As market and stakeholder expectations evolve and mandatory reporting requirements quickly approach, the ESG disclosures companies publish must be accurate, reliable, complete, and ultimately, ready for assurance to provide confidence in your business – including transparently reporting on climate action, social issues (e.g., diversity, equity, inclusion, respect for human rights and Indigenous reconciliation) and ethical governance practices.

Regulators are also working at pace to develop ESG-related disclosure rules/standards, including the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) and the US SEC climate change disclosure rules.

Depending on the jurisdiction, ESG disclosures may require limited or reasonable assurance, the latter having the same rigor demanded in your financial statement audit; we expect eventually many jurisdictions will require reasonable assurance. ESG assurance providers should have the same deep level of understanding of a company’s business model that is required for an audit of financial statements, which is generally the company’s external auditor. When financial statement auditors also provide assurance over ESG information, it can help eliminate redundancy in work performed, better understand interrelations between financial and non-financial information reported, and lead to cost efficiencies in preparing both types of reporting.

Considerations for your leadership team

  • Are your business functions - governance, people, process, technology and data - optimized to deliver the next generation of ESG reporting and assurance?
  • Are your ESG metrics and reported performance against targets accurate and complete? Have you undertaken the necessary internal reviews to ensure the reliability of the reporting information? Is the information verifiable to be subject to assurance?
  • Have you established a clear timeline for the assurance process? Is your ESG data ready for third-party assurance?
  • What processes and controls do you have in place to learn from the assurance process and continually enhance your ESG reporting and assurance practices?
  • Have you considered how to effectively integrate the assurance of your ESG reporting with your financial statement audit, ensuring a comprehensive overview of your business for key stakeholders?

KPMG’s capabilities in disclosure and assurance-related services make it a strong shortlisting candidate for businesses that are at the readiness stage for complying with regulations. Furthermore, KPMG’s global footprint will be a benefit to firms with cross-jurisdictional operations and complex disclosure requirements.

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Climate Change Consulting 2023

How we can help our clients

KPMG assurance professionals can help bridge the gap and provide assurance across a wide range of sectors, frameworks, and metrics to ensure that you can meet the requirements mandated by regulators and expected by stakeholders. Our teams stand ready to serve the public interest in providing ESG assurance over what truly matters.

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KPMG in Canada’s portfolio of ESG assurance services aims to meet the needs of a variety of organizations. This can include ISO & forestry certification, assurance over quantitative indicators included in sustainability or integrated reports, GHG inventory, carbon neutral/net-zero claims, and performance targets for sustainability linked loans. We can help our clients by providing KPMG-led workshops on ESG assurance and our Ready for Assurance services, prior to undergoing an assurance engagement.

Our ESG assurance combines our extensive audit and assurance experience with a strong understanding of ESG matters to provide you with high-quality assurance projects.

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