ESG and sustainability reporting and assurance

Future of ESG reporting and assurance

Canadian companies know their stakeholders expect environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations to be integrated across their organization. But meeting those expectations requires more than simply saying the right things about your sustainability initiatives—especially as jurisdictions around the world introduce new mandatory reporting requirements. Investors, customers, employees and regulators are demanding ESG reports that are relevant, measurable, verifiable and complete.

Satisfying these rapidly evolving expectations starts with a reporting strategy that integrates your corporate and sustainability priorities. This requires engaging stakeholders, pinpointing material ESG areas, articulating sustainability-related risks and opportunities, setting targets and establishing performance metrics.

For sustainability reporting to be useful for decision making, it needs to be trusted. And many investors are skeptical about the corporate sustainability claimsOpens in a new window they read. Companies need processes and controls around their data collection, calculations and reporting that allow them to disclose verifiable information.

Combining these measures with assurance from an independent auditor is a powerful way to increase confidence in your sustainability reporting.

Our integrated approach to investor-grade sustainability reporting

Reporting is at the heart of what we do.

At PwC Canada, we take a human-led and tech-powered approach to accelerating your journey toward trusted, investor-grade ESG reporting that complies with emerging mandatory disclosure standards and leading global frameworks.

We take a multidisciplinary approach to transforming your reporting function to meet your sustainability ambitions and comply with sustainability reporting standards and frameworks. To help you build confidence in sustainability reporting, we bring together an agile community of solvers made up of reporting advisors, accountants, data, technology and controls experts, climate and environmental scientists, supported by a global network of close to 10,000 sustainability professionals, including nearly 200 in Canada.

Working with PwC Canada gives you access to a diverse team of specialists backed by sustainability solutions developed through our Alliances with leading technology companies.

How we can help

Create a tailored, transparent story of your progress

We’ll help you establish a holistic reporting approach that aligns your processes, systems and controls. And we’ll work with you to establish metrics that align to your strategy, developing a tailored and transparent story of your progress toward your ESG goals and helping you to report in compliance with the spectrum of evolving regulatory frameworks. This lets you meet rising stakeholder expectations and better understand how your various sustainability initiatives are performing.

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ESG reporting advisory
ESG internal controls
ESG data and technology assurance
ESG assurance and assurance readiness
ESG supply chain advisory and assurance

ESG reporting advisory

Companies are under pressure to report progress against their ESG strategies and commitments. But many either don’t know where to start or struggle to move beyond a basic approach to reporting. We can help you benchmark your disclosures, assess mandatory and emerging regulatory requirements and develop an ESG reporting strategy that’s connected to your business strategy and purpose. Our ESG reporting advisory services include:

assessing your material ESG risks and opportunities
defining your ESG reporting ambition
aligning reporting strategy to strategic direction
designing and implementing transformation within reporting
complying with ESG reporting regulations

ESG internal controls

Establishing and implementing the right processes, data flows and internal controls over sustainability reporting sets the basis for compliant and strategic ESG reporting. Our ESG process, data and controls advisory services help you establish the rigor, consistency and reliability required by management, boards and capital markets participants who are increasingly using non-financial disclosures to measure a companies’ performance. Our ESG reporting process, data and internal controls services include:

ESG reporting governance and control environment assessments
COSO Internal Controls over Sustainability Reporting maturity assessments
current state, end-to-end process design and data process flow mapping and remediation
assessment of ESG controls at the site, regional and corporate levels
design, implementation, documentation and remediation of internal controls (manual and automated)
integration of internal controls within ESG data sourcing and reporting systems implementations
ESG internal audit services
ESG reporting technology optimization and solution readiness

ESG data and technology assurance

Trusted and scalable processes to collect and report ESG data let companies efficiently produce and validate external and internal reporting that’s reliable and accurate. We help provide transparency and assurance over the end-to-end lineage of data supporting ESG reporting and guidance on how to align with national and global regulatory standards and requirements. Our services include:

identifying and validating of data sources and assessing the completeness of data elements required for ESG reporting
end-to-end mapping of data processes, including supporting systems and IT dependencies, and identifying key underlying risks that could impact reporting
guidance on establishing appropriate governance and controls over decentralized data elements and using technology-based solutions to efficiently mitigate risks
guidance on optimal data structure and support with defined data quality indicators that improve the efficiency of reviewing data related to ESG disclosures

ESG assurance and assurance readiness

Let’s start with a conversation about where you are and where you should be. We’ll work with you to determine the level of sustainability assurance that matches the maturity of your reporting, delivering recommendations for getting you to the next level—whether you’re preparing for your first limited assurance opinion or looking for reasonable ESG assurance in line with your financial statement audit.

ESG supply chain advisory and assurance

New regulations, such as Canada’s modern slavery rules, coupled with rising consumer expectations and supply chain complexity, make it crucial to manage your supply chain risks and opportunities. Our ESG supply chain assurance and advisory services can help you avoid unexpected disruptions in your supply chain and manage risks and opportunities throughout the life cycle of your business. Our assurance services cover:

development and assurance of company-specific internal frameworks and programs to help manage keys risks and opportunities
assurance against industry initiatives and new regulations
social audits, including health and safety, child labour and forced labour
environmental audits, including deforestation assessments, GHG scope three climate assessments and mining framework alignment