Benchmarking Sustainability Assurance

 

Smart Sustainability’s new report suggests that the carbon and sustainability data put out by FTSE 350 companies is lacking in credibility. Currently, companies are choosing from independent third party verification, stakeholder panels, internal audit statements and celebrity endorsements. A lack of standardisation has led to confusion among stakeholders and investors about what is best practice.


The study was carried out by Smart Sustainability and sponsored by Defra, Barclays, BP, BAT, CII, SAP and BPR Group. It benchmarks the assurance of sustainability reports in response to investor demand for a way to compare the credibility of sustainability reports. It identifies a need for harmonisation and transparency in assurance and questions why some companies, especially in high impact industries, do not externally verify their carbon data. With responsible investment expected to grow to $26.5 trillion in the next 5 years, credible sustainability reporting has never been more important.


Investors are increasingly using sustainability and carbon emissions data to make investment decisions or market predictions. Still, a troubling number of companies fail to report or verify carbon data. If investors would never accept non-verified financial data, this report questions why they would accept non-verified carbon data.


If you are interested in receiving a copy of the full report, please contact Louise Quarrell on
+44 20 7940 8279 or louise.quarrell@carbonsmart.co.uk.


To view media coverage of the report please click here.