Third Party Verification

From Open Sustainability

Activity: Third Party Verification

Objective

The use of a third party to review and provide assurance on all or part of the program may be required. There may be a mandatory industry requirement to have some of the data verified before making it available to a government department, such as carbon emissions under the EU ETS. Also in the voluntary space there is increasing scrutiny by the public in organizations that are calling themselves "green" or "sustainable". Some organizations are seeking assurance on data used to make any sustainable claims. As part of the stakeholder engagement process some groups may ask for verification. The use of a third party verifier can also be called for internally as a risk management tool.

Some examples of sustainability verifiers:

Sustainability/CSR Reports-

• Environmental Resources Management (ERM)
• PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)

Carbon Emissions-

• c:sense verification
  
• PwC

Environmental Management Systems-

• ERM Certification and Verification Services
  

• SAI Global
  

Social Issues-

Major Deliverables

• Assurance Statement
• Feedback report

Tasks

Scope of Assurance

Objective: Determing the scope of work for assurance is an important task. The standard chosen for verification will provide guidance on the information that needs to be assured. The scope of the sustainability program will also determine the boundaries of assurance.

Verification of key data

Objective: The sheer volume of data that is produced means that key indicators will need to be chosen to represent the project or the overall program. The chosen indicators should be meaningful and ones that the public may require greater confidence in, such accident rate or hazardous waste disposal. Do not just select the best performing indicators for assurance.

Assurance Audit

Input:

• Scope of work for assurance

Output:

• Feedback Report
• Assurance Statement

Core Supporting Assets

Yellow Flags

• Selecting a scope of work that is too narrow and does not accurately reflect the sustainability performance.
• Ensure that operations/regions that are more environmental and or socially sensitive are within the scope of work.

Key Resource Requirements

• External Auditing team, that includes:
  • Business Architect
  • Sustainability Architect