53001 and key concepts including climate change, circular economy, and social responsibility.

2. Stronger audit capability

Cross-department collaboration for resource optimisation, improved ability to collect and analyse sustainability data, and deeper understanding of SDG relevance to business performance.

3. Embedded sustainability

Practical strategies to engage employees at all levels, tools for managers to adopt sustainable behaviours, and greater confidence evaluating environmental and social impacts in everyday business decisions.