Thanks Marizabel, for responding
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In my opinion, While it is true that certain countries required the sustainability report to be assured / Validated by third party, the scope of validation is often to identify the information is consistent, logical or otherwise. Seal of assurance (or the so-called Certification) is a mechanism to ensure people are not green washing or over claiming with their SR.
But the bigger question will be if what is being reported is actually a good indicator of sustainable company. For example, a bank has a SR report that highlighted and detailed how much they have helped local children in Africa to access to clean water as part of their SDG commitment. The data is legitimate and verified / assured by a third party such as the Big 4. While this is good work, I would be not very confident to equate that with a sustainable organisation, for the reason that the project is not part of how the company operates.
Perhaps the above is more focus on external project. Another example: let’s say a company is selling solar panel. They disclosed that they are treating their employee well and have reported how they practice safety in all their operations and also trying to invest in circular economy in their product and packaging. What they have claimed is correct and truthful, assured by a third party. But those are the items that they have chosen to disclose to be validated. It is no surprise that there are still more than half of public do not trust sustainability report as mentioned in GRI research back in 2020 here:
https://www.eco-business.com/news/public-faith-in-sustainability-reports-is-rising-globally-but-more-than-half-of-people-still-dont-trust-company-claims/
The reality is that no company would want to shoot their foot and expose themselves to the potential of greater scrutiny for watchdog by fully telling what is wrong.
Perhaps some company would actually be wanting to be honest about everything. But ESG Certification such as B Corp, Fairtrade, LEED, Cradle to Cradle, would offer a much reliable option. Firstly, ESG Certification body set an independent standard and measure company against the standard. This will effectively prevent company to select whatever methodology that highlight their advantage, but may not be universally good. Next, company go through third party audit, which companies may not have as much control over what are to disclose or not to disclose. Lastly, company will be punished by having their certification revoked if there is a bridged of the established standard. This will ensure the continuation of their commitment, and not just on a paper.
But of course, happy to hear opinion of the others as well on this matter. Let’s learn from each other.
