Here are some interesting excerpts from Mr. Seiderstein’s comments on the topic of sustainability assurance:

“The IAASB is dedicating significant energy to have a sustainability assurance standard for limited and reasonable assurance engagements complete by the end of 2024. A global baseline of high-quality assurance standards, like reporting standards, should greatly improve confidence in sustainability reporting. Our ultimate aim must be achieving a level of quality and consistency for assurance, similar to financial audits, that delivers trust and confidence in what companies report.”

“In developing our proposed new standard, now titled International Standard for Sustainability Assurance (ISSA) 5000, General Requirements for Sustainability Assurance Engagements, we are drawing on those concepts and other relevant audit concepts to provide a comprehensive standard. When final, the standard will allow a practitioner to do an end-to-end engagement, will work with multiple reporting frameworks (such as that of the International Sustainability Standards Board, the Global Reporting Initiative, and others), and will be practitioner agnostic --that is, both audit firms and non-audit firms could apply the standard.”

“We also know that time is of the essence as demand for the standard is growing. We are making solid progress on its development and will issue a final standard by December 2024. We will publish the draft standard for public comment in Q3 of this year and then launch an intensive outreach campaign across the global to a full range of stakeholders to ensure we have feedback and input from a range of” those who will use the standard, and those who will rely on the assurance engagement's conclusion.”

Re­view the full interview  on JICPA’s website.