Professional Certificate in Nature and Biodiversity Reporting

Both, and more. The programme is built around the four places nature now has to be reported — TNFD first, because it sets the assessment method the others draw on — and treats them as one system:

• TNFD (Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures) recommendations and the LEAP assessment process — locate, evaluate, assess, prepare (Module 05), carried through the boundary, priority-location and DIRO modules.
• GRI 101: Biodiversity 2024 (Global Reporting Initiative) — disclosure by disclosure (Module 06), with GRI 102 and GRI 103 for the climate–nature nexus (Module 17).
• ESRS E4 Biodiversity and Ecosystems and its connected disclosures, in the 2026 edition of the ESRS (Module 19).
• IFRS S1 (General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information), its climate connections and the ISSB's nature-related developments (Module 20).

Module 21 then assembles one integrated nature disclosure package that satisfies all four, and Module 22 tests it against greenwashing rules and assurance readiness. The global policy frame — the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, rights, and access and benefit-sharing — sits in Module 04.

The 23 core modules total about 145 hours of guided study on the authors' own module estimates — reading, case pages, applied activities and knowledge checks — plus three assessed assignments. The six optional sector laboratories add around 22 hours for learners who want their own industry worked through.

We state study hours rather than a CPD figure because the curriculum does not carry an accredited CPD allocation. If your professional body accepts self-certified learning hours, the module estimates and your Studio activity record are the evidence to use.

Yes. The ESRS content follows the revised ESRS as adopted in 2026 (the edition that replaces the 2023 delegated act), GRI 101 is the 2024 standard, and the TNFD material follows the published recommendations and LEAP guidance. Each module names its sources and the boundaries of what it covers.

Where a standard changes between reviews, the Studio's expert support desk and the Mistake Coach surface the relevant updates in the affected modules.

Neither is required. Module 00 orients you in the nature-related reporting landscape, and Modules 01 to 04 build the conceptual foundation — the reporting object, ecosystem services and dependencies, drivers of biodiversity loss, and the global policy frame — before any framework-specific work begins.

Ecologists and environmental scientists can move quickly through the science and spend their time on the reporting craft; experienced reporters can do the reverse. The AI Tutor adapts depth and pace to the experience level you set in your Learning Profile.

Take this course if nature and biodiversity is the specific capability you need — you are leading a TNFD-aligned assessment, answering GRI 101 or ESRS E4 in depth, or your investors and lenders are asking location-specific nature questions. ESRS E4 is one module here; the other eleven ESRS standards belong to the Certified ESRS (CSRD) Applied course.

Take the Full Stack programme if this is your first reporting cycle or you need the complete reporter foundation across GRI, ESRS and IFRS S1/S2 — and add nature afterwards. Alumni Club members take this course at 30% off. See the Full Stack programme page for the full picture.

Either way, completing on a Live Cohort, 1:1, Applied Practice or Deep Review route makes you a member of the LRA Alumni Club — 30% off any future LRA course — for life (Guided Flex routes don't unlock Club membership).

Every module ships its own working templates — a reporting-object worksheet, a framework and tool selection matrix, boundary and priority-location worksheets, a DIRO register, a data-architecture and controls map, a target-setting template and the integrated disclosure-package outline — alongside two running cases, Northland and HarbourBank, worked on every module.

Email lra@reporting.academy and we'll send the current template list for your enrolment route.

On Guided Flex, most learners work through the core modules over five to seven months at roughly five to six hours per week; a focused learner on a deadline can compress that. The course is about 145 hours of material, but the applied work on your own boundary, locations and register takes the additional time.

On 1:1 Expert Mentorship, the same depth is typically reached faster because mentor sessions accelerate the applied work on your own assessment, against your own organisation's sites, value chain or portfolio.

Dr. Ross Kurinko or a senior LRA mentor, subject to mentor availability. The mentor kickoff session (a separate scheduled call before regular sessions begin) captures your reporting context and is used to assign the best-fit mentor for your route.

Your mentor engagement starts and finishes within six months of purchase. Studio access continues for the full 12-month term in parallel.

Yes — the LRA Alumni Club. When you complete this course on an engaged format (Live Cohort, 1:1 Expert Mentorship, Applied Practice or Deep Review) you become a member of the LRA Alumni Club for life — no expiry from the day you graduate. See the full Alumni Club section on the Full Stack programme page.

Guided Flex doesn't unlock the Club — that's deliberate. The Club is reserved for learners who chose an engaged format (live time, mentorship or applied work).

1:1 Expert Mentorship — Applied Practice is an upgrade of the 1:1 Expert Mentorship route. It adds a consulting layer on your real working documents — your reporting-boundary memo, priority-location screen, DIRO register, metrics and baselines, draft TNFD / GRI 101 / ESRS E4 disclosures. Mentor + practitioner-consultant in one engagement.

This work happens outside the Studio platform — via email, file-share and scheduled mentor sessions under explicit NDA. The Studio learning environment stays standard; your documents are not uploaded to the platform — we work them as files. Across 10 × 1.5h sessions, the mentor reviews your documents before each call and works with you on improvements during.

Choose Applied Practice if you are leading an active nature assessment or reporting cycle right now and want senior-practitioner judgement applied to your real materials — not just the frameworks.

Yes — there are three ways in.

1 · Through your employer (apprenticeship-led). If your team genuinely needs ESG reporting capability — a finance or sustainability function, a listed or private company, or a consultancy — ask your employer to:

1. Search ST0934 (Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Practitioner) on the GOV.UK Find apprenticeship training service.
2. Shortlist 3–5 approved training providers.
3. Ask each: "Can you deliver ST0934 with a specialist ESG Disclosure / Sustainability Reporting pathway, using London Reporting Academy as a delivery partner?"

The provider gets in touch with us and enrols you — they handle the apprenticeship administration and all programme logistics, and London Reporting Academy delivers the specialist teaching.

2 · Apprenticeship funding & an official Level 4 pathway (employer-led). If your organisation already wants to use apprenticeship funding and the official Level 4 standard, we work with approved apprenticeship providers as a specialist ESG Disclosure delivery partner — get in touch and we'll connect you.

3 · Direct / self-funded. Individuals and companies who'd rather train directly, without apprenticeship funding, can start straight away — the routes and pricing above apply.

Every LRA curriculum is reviewed monthly. We re-read it against the standard or regulation it teaches — ESRS and EFRAG guidance, IFRS S1 & S2, GRI and the jurisdictional rules each course covers — and revise the material whenever something has actually moved. A month in which the standard didn't move is a month in which the course doesn't change; the review still happens.

The date of the most recent review is shown on this page — in the header and under the course outline. It's a record rather than a badge: it moves only when a review has been done, and it is removed rather than quietly carried forward if one lapses.

Because every route runs inside the Study Studio, a revision reaches everyone with active access — there's no superseded edition to be stuck on.

No academic-style multiple-choice exam. Across every route, assessment is built around applied disclosure work: you draft, structure and defend disclosures the way you'd produce them in a real reporting environment.

• On every route, your homework is reviewed by people — by the LRA team on Guided Flex, Live Cohort and Corporate Programme, and by your mentor on 1:1 Expert Mentorship. Along the way, the Studio's AI feedback flags missing data, weak logic and thin evidence in your drafts, and the Mistake Coach groups gaps by topic.
• On 1:1 Expert Mentorship, your mentor also reviews your disclosure drafts line by line in private sessions. Live Cohort adds live online sessions with senior LRA mentors in a shared group, and a Corporate Programme is delivered to your team by a senior trainer.

GRI Standards Certified Training follows the GRI partner format — see the GRI course page.

Private sessions move you from theory to your own reporting context. Depending on your goals and the mentor kickoff (a separate scheduled call before regular sessions begin), they typically include:

• clarifications on standards, regulations and disclosure requirements
• line-by-line review of your programme and course disclosure drafts and assignments
• discussion of real-life reporting examples and best practice
• personalised assignments and feedback
• additional materials, templates and resources
• support with developing an ESG reporting roadmap
• advice on data collection, validation and stakeholder communication
• adaptation of the curriculum to your specific industry, region or learning objectives

Sessions are normally held online so learners across time zones can join. For London-based learners, in-person 1:1 sessions at our Canary Wharf, London office can be arranged by prior agreement, subject to mentor and room availability.

You get immediate Studio access plus a dual onboarding sequence:

• Studio onboarding — the same flow as Guided Flex. Your Learning Profile (role, sector, jurisdiction, reporting context, preferred output language) feeds the AI Tutor.
• Mentor kickoff — a separate scheduled call with Dr. Ross Kurinko or a senior LRA mentor (subject to mentor availability) before regular sessions begin. The mentor captures your real objectives, current draft work and organisational challenges, and tailors the rest of the route around them.

After kickoff you receive a scheduling link to book sessions at times that work for you. You can begin and complete your mentor engagement within six months of purchase.

Yes. Format upgrades from Guided Flex to 1:1 Expert Mentorship are available on an individual basis — your Studio progress and Learning Profile carry over, so you keep the work you've already done and layer mentor sessions on top.

Email lra@reporting.academy to review options for your enrolment.

Standard Studio access is 12 months — usually comfortable, since the materials are concise and applied rather than padded.

If life intervenes, contact lra@reporting.academy: a further 12-month extension is available for 25% of the original fee.

Yes. The Study Studio and AI Tutor read and reason in eight languages — Arabic, English, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Russian, Spanish.

Your output language is set in your Learning Profile, so explanations, drafts and feedback come back in your preferred language. Standards quotations and regulatory text are preserved in their official versions; everything else adapts.

Yes — two discounts on the standard course fee:

• Self-funded individuals — if you're paying personally rather than through a company or organisation, you can request a 20% discount. Email lra@reporting.academy before you enrol.
• Groups — when three or more people from the same organisation enrol on the same course, the group qualifies for 20% off, regardless of who settles the invoice.

The two don't stack — the maximum on any enrolment is 20%. Three self-funded colleagues enrolling together get 20%, not 40%.

This is a simple headcount discount on a standard course — not the Corporate Programme. The Corporate Programme is a bespoke engagement: tailored materials, a dedicated trainer and scoped delivery. A group discount just means several people from one organisation taking the same standard course. See the Corporate Programme →

Yes — and it's interest-free, with no charge for spreading the cost. As a rule of thumb, fees up to £1,000 are split into two payments, and larger fees step up on the same basis — broadly one further instalment for each additional £1,000 or so. We'll confirm the exact split for your course and fee — email lra@reporting.academy and we'll set up your plan.

Your first payment confirms your enrolment and opens your Study Studio access straight away. Each subsequent instalment is normally due one month after the previous due date, according to the payment schedule agreed with you.

Instalment plans follow the same cancellation rules, pro-rata to the amount paid — see the refund question below.

14-day cancellation right. If you haven't yet entered the Study Studio, you can cancel within 14 days of purchase for a full refund (UK consumer statutory right under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013). Email lra@reporting.academy.

Once you enter the Studio, that statutory right ends — at checkout you give explicit consent to immediate digital access. After that, refunds are at LRA's discretion, considered on individual circumstances.

• 1:1 Expert Mentorship — your mentor engagement starts and finishes within 6 months of purchase. If LRA can't assign a senior mentor and schedule your kickoff within roughly four weeks, the mentorship component is pro-rata refunded (Studio access stays for its full 12-month term). Sessions not commenced within the 6-month window lapse; extensions by written agreement only.
• Live Cohort — if a cohort doesn't run, the cohort layer is fully refunded or rolled to the next intake (Autumn / Spring). Studio access stays.
• Instalment plans — same rules, pro-rata to the amount paid.
• Corporate Programme — governed by your enrolment agreement.

Postponements (extending Studio access rather than refunding) can usually be arranged — contact us before opening a refund case.

Full terms: Terms of Use §8. Governed by the laws of England and Wales.