From the Inside Out.
"Greenwashing is the fastest way to destroy the credibility that took years to build. Independent sustainability assurance is the only meaningful protection against it."
— Finerio ESG Assurance Practice
Your ESG Numbers, Independently Verified
Sustainability Assurance is the independent verification of a company's environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data and disclosures — the same concept as a financial statements audit, but applied to non-financial information. Just as investors need to trust your profit figures, they increasingly need to trust your carbon emissions, water usage, gender pay gap, and board governance disclosures.
In the UAE, sustainability reporting is gaining significant regulatory momentum. The DFM and ADX require listed companies to publish Annual Sustainability Reports aligned to international frameworks. The UAE's Net Zero by 2050 strategic initiative and the UAE Corporate Sustainability Reporting framework are driving mandatory disclosure requirements. ADGM and DIFC are developing sustainability-linked regulatory frameworks aligned to IFRS S1 and S2 — the new ISSB standards.
Finerio provides sustainability assurance services — independently verifying your ESG metrics, sustainability disclosures, and climate-related financial disclosures — ensuring they are accurate, complete, and reported in accordance with applicable frameworks including GRI, SASB, TCFD, and ISSB/IFRS S1 & S2.
Sustainability assurance by the names your stakeholders use
Investors, regulators, and sustainability professionals describe this service using a range of terms — all referring to independent verification of non-financial ESG disclosures.
What We Deliver
Comprehensive sustainability assurance — from data verification to full sustainability report assurance and climate disclosure support.
Key Activities in Every Sustainability Assurance Engagement
What Finerio does to verify your ESG disclosures — from data collection assessment through to assurance conclusion.
Materiality Assessment Review
We review your sustainability materiality assessment — confirming that material ESG topics for your industry and stakeholders are identified and included in reporting, in line with applicable framework requirements.
Data Collection Process Review
We evaluate how sustainability data is collected, processed, and recorded — assessing the reliability of internal data systems, the competence of data owners, and the controls over data quality.
Metric Verification & Recalculation
Key reported metrics are traced to source data — energy invoices, waste manifests, HR records, operational logs — and recalculated to confirm accuracy of totals and year-on-year comparisons.
Methodology Assessment
We assess appropriateness of calculation methodologies — GHG Protocol for emissions, location-based vs market-based electricity accounting, boundary definitions for Scope 1, 2, and 3 — against applicable framework guidance.
Disclosure Completeness Review
We review the sustainability report against the disclosure requirements of the applicable framework (GRI Standards, SASB, ISSB/IFRS S1 & S2) — identifying gaps, omissions, or areas where disclosure is inadequate.
Management Enquiries
Structured enquiries with sustainability, operations, HR, and finance teams on material ESG topics, data changes, and methodological decisions made in the reporting period.
Assurance Conclusion Preparation
We prepare the assurance conclusion in the required format — limited assurance or reasonable assurance — along with any findings, observations, or recommendations for inclusion in the sustainability report.
Recommendations Report
A confidential management report with practical recommendations for improving data quality, disclosure completeness, and sustainability reporting processes — supporting continuous improvement year on year.
Questions we hear from clients every week.
Plain-language answers to the most common questions about sustainability assurance in the UAE.
Sustainability assurance matters for the same reason financial audit matters: numbers without verification are just claims. As ESG data increasingly influences investment decisions, lending terms, and regulatory filings, the credibility of that data depends on independent verification. Without assurance, your sustainability report is a marketing document. With assurance, it is a credible disclosure that investors, regulators, and counterparties can rely on. Greenwashing allegations — even inadvertent ones — cause significant reputational and financial damage. Assurance is the most effective protection.
Limited assurance is the standard for most sustainability reports today — the assurer concludes that nothing has come to their attention indicating material misstatement. It is less intensive and less expensive than reasonable assurance. Reasonable assurance provides a positive conclusion based on more extensive testing — equivalent to a financial audit. For most UAE companies starting their assurance journey, limited assurance is the appropriate and proportionate first step.
IFRS S1 (General Requirements for Sustainability-related Financial Disclosures) and IFRS S2 (Climate-related Disclosures) are the new sustainability disclosure standards issued by the ISSB in June 2023 — the sustainability equivalent of IFRS for financial reporting. The UAE has signalled strong support for ISSB adoption as part of its sustainable finance agenda. ADGM and DIFC are developing implementation frameworks. Listed companies and regulated entities in the UAE should begin preparing now — the transition will have significant implications for reporting processes and assurance requirements.
Greenwashing is overstating or misrepresenting a company's environmental or sustainability credentials — through inaccurate data, cherry-picked metrics, misleading narrative, or omission of negative information. Independent sustainability assurance prevents it by: (1) verifying reported metrics are calculated accurately and consistently; (2) confirming material topics are included, not omitted; (3) reviewing narrative for consistency with underlying data; and (4) applying professional scepticism that management's own review cannot provide. Assurance creates accountability for what is published.
Yes — this is one of our most common engagements. We help with the full journey: (1) Materiality assessment — identifying which ESG topics are most material; (2) Framework selection — GRI, SASB, TCFD, or ISSB; (3) Data architecture — designing data collection for emissions, energy, HR metrics, and governance; (4) First sustainability report preparation; and (5) Assurance of the first report. Starting early gives you the most time to improve data quality before disclosure becomes mandatory.
Starting your ESG journey?
Whether you need to verify an existing sustainability report, build ESG reporting capability from scratch, or prepare for ISSB disclosure requirements — we are your specialist partner in the UAE.