Benchmarking the Credibility of FTSE 350 Sustainability Reporting and Assurance

 

Smart Sustainability (part of Carbon Smart, Ltd.) is launching a report identifying best practice  sustainability and carbon assurance in the FTSE 350.

 

The event will include a roundtable discussion with investors, reporting companies and assurance professionals. 


Date & time:  24 March 2010, 18.30-20.30 (registration – 18.00)

Location:  BAT Headquarters, Globe House, 4 Temple Place, London, WC2R 2PG

Cost:  Free

 

Sponsored by: BAT, Barclays, BP, DEFRA, the Chartered Insurance Institute and SAP


In collaboration with: FTSE, SAM and AccountAbility


Attendance to the event is by invitation only. If you wish to receive an invite or for more information, contact esther.rodriguez@smartsustainability.co.uk.

 

 

Research Project Background

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. This has placed greater attention on external assurance as a mark of credible CSR disclosure.

 

Currently over 60% of FTSE100 sustainability reports, including carbon data, have been assured by a third party. By making external assurance part of their criteria, sustainability indices such as FTSE4Good and the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) have helped drive this increase in assurance.

 

As sustainability assurance becomes the norm, the past five years have seen a proliferation of assurance models. Currently, companies are choosing from or combining different models, including 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. To address this deficit, Smart Sustainability is currently working on a study of assurance practices with the goal of creating benchmarks for credibility.

This research seeks to establish clear criteria for credible assurance engagements. The challenge is to both identify existing best practices and drive future increases in transparency and credibility. Our goal is to create a straightforward ranking system that highlights leaders in the field. To this end, we have assembled a panel of assurance experts to develop benchmarking criteria and convened this workshop to gather input and feedback from the investment community.

Smart Sustainability’s assurance research project is jointly funded by BAT, Barclays, BP, DEFRA,
SAP, the Chartered Insurance Institute and Reed Smith. In addition, we are collaborating with FTSE, AccountAbility and SAM.

 

 

sponsors

 

 

For more information, download the project description, our November workshop results or a word from our sponsors.  Contact: esther.rodriguez@carbonsmart.co.uk.