In today’s business landscape, fostering long-term environmental and social values has become integral to corporate performance, and ensuring transparency and credibility in ESG and other non-financial data is increasingly critical. This shift is particularly evident in rapidly growing economies where sustainable business practices are increasingly tied to market competitiveness and investor confidence. In response to stakeholder demand for a specific sustainability assurance standard, the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) has issued the International Standard on Sustainability Assurance (ISSA) 5000 framework, which serves as a new global baseline standard for assurance providers to bring further comparability and increased confidence in reported sustainability information.
At KPMG, we are highly conscious of our responsibility in striving to deliver ESG assurance that can serve the public interest. KPMG’s portfolio of ESG Assurance services aims to meet the needs of a variety of organisations, whatever their level of maturity, industry focus or need.
Our service offerings include:
- KPMG-led workshops to provide an overview of ESG assurance and the current reporting landscape and highlight what clients need to do to get ready for assurance
- Readiness assessments to ensure clients have the right processes, procedures, and controls in place to allow ESG data to be assured
- External assurance of reported ESG metrics and disclosures (including green bond/loan, financing statements) in line with ISAE 3000, ISSA 5000 or equivalent (limited or reasonable assurance, depending on stakeholder or regulatory needs)
- External assurance of reported greenhouse gas (GHG) statements in line with ISAE 3410 (limited or reasonable assurance)
Case study >>
A leading investor-owned power business with operations across Asia Pacific sought our services to provide limited assurance over their key ESG performance indicators and double materiality assessment process in accordance with ISAE 3000. In preparing the ESG information, the client also took multiple reporting frameworks into consideration, including the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) standards and was seeking to understand their conformity with the standards.
Leveraging our global network, we assembled a collaborative, international team of specialists from Australia, India, the Chinese Mainland, and Hong Kong SAR, combining deep energy sector knowledge with expertise in carbon accounting, financial and non-financial reporting frameworks. By incorporating regional and sector-specific expertise into our assurance process, we effectively targeted key assurance risks related to the metrics under review. As part of performing assurance over the client’s materiality assessment process, the assurance team evaluated the alignment of the materiality assessment process with relevant reporting frameworks and guidelines as well as the result of the materiality assessment with external information to provide confidence that strategic decisions are based on a robust assessment of material topics.
This assurance approach, combined with our team's extensive knowledge of evolving reporting standards, delivered valuable insights on standards alignment while enhancing the credibility and reliability of our client's ESG disclosures for their board, investors, and wider stakeholders.