Course Specification — Tier 1: Supplier ESG Essentials

Programme: ZAYAZ Supplier Programme · Tier: 1 — ESG Curious Brand: EcoWorld Academy (co-branded: "Brought to you by [CLIENT NAME] via EcoWorld Academy") Course ID: SP-T1 (assign AC-code per EcoWorld convention at production start) Status: Spec v1.0 — for production

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1. Purpose & positioning

Tier 1 is the front door of the Supplier Programme. Its job is not to teach ESG in depth — it is to:

1. Disarm a supplier who arrived defensive ("another compliance demand from a big customer").
2. Reframe the invitation as an opportunity: this programme comes with your invitation, free to you — used well, it's a chance to strengthen your position with this client and every future one. (Deliberately implied, never asserted: we make no claims about the client's motives or intentions.)
3. Orient them: what ESG means in supplier terms, why clients ask, what's in it for them.
4. Motivate progression to Tier 2 by making the five-tier journey visible and desirable.

Tier 1 deliberately contains no data work. Task-oriented help (client assessment, basic reporting) lives in the two ungated quick-start guides; Tier 1 points to them but never duplicates them.

2. Learner profile

• SME supplier employee, typically owner/GM, finance, quality, or sales — rarely a sustainability role.
• Invited by a client via the ZAYAZ invitation email; holds a free-tier ZAYAZ account (basic ESG reporting + client assessment).
• Likely emotional starting point: wary, time-poor, possibly resentful. May have already completed the quick-starts — or stalled on them.
• No assumed ESG knowledge. No assumed regulatory knowledge. English not necessarily first language → plain language throughout, short sentences, defined terms.

3. Learning objectives

By the end of Tier 1, the learner can:

1. Explain E, S, and G in concrete supplier-business terms (not buzzwords).
2. Describe why their client is asking — the regulatory cascade (CSRD → CSDDD → Scope 3) in one plain-language paragraph.
3. Name at least three commercial benefits of ESG maturity for their own business.
4. Describe what their ESG score is, roughly how it forms, and what their client sees.
5. Locate the two quick-start guides and their free-tier tasks in ZAYAZ.
6. Name the five programme tiers and what completing each one unlocks.

4. Format & runtime

• Delivery: On-demand Synthesia video modules (presenter + screen elements), self-paced. No livestream. Optional monthly live Q&A advertised at wrap-up (not required for completion).
• Total runtime: ~34 minutes of video + ~5-minute knowledge check. Hard ceiling per module: 6 minutes.
• Presenter: Nils (consistent with AC2605 convention) or dedicated programme presenter — decide once, applies to all five tiers.
• Fallback texts: m001.md–m008.md per module, stored in R2 ecoworld bucket under fallback_text/SP-T1/.

5. Module breakdown

#	Module	Runtime	Purpose
m001	Welcome — why your client invited you	4 min	Disarm + reframe
m002	ESG without the buzzwords	5 min	Core concepts in supplier terms
m003	Why clients ask — the regulatory cascade	5 min	CSRD/CSDDD/Scope 3, plain language
m004	What's in it for you	4 min	Commercial upside for the supplier
m005	Your ESG score and what your client sees	5 min	Score mechanics + visibility
m006	Your free tier — the two tasks waiting for you	4 min	Bridge to quick-starts + free-tier tasks
m007	The road ahead — five tiers, five wins	4 min	Journey map, Tier 2 teaser
m008	Wrap-up + knowledge check	3 min + quiz	Consolidation, completion

m001 — Welcome: why your client invited you

• Key message (first 90 seconds, verbatim intent): "This programme comes included with your invitation — at no cost to you. What you do with it is yours to keep: the skills, the data, the score. Suppliers who use it well strengthen their position — with this client, and with every client after them."
• Framing rule (applies to all five tiers): never state or imply what the client's motives or intentions are. The upside is framed as the supplier's opportunity, not the client's promise. (A client may be benchmarking, auditing, or evaluating alternatives — nothing in our copy may age badly if the relationship ends.)
• Set expectations: ~35 minutes, self-paced, free, finishing unlocks Tier 2.
• Acknowledge the skepticism directly ("if this feels like one more customer demand — fair. Give us half an hour to change your mind").
• No ESG content yet. Pure framing.

m002 — ESG without the buzzwords

• E, S, G each defined through one concrete supplier example: E = energy bill and waste skip; S = your people, safety record, and how you treat your suppliers; G = who decides, who checks, and whether your paperwork matches reality.
• Explicitly kill the myth "ESG is for big companies": the data big companies must report is supplier data.
• One-line takeaway: ESG is a structured way of describing how your business already runs.

m003 — Why clients ask: the regulatory cascade

• Plain-language chain: EU rules (CSRD) make large companies report → most of their footprint sits in their supply chain (Scope 3) → due-diligence rules (CSDDD) make them responsible for it → so they must ask you.
• Crucial framing: your client isn't choosing to burden you; the law flows downhill. This shifts blame off the client and preserves the relationship framing from m001.
• Do NOT go deeper than this. No article numbers, no ESRS references, no thresholds. Tier 2+ territory.

m004 — What's in it for you

• Three commercial benefits, each with a mini-scenario: (1) Winning and keeping business — tenders increasingly score ESG; being invited means you're already ahead of uninvited competitors. (2) Cheaper money — banks and insurers price ESG maturity. (3) Answer once, share everywhere — the E-C-O Number means the work you do here serves every client, not just the one who invited you.
• Honest note (keeps credibility): this takes real effort; the programme exists to make the effort pay off more than once.

m005 — Your ESG score and what your client sees

• What forms the score at free tier (assessment answers + basic reporting data), directionally how it moves, and — critically — what the client's dashboard shows: score + tier badge ("Tier 1 — ESG Curious" → "Tier 2 — Data Gatherer" …).
• Transparency builds trust here: no hidden scoring, show the actual client view on screen.
• Motivator: an improving score is visible progress your client sees without you sending a single email.
• ESG Data Snapshot (Tier 2 pre-work bridge): a ~5-minute in-platform mini-form, not a PDF — "tick off which of these you already have somewhere": energy bills, fuel/vehicle records, HR headcount & safety records, waste invoices, water bills, written policies, certificates. No values entered, only have/don't-have/don't-know. Tier 2 (Supplier Data Foundations) auto-populates its starting checklist from this snapshot, so the supplier opens Tier 2 already half-begun. Encouraged in-video and required before the Tier 2 checklist personalizes — but NOT part of the Tier 1 completion gate (quiz only; keep the gate low-friction).

m006 — Your free tier: the two tasks waiting for you

• Screen-run tour (short — the quick-starts own the detail): where the client assessment lives, where basic reporting lives, where the two quick-start guides are.
• Explicit hand-off: "If you haven't done your client assessment yet, pause here — the quick-start takes ten minutes and your client is waiting for it."
• This module is the only one that will need re-recording when ZAYAZ UI changes → keep presenter segments and screen segments in separate scenes for cheap re-cuts.

m007 — The road ahead: five tiers, five wins

• Journey map graphic: ESG Curious → Data Gatherer → Target Setter → Impact Driver → Ecosystem Leader.
• One sentence per tier on what you do and what completing it proves to your client.
• Tier 2 teaser: "next, you'll get your first real dataset live — the moment your score starts moving."
• State the unlock rule plainly: finish the knowledge check → Tier 2 opens immediately.

m008 — Wrap-up + knowledge check

• 60-second recap of the three big reframes (your opportunity, not just an obligation / law flows downhill / answer once, share everywhere).
• Advertise optional monthly live Q&A.
• Launch knowledge check.

6. Knowledge check (completion gate)

• 10 questions, drawn from a 20-question bank (2 per learning-objective area), single-best-answer.
• Pass mark 80%, unlimited retakes, instant feedback with a one-line explanation per answer (feedback teaches; the gate is deliberately low-friction).
• Question style: scenario-based where possible ("A client asks for your energy data. Which part of ESG is this?") — never regulatory trivia.
• On pass: completion event → Tier 2 unlocked → tier badge updates on client dashboard → congratulation email with Tier 2 link (email copy is a production asset, see §8).

7. Branding & localization

• Co-branding: header/intro slide "Brought to you by [CLIENT NAME] via EcoWorld Academy"; [CLIENT NAME] as white-label variable per existing kit convention. All other brand elements standard EcoWorld: Arial, #2D6A4F, #EAF4EE/#B7DFCA accents.
• Languages: produce master in English; Synthesia-translate to the invitation-language set. Tier 1 ships in all invitation languages at launch (it is the programme's first impression); screen-run scenes (m006) reuse the English UI capture with localized voiceover unless localized UI exists.

8. Production asset checklist (per EcoWorld course kit)

Asset	Notes
Architecture MDX	This spec converts to it
Video scripts × 8	Synthesia-ready, scene-split (presenter vs screen scenes in m006)
Fallback texts m001–m008.md	R2 fallback_text/SP-T1/
Quiz bank (20 Q + feedback lines)	Tagged by learning objective
Journey-map graphic	Reused across all five tiers + marketing
Completion email copy	Congratulation + Tier 2 CTA, per language
Facilitator guide (light)	For the monthly live Q&A host
ESG Data Snapshot form spec	In-platform mini-form (m005); field list + have/don't-have/don't-know schema; feeds Tier 2 starting checklist
No workbook / no XLSX tools	Deliberate — the Snapshot is an inventory, not data entry

9. Success metrics

• Activation: % of invited suppliers starting m001 within 14 days of invitation.
• Completion: % of starters passing the knowledge check (target ≥ 60% — Tier 1 is designed to be finishable).
• Progression: % of completers starting Tier 2 within 30 days.
• Task effect: client-assessment completion rate of Tier 1 completers vs non-starters (validates the m006 hand-off).
• Drop-off per module → identifies which module to re-cut first.

10. Open decisions before scripting

1. Presenter: custom Synthesia avatar of Nils ("mini-me") if the avatar quality passes review; otherwise a dedicated stock Synthesia avatar. Decision pending avatar test — locks in for Tiers 2–5. Scripts can be written now; presenter choice doesn't affect copy.
2. Exact invitation-language list at launch.
3. Whether the client dashboard shows tier badges in real time or as milestone notifications (affects m005 script and screenshots).