Factors associated with the decision to assure GHG information, and choice of assurance provider

What is it about?

Recently there has been a dramatic increase in the public reporting and assurance of broad ranging sustainability information covering multiple nonfinancial elements. In addition to this, there has been greater public reporting of organizations’ single element greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The growth of GHG reporting ultimately resulted from the heightened awareness of global warming among investors, stakeholders, and regulators, as well as the growing number of countries mandating the reporting of GHG emissions.

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Why is it important?

As more and more companies publish this information, it follows that there is a growing reliance on independent assurance of these nonfinancial reports; consequently, two major types of publicly available assurance engagements have evolved: assurance on the broad-ranging subject matter of sustainability reporting and assurance of an organization’s report of their GHG emissions. Many studies have examined the assurance of the broader sustainability subject matter; however, there is limited research examining the more defined and specific GHG emissions assurance engagements, as this paper does.