AA1000 Licensed Assurance Provider for the audit and verification of ESG / Sustainability reports, disclosures and public statements.

Introduction

Vysus is a fully licensed AA1000AS assurance provider for the verification of sustainability reports, disclosures and public statements. License number 000-534 - Issue 2021.

AA1000AS V3 Assurance Standard

The AA1000 Assurance Standard (AA1000AS v3) is the leading methodology used by sustainability professionals worldwide for sustainability-related assurance engagements, to assess the nature and extent to which an organization adheres to the AccountAbility Principles.

The AA1000AS v3 is a next generation standard for sustainability assurance that:

• Offers Principles-based Guidance rooted in the AA1000 Accountability Principles (2018) of Inclusivity, Materiality, Responsiveness, and Impact.
• Incorporates a Wide-angle, Integrated, and Forward-looking view of a company’s overall sustainability management, performance, and reporting practices.
• Ensures Flexibility, Accessibility, and Applicability by any organization, of any size, in any industry, anywhere in the world.
• Prioritizes the User Experience to be easy to read, simple to use, and clear in its objectives.
• AA1000AS can be used in conjunction with ISAE 3000, ISAE 3410 and ISO 14064-3
• To address specific requirements regarding the verification of GHG emissions, AccountAbility has published, Guidance on Assuring GHG Emissions with AA1000 V3.

Competency

• In accordance with recent revisions to the AccountAbility Licencing requirements, the Vysus team hold the mandatory AccountAbility Certified Sustainability Assurance Practitioner (CSAP) qualifications required by all Licenced Assurance providers to conduct licenced ESG assurance engagements after January 1st 2025.
• Our team of Auditors are IEMA Registered; 
• The team is led by an IEMA Registered Principal Auditor with over 30 years experience, 24 years within the international oil and gas industry.

Intended users / stakeholders

Intended user of this services are users or verified ESG Disclosures, report and publications:

• Institutional investors who have integrated sustainability criteria into their valuation and fund management methodologies;
• ESG ratings and rankings agencies and influencers of Investor Relations teams and C-level and Board discussion;
• Companies required to comply with EU disclosure requirements mandated by the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which includes data on GHG emissions;
• SEC Publicly quoted companies required to disclose climate-related risks that are likely to impact their business, including material Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions;
• Stock exchanges worldwide which are increasingly mandating listed companies to disclose their GHG emissions, aiming to bolster corporate ESG transparency and promote sustainable investment practices, in accordance with the UN Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) Initiative 

Application and compatibility

As noted, the AccountAbility suite of Principles and Standards is compatible with leading industry sector standards, references and Government guidance documents:

• IFRS (Previously, TCFD), SASB Guidance
• IOGP / IPIECA / API
• Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
• Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI)
• Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) public disclosure for investors
• HM Govt / Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting framework (SECR)
  ISO 14064 series
• UK Govt / NSTA Stewardship Expectations, SE 11 / ERAP
• OGA Governance Guidance
• GHG Protocol methodologies.
• API Industry Guidance

Relationship with statutory audits

Importantly, the AA1000 verification process can be used to support the statutory audit process:

• Where the auditor is required to pass comment on the non-financial information to the extent that it is / is not materially inconsistent with the financial statement.
• Where the auditor will not perform audit procedures on the underlying sustainability information.

Note: The Chief Financial Officer takes responsibility for what is included in the annual report. It is the CFOs responsibility to conduct or commission an appropriate internal review to ensure the accuracy of information included in the accounts - including sustainability disclosures. The Vysus AA1000 Licenced Assurance Provider can support this process.

Additional support - cloud services and managed audit programme

Where clients require additional support to plan and execute the annual audit, assurance and verification programme, we can offer this as a managed services in accordance with ISO 19011 specifications.

Additionally, we can offer the managed audit and assurance capability as a secure and reliable cloud-based service through our partnership with Siccar. 

Contact

Ian Thomas, Senior Principal Consultant, Vysus Group.

[email protected]

T: +441224 057 867

M: +447785 515 403