Independent ESG and GHG assurance, limited and reasonable, under ISAE 3000, ISSA 5000 and ISO 14064-3. Built around the assurance practitioner's working papers, evidence files, and reproducibility your regulator and your board will rely on.
ESGweise issues independent ESG and GHG assurance opinions, limited and reasonable, under ISAE 3000, ISSA 5000 and ISO 14064-3, for banks, listed companies and government-related entities across the GCC. Where your assurance will come from your auditor or another provider, we run assurance readiness instead: a pre-assurance review and an evidence file built to the standard they will test against.
Assurance and audit services
Each engagement is sized to scope, criteria, and risk, and built to survive a regulator, auditor, or sceptical board reviewing the evidence file line by line.
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ESG limited assurance (ISAE 3000 / ISSA 5000)
Selected GRI, IFRS S1/S2, ESRS, or BRSR disclosures. Common scope: 10 to 20 KPIs, 1 to 3 entities, prior-year baselining, full evidence file, signed assurance statement.
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GHG assurance (ISO 14064-3)
Scopes 1, 2, 3 inventory verification with method walk-through, base-year recalculation review, and assurance opinion suitable for SLL covenants and disclosure.
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Supplier ESG audits
On-site or remote audit programmes for high-risk suppliers, EcoVadis-aligned questionnaires, evidence sampling, and remediation tracking.
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Social audits (SA8000, SMETA, amfori BSCI)
Pre-assessments against SA8000, SMETA and amfori BSCI criteria, supplier audits against a buyer's own code, and corrective action plans tracked to closure rather than to submission.
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ESIA and social impact assessment
Environmental and social impact assessment and scoping for GCC projects, including stakeholder engagement and the IFC Performance Standards a lender will assess the project against.
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Energy audits (EN 16247 / ISO 50002-1)
Site-level energy audits at walk-through, detailed or investment-grade depth. Baseline consumption, significant energy uses identified, and savings measures costed and ranked by payback rather than listed.
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Chiller and district cooling audits
Chiller plant efficiency measured in kW per refrigeration tonne against design, part-load behaviour, approach temperatures and control sequences. In Gulf buildings cooling is usually the largest single electricity load, so it is the first place to look.
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Assurance readiness
For reports your auditor or another firm will assure. A pre-assurance review against ISAE 3000, ISSA 5000 or ISO 14064-3, the evidence file and working papers the assurer will ask for, and a dry run of their procedures.
Assurance or readiness, never both on the same work. We issue assurance opinions, and we prepare companies for assurance by others. Independence rules mean we do not assure information we helped prepare, so for any subject matter and reporting period a client gets one or the other.
How does an ESG assurance engagement run?
In four stages: data review, verification against source records, risk-based testing, and a signed limited or reasonable assurance statement.
Each stage has a defined deliverable. The evidence file grows throughout, so by the time the assurance statement is signed, every number has a traceable source.
Data Review
Scope definition, boundary confirmation, source document collection, and calculation methodology walkthrough.
Verification
Substantive testing against source data, recalculation checks, cross-referencing to financial and operational records.
Testing
Risk-based procedures, materiality application, exception logging, and management representation.
Assurance Statement
Signed limited or reasonable assurance opinion: auditor-grade, suitable for disclosure and regulatory submission.
Six things a good assurance file contains
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Documented scope & criteria
Clear assurance subject matter, criteria reference (GRI/IFRS/ESRS/protocol), assurance level, and reporting boundary.
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Independence & ethical compliance
Engagement letter, independence assessment, and team competence documentation aligned with IAASB ethics standards.
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Risk-based procedures
Materiality determination, risk assessment, and procedures designed to address identified risks of material misstatement.
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Evidence file
Source documents, calculation spreadsheets with audit trail, system queries with timestamps, walk-throughs, and management representation letters.
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Working papers
Procedure-by-procedure documentation, evidence cross-references, exception logs, and conclusion-mapping.
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Signed assurance statement
Signed by an assurance practitioner with the credentials and oversight to defend it.
Which standard applies to which engagement?
The subject matter decides it: ISO 14064-3 for a greenhouse gas statement, ISAE 3000 or ISSA 5000 for wider sustainability information, and the reporting framework sets the criteria the data is tested against.
- ISAE 3000 (Revised), IAASB: the general standard for assurance on non-financial information, used for ESG KPIs and sustainability reports.
- ISSA 5000, IAASB: the overarching sustainability assurance standard, for assurance on sustainability information for periods beginning on or after 15 December 2026.
- ISO 14064-3: the specialist standard for verifying and validating greenhouse gas statements, Scopes 1, 2 and 3.
- AA1000AS v3, AccountAbility: an alternative sustainability assurance standard built on the AA1000 principles of inclusivity, materiality, responsiveness and impact.
- GHG Protocol, GRI, ESRS and IFRS S1/S2: reporting frameworks. They are the criteria the data is assured against, not assurance standards.
- OGMP 2.0: the methane measurement and reporting framework for oil and gas companies.
For a side-by-side comparison, see ISO 14064-3 vs ISAE 3000 vs ISSA 5000.
UAE climate regulation & verification
The UAE's mandatory verification regime is where assurance and regulation meet. Primary-source analysis of what the law requires of a verifier.
Assurance: questions we hear most
Does ESGweise issue assurance opinions?
Yes. ESGweise issues independent limited and reasonable assurance statements under ISAE 3000 (Revised) and ISSA 5000, and GHG verification opinions under ISO 14064-3. For companies whose sustainability information will be assured by their statutory auditor or another provider, we offer assurance readiness instead.
What is assurance readiness?
A pre-assurance engagement for companies whose sustainability report or GHG inventory will be assured by someone else, often their financial auditor. We test the disclosures against the standard the assurer will use, whether ISAE 3000, ISSA 5000 or ISO 14064-3, build the evidence file and working papers they will ask for, and run a dry run of their procedures, so findings surface before the real engagement rather than during it.
Can the same firm prepare our data and then assure it?
No, and a credible provider will tell you so. Independence requirements for assurance practitioners rule out assuring information the practitioner helped prepare, because it would mean reviewing its own work. For any given subject matter and reporting period, a client gets either our assurance opinion or our readiness work, not both. Where a group needs both, they are scoped to different subject matter or periods, after an independence assessment.
What is ESG assurance?
ESG assurance is an independent engagement in which an assurance practitioner tests selected sustainability disclosures against defined criteria and issues a signed opinion. ESGweise delivers ESG assurance under ISAE 3000 (Revised) and the new ISSA 5000 sustainability assurance standard, covering GRI, IFRS S1/S2, ESRS, or BRSR disclosures. Every number in the assurance statement is backed by a traceable evidence file built to survive regulator and board scrutiny.
What is the difference between limited and reasonable assurance?
Limited assurance provides a moderate level of confidence and involves fewer, less intensive procedures. Reasonable assurance is a higher level of confidence, closer to a financial audit, requiring more extensive testing and evidence. ESGweise delivers both under ISAE 3000 and ISSA 5000, scoped to your criteria, risk, and the level your regulator or investors expect.
What is ISSA 5000 and when does it take effect?
ISSA 5000 is the IAASB's new global standard for sustainability assurance, designed as a single overarching standard usable across frameworks such as GRI, ESRS, and IFRS S1/S2. It is effective for assurance on sustainability information for periods beginning on or after 15 December 2026. As regulators and exchanges across the GCC tighten disclosure expectations, ISSA 5000 is becoming the reference standard for credible, audit-ready ESG assurance.
How is GHG assurance under ISO 14064-3 different from ESG assurance?
GHG assurance under ISO 14064-3 is a specialised verification of a greenhouse gas inventory: Scopes 1, 2, and 3: including a method walk-through, base-year recalculation review, and an assurance opinion. It focuses specifically on emissions data and the GHG Protocol calculation methodology, whereas ESG assurance covers a broader set of sustainability KPIs. ESGweise produces GHG opinions suitable for sustainability-linked loan covenants and regulatory disclosure.
Do banks and listed companies in the GCC need ESG assurance?
Increasingly, yes. Sustainability-linked loans often require independent assurance of the underlying KPIs, exchanges such as ADX, DFM, and Tadawul are tightening disclosure expectations, and the UAE's verification regime under Cabinet Resolution 67 of 2024 requires a MOCCAE-authorised verifier for emissions on the national carbon register. ESGweise provides independent assurance for banks, listed companies, and government-related entities across the region.
Send us the disclosures you want assured.
Tell us the KPIs, the reporting period and the standard your stakeholders expect. We confirm whether it is an assurance or a readiness engagement, the level of assurance and a fixed fee.