Show your sustainability story is real
Environmental, Social, and Governance considerations have moved from nice-to-have to business-critical.
Investors, regulators, customers, and employees expect businesses to demonstrate sustainability commitments with clarity and credibility—not just aspirational statements but verified performance.
The challenge is that anyone can publish a sustainability report filled with impressive targets and carefully selected metrics. What stakeholders increasingly demand is independent assurance that your ESG disclosures are accurate, complete, and fairly represent your performance.
Transparent and independent ESG reporting builds trust, strengthens reputation, and attracts capital from investors who increasingly integrate sustainability into their decision-making. Poor or unsupported disclosures, conversely, risk regulatory scrutiny, reputational damage, and missed opportunities with stakeholders who care about responsible business practices.
We provide independent verification of your non-financial reporting, helping you demonstrate accountability, whilst identifying opportunities to strengthen your ESG performance and reporting.
Publishing sustainability information and need to prove it's credible? Let's discuss how ESG assurance can strengthen your stakeholder relationships.
Why independent ESG assurance matters right now
For years, businesses could publish sustainability reports without verification and stakeholders generally accepted the information at face value. That era is over.
Companies making real progress on sustainability struggle to differentiate themselves from those engaging in sophisticated greenwashing. Without independent assurance, even accurate ESG reporting may be received with scepticism.
The regulatory environment is also tightening. Climate-related disclosures are becoming mandatory for many New Zealand businesses, and assurance requirements are following.
The consequences are real:
- We've seen New Zealand businesses lose investment opportunities because sustainability-focused funds couldn't verify ESG claims.
- We've watched companies face customer backlash when sustainability marketing wasn't backed by assured data.
- We've also seen the opposite—businesses that invested in ESG assurance found that doors opened with investors, B2B customers became more confident committing to long-term relationships, and employee recruitment improved because sustainability credentials were independently verified.
Beyond stakeholder confidence, ESG assurance often reveals opportunities to strengthen sustainability performance. The process of preparing for assurance forces rigorous thinking about data collection, metric definitions, and control processes. Many organisations discover that their ESG data governance needs improvement—insights that help them manage sustainability performance more effectively whilst improving reporting quality.
Getting ahead of these trends positions your organisation advantageously rather than scrambling to meet minimum standards when regulations arrive.
Ready to turn your sustainability story into a verified competitive advantage? Contact UHY Haines Norton to discuss how ESG assurance can open doors with investors, customers, and employees
We provide independent verification
Our Sustainability & ESG Assurance services provide independent verification across the non-financial reporting that matters to your stakeholders:
ESG and sustainability disclosures covering the full range of environmental, social, and governance metrics you report, ensuring that disclosed information fairly represents your actual performance and is prepared using appropriate methodologies.
Climate-related disclosures aligned with frameworks like TCFD, verifying greenhouse gas emissions calculations, climate risk assessments, and transition plans that stakeholders increasingly expect from responsible businesses.
Framework alignment helping you report against recognised standards including GRI, SASB, or integrated reporting frameworks, with assurance that your reporting actually meets framework requirements rather than cherry-picking convenient disclosures.
Data quality and controls assessment examining the systems and processes that generate ESG data, identifying where controls should be strengthened to improve reliability, and providing recommendations for enhanced data governance.
Board and audit committee support helping governance bodies understand ESG risks and opportunities, evaluate the adequacy of sustainability reporting, and fulfil their oversight responsibilities around non-financial disclosures.
We tailor our approach to your reporting maturity and stakeholder expectations, offering limited or reasonable assurance depending on what level of verification makes sense for your current circumstances.
How this benefits your business
- Credibility through independent assurance that gives confidence to investors, regulators, and other stakeholders who need to trust that your sustainability story is accurate and complete.
- Compliance by staying ahead of evolving ESG disclosure requirements in New Zealand and globally, positioning you advantageously as regulations tighten rather than scrambling to meet minimum standards.
- Clarity as assurance processes highlight both strengths and areas for improvement in your reporting, providing actionable insights about where data governance and disclosure quality can be enhanced.
- Confidence strengthening stakeholder trust through transparent and reliable communication about your sustainability performance, differentiating genuine progress from greenwashing.
- Value positioning your business as forward-looking and responsible, making you more attractive to capital providers, customers, and employees who increasingly prioritise sustainability in their decisions.
Wanting independent verification for your sustainability reporting? Give us a call to see how we can help you.
What working with us looks like
- Understanding your reporting: We start by understanding your sustainability reporting, which frameworks you're using (GRI, SASB, TCFD, etc.), the stakeholders who rely on your disclosures, and what level of assurance makes sense for your current situation.
- Assessing data collection: We examine your ESG data collection processes, testing the controls and systems that generate sustainability information.
- Testing methodologies: This includes reviewing calculation methodologies (how you measure emissions, for example), source data quality, and the governance around non-financial reporting.
- Two levels of assurance: For limited assurance engagements, we focus on plausibility and consistency—does this make sense and hold together? For reasonable assurance, we perform more extensive testing similar to financial statement audits.
- Collaborative problem-solving: Throughout the engagement, we maintain practical communication about findings, working collaboratively to resolve data quality issues or control gaps as they emerge.
- Dual purpose: Our goal is both to provide independent verification and to help you strengthen your sustainability reporting capabilities for the future.
- Business-focused reports: Our assurance reports clearly communicate what we tested, what level of assurance we provided, and any qualifications or emphasis matters stakeholders should understand. We write for business audiences, not just sustainability specialists.
- Clear value communication: We ensure that the value of assurance is clear to investors, customers, and other stakeholders who rely on your ESG disclosures—not buried in technical jargon.
- Timeline expectations: Most ESG assurance engagements run two to four months from planning to final report, depending on scope and complexity. We align with your sustainability reporting cycle and stakeholder deadlines.
Ready to strengthen the credibility of your sustainability reporting? Contact UHY Haines Norton to discuss how ESG assurance can build stakeholder trust and differentiate your business as a responsible leader.
Sustainability is about building resilient, future-ready businesses that stakeholders want to support. Independent ESG assurance gives you the confidence to communicate your impact with integrity, turning sustainability commitments into credible competitive advantages.
