Sustainability Reporting – Limited Assurance versus Reasonable Assurance

INTRODUCTION

The word “sustainability” is creating a buzz around the world these days. Everyone, including corporates, are echoing about adopting sustainable practices in conducting their business that creates sustainable, long-term shareholder, employee, consumer, and societal value by pursuing responsible environmental, social, economic and or governance strategies. There is an increasing need for companies to act more responsibly in sustainability-related issues due to pressures from their stakeholders. This increased pressure comes with a corresponding need for companies to report on their actions. As the stakeholders of companies do not have the opportunity to assess the credibility of the reporting themselves, the responsibility falls upon a third party to give assurance on the contents of the report. The assurance as such will be an important part in providing reliability to sustainability reporting. Regulators across various jurisdictions are coming up with requirements for sustainability reporting and assurance on sustainability reporting with different timelines.

REPORTING AND ASSURANCE FRAMEWORKS

On perusal of most annual reports, it can be sensed that the theme is increasingly based on sustainability. Not only is there focus on sustainability in the mes