Building stakeholder confidence in public sustainability reporting

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The challenge

A respected Canadian mining company with operations throughout the Americas engaged Grant Thornton LLP (Canada) and the broader Grant Thornton International network to assist their internal audit team. Our objective was to assess the effectiveness of existing internal controls to ensure the accuracy and completeness of three key Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) metrics disclosed in their publicly-issued sustainability reporting.

The metrics—which were disclosed from operations across North, Central and South America—included:

water withdrawal
greenhouse gas emissions
proportion of spending on local suppliers

How we helped

We provided an actionable list of observations that included:

a description of each finding or observation
root causes of each observation
suggested remedies
identification of those responsible to remedy each observation

As advisors to executive management, we:

identified key opportunities for improved governance, oversight and control over the reporting of ESG metrics and sustainability reporting in general
offered insight into how existing deployments of control frameworks within the organization can be leveraged to provide additional assurance and comfort over ESG data reporting
provided direct feedback on the effectiveness of the design of current controls to ensure complete and accurate reporting of ESG metrics
benchmarked reporting formats against ESG reporting standards and other industry peers

The impact

ESG reporting helps to build trust and relationships with a range of stakeholders. Our collaboration with this client will provide additional comfort over the accuracy and completeness of reporting, and confidence in the information they share with the communities where they live and work.

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Building stakeholder confidence in public sustainability reporting

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Building stakeholder confidence in public sustainability reporting

The challenge

How we helped

The impact

What's your story?

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