Best Practices for GHG Assurance

Join Catherine Beare, Regional Director of Business Assurance (UK & Iberia), and Nkiruka Ubah, Senior Consultant, Sustainability at Intertek Assuris, as they unpack the essentials of greenhouse gas (GHG) assurance. From regulatory expectations to real-world implementation, this episode dives into what companies need to know to build trust in their climate data and stay ahead of evolving standards. Whether you're just starting or strengthening your sustainability strategy, don’t miss these practical insights from two industry leaders.

Presenters:

• Catherine Beare, Regional Director - Business Assurance (UK & Iberia)
• Nkiruka Ubah, Senior Consultant, Sustainability, Intertek Assuris

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Transcript

Transcript- Best Practices for GHG Assurance

May 22, 2025

00:13 --> 00:42
 Speaker 1 – Catherine Beare, Regional Director - Business Assurance (UK & Iberia)

Hello and welcome to this podcast diving into GHG assurance best practice. I'm Catherine Beare, the Regional Director for Business Assurance in the UK and Iberia, and I'm delighted to be joined by--now let me see if I pronounce this right “Nkiruka Ubah”-- did I get it right?

00:42 --> 00:44
 Speaker 2 – Nkiruka Ubah, Senior Consultant, Sustainability, Intertek Assuris

Yes, Catherine, thank you so much.

00:44 --> 01:36
 Speaker 1 – Catherine Beare, Regional Director - Business Assurance (UK & Iberia)

Excellent.

So, Nkiruka is our Senior Sustainability Consultant for our Assuris business. Now, Nkiruka has been in the sustainability industry for over 10 years with much experience in both manufacturing and utilities, which she is now applying to the business that she consults for us with in Intertek.

Nkiruka, I would like us to get into the most pressing question in the minds of organizations and individuals worldwide looking to conduct third party GHG verification. So let's get right into it. Let's start with the simple basics. What is third party GHG assurance? and more importantly, why is it important?

01:36 --> 02:19
 Speaker 2 – Nkiruka Ubah, Senior Consultant, Sustainability, Intertek Assuris

Thank you, Catherine. Thank you for having me.

So third party GHG assurance or sometimes refers to as verification is an independent assessment of a company's GHG inventory by qualified external verifier. It ensures that the reporting emissions are accurate, complete or compliant with established standards, so it's important. 

The importance of a third-party verification lies in the ability to enhance the credibility and transparency of GHG reporting. It also helps to build stakeholder trusts and supports companies in meeting their regulatory requirements.

02:19 --> 02:35
 Speaker 1 – Catherine Beare, Regional Director - Business Assurance (UK & Iberia)

Excellent. Thank you for that.

Now, during GHG verification process, talk us through--what are the most common challenges that you have observed? and then how can they be addressed?

02:35 --> 05:05
 Speaker 2 – Nkiruka Ubah, Senior Consultant, Sustainability, Intertek Assuris

We've observed a few challenges, but for the most common, maybe I can highlight just a couple. The first will be with data collection and quality of the data--some organizations I've worked with, they struggle with resource allocation. So, when I speak of resource, I speak of allocating sufficient time and then personnel for data collection. 

So, when you're looking to have a GHG third-party verification, one of the things the verifier will be looking at is to ensure that the data you reported is accurate, and there's no way they can give that conclusion if you don't have the data to back up your emissions that was reported. It's essential that you assign sufficient time and personnel to gather the evidence that's required for the verification, so they can provide that to the Verifier as needed.

Another thing I'll say,I observed as a common challenge is with understanding GHG standards. To engage third-party verifiers, it is always a best practice to have an understanding of the GHG accounting standards, so you can review the GHG protocol or ISO 14064 to have the knowledge of what the verifier will be looking for and then you can provide those things.

This standard will enable you to understand what your scope and boundary should be. So, if you don't understand your scope and boundary, then it makes the engagement a little bit dicey. Understanding your accounting standard, enables you to know what should be included in your scope and also how to set up your boundaries--boundaries in terms of what are my organization or operational boundaries.  These boundaries determine what entity or activity you can cover in an inventory, such as if you have a subsidiary or a joint venture or leased assets. So what are the things that I have that I can put within my boundary or what could be excluded from that boundary. 

It's a good practice to disclose those things and also to state your rationale so the observer can go through and see the rationale for making those decisions, and also, if there are any exclusions or deviations, it's a good practice to provide justification for those exclusions.

05:05 --> 05:35
 Speaker 1 – Catherine Beare, Regional Director - Business Assurance (UK & Iberia)

I mean, I think that's a really good point you make on the rationale, I guess like with anything which involves, you know, verification and assurances, it's all about those steps that you take to explain your process, why you made that decision and what you do.

I mean, what's the difference then, between limited and reasonable level of assurance?
 You know, when it comes to GHG verification, please.

05:35 --> 07:48
 Speaker 2 – Nkiruka Ubah, Senior Consultant, Sustainability, Intertek Assuris

OK, I can speak of that.

So, in GHG verification, the level of assurance refers to the degree of confidence that the verifier has as relating to the accuracy of your reported data. For limited assurance, the verifier is providing a moderate level of confidence. So they're going to be providing a conclusion that nothing has come to their attention that causes them to believe the data was materially misstated. This level of assurance usually requires less extensive testing and is often quicker and less costly.

But for reasonable assurance, the verifier offers a higher level of confidence. They would affirm that the data was free of material misstatements. This is an affirmation for this level of assurance, but this requires more comprehensive testing and analysis and of course with that, more costly.

So, the choice between limited and reasonable assurance depends on factors like your stakeholder requirements. Your stakeholder might require you to either conduct a limited assurance or reasonable assurance. So, those are one of the things that you'll look at to decide what level of assurance to go for along with your regulatory obligations. And then the last thing might be your intended use, what will you be using the verification Statement for? That's one of the things that you might want to consider before deciding if to go with limited assurance or reasonable assurance.

In summary, if you've addressed a few of these things we've discussed, it can be very valuable to the GHG assurance process to ensure that the assurance process goes smoothly, that you are knowledgeable about the process and it will aid the verifier in going through the assurance as a breeze.

The one thing to note for GHG verification is that your verifier is here to work with you. So if you have questions or concerns, they are here to direct you or work with you to get that done.

07:48 --> 08:29
 Speaker 1 – Catherine Beare, Regional Director - Business Assurance (UK & Iberia)

OK, makes sense.

It's a good point you made there, though, on why you're looking at as well, and I guess that's not something I've thought of because when you know, I speak to hundreds of customers, as you know, on sustainability matters every day.

And I guess I'm always thinking, well, they're doing it because they want to prove it in the market. But it's a good point, it could be either legislation driven narrow to back up or to stop greenwashing.

08:29 --> 08:30
 Speaker 2 – Nkiruka Ubah, Senior Consultant, Sustainability, Intertek Assuris

Yes.

00:16 --> 01:19
 Speaker 1 – Catherine Beare, Regional Director - Business Assurance (UK & Iberia)

There’s a good point you make. There could be a number of reasons, not just because they want to put it as verified in their sustainability report.

Well, look, thank you Nkiruka!

That was so, so valuable that information because it is a complex topic and one we all know that businesses need to think through in terms of investment that they put in, the reason we've just talked about, of why they want to do it and then importantly, the investment that they will need to put in in terms of time to do this.

So thank you so much for making that clear to the audience today and and thank you for your time. Now, as a reminder, here's how Intertek can help you with GHG accounting.

Firstly, we can conduct your greenhouse gas inventory and perform the calculations so that you know what, your GHG starting point is, and you'll have a good understanding of what the process entails, as well as a spreadsheet template to use going forward.

Secondly, we can perform greenhouse gas and ESG assurance on your sustainability disclosures, providing you with a third-party assurance statement that you can share documenting your transparency and accuracy.

And finally, we can also help with your CDP reporting by giving you detailed assistance on the CDP questionnaire. 

Now, for more information, please do go and visit our website at: www.intertek.com/assuris/sustainability

So, that concludes today's podcast. Thank you so much again for listening in and do watch out for more episodes from the assurance team to help you with your sustainability journey. 

Thank you.