BRSR Assurance: From Reporting to Reliable Performance – A Practical Industry View

As sustainability reporting becomes mainstream in India, the Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR) has fundamentally changed how companies communicate their ESG performance.

Yet as more disclosures appear, one key question remains: How reliable is the data behind the report?

This is where BRSR assurance plays a decisive role not as a sign-off exercise, but as a structured process to test, validate, and strengthen the systems that generate sustainability data.
When done with a practical, business-focused mindset, assurance evolves from a compliance requirement to a value-creation exercise.

The Real Gaps Practitioners See on the Ground

Across BRSR assurance engagements in manufacturing, infrastructure, and FMCG sectors, the most common challenges are not about intent but they’re about process and data maturity.

Fragmented data ownership: ESG data is often scattered across departments i.e. EHS, HR, procurement, CSR without unified accountability.
Manual records and inconsistent templates: Many organizations still rely on Excel trackers, increasing risks of duplication, data loss, and calculation errors.
Disconnect between sustainability and finance data: Material consumption, emissions, or waste numbers often fail to align with production or financial records.
Vendor and contractor blind spots: Supplier and contractor metrics particularly on environmental and labor indicators are frequently estimated or outdated.

Even a well-written report loses credibility if these foundational systems are weak. Reliability begins not in the report, but in the way, data is captured, reviewed, and owned.

Making Assurance Useful

The real value of assurance lies in strengthening internal controls and decision-making not in merely verifying data points.

A practical assurance approach focuses on five aspects:

System review before number checks: Before validating data, examine the underlying system. Are there SOPs, defined roles, version controls, and approval workflows? Weak systems will always produce unreliable numbers.
Cross-verification with operational records: Reported ESG indicators energy, water, waste, safety, or training should be tied back to operational documents such as purchase registers, utility bills, and safety logs. This traceability is the bedrock of credible assurance.
Year-on-year consistency checks: Sudden performance improvements (for example, a 40% reduction in waste) need validation. Sound assurance identifies whether such changes are due to genuine process improvements or data inconsistencies.
Supplier and contractor validation: In sectors like FMCG and construction, assurance must include supplier-level verification. Scope 3 and indirect data are only as good as the systems that collect them.
Linking findings to improvements: An assurance report should go beyond “reasonable assurance provided.” It should offer actionable insights by improving data ownership, documentation, and training so that internal teams can enhance processes over time.

How Assurance Drives Change — Industry Cases

Manufacturing: A recurring challenge is misalignment between production output and energy or emission data.
In one engagement, a manufacturing firm integrated its energy meters with production dashboards after assurance findings. The outcome: real-time visibility into carbon intensity per unit of output transforming an audit observation into an operational performance tool.
FMCG: Packaging-related data was often estimated by suppliers. Post-assurance, companies began using standardized supplier data templates, significantly improving traceability and accuracy in plastic and waste disclosures.
Infrastructure: ESG reporting used to focus only on completed projects. Through assurance interventions, firms started including contractor-level data (waste management, safety, emissions) during the construction phase, strengthening governance and oversight at project sites.

Embedding Assurance into Everyday Business

For assurance to deliver continuous value, it needs to move from a year-end activity to an integrated management practice.

Companies can consider a few practical steps:

Create a sustainability data register: Define indicators, data sources, frequency, and responsibilities in one unified repository.
Conduct internal ESG audits: Quarterly or half-yearly reviews improve data readiness and reduce year-end surprises.
Automate data collection: Integrate ESG metrics with ERP, HRMS, or IoT systems to reduce manual dependence and improve traceability.
Build cross-functional accountability: ESG data quality improves when finance, HR, EHS, and procurement teams share ownership.
Involve the Board and Audit Committee: ESG assurance findings should be discussed alongside financial and risk management reports.

This shift turns assurance into a continuous business control mechanism, not a compliance ritual.

The Next Step — From Verification to Maturity

As SEBI and investors tighten scrutiny of sustainability disclosures, BRSR assurance is evolving from data verification to system maturity assessment.
The next stage will focus on how well organizations embed sustainability within governance, technology, and risk systems.

Governance assurance: Are sustainability roles, review processes, and escalation paths defined and functional?
Data integrity testing: Can ESG data withstand audit-level scrutiny with the same rigour as financial data?
Technology enablement: How can automation, analytics, and digital platforms enhance traceability, comparability, and efficiency?

Organizations that advance along this maturity curve will not only build trust with regulators and investors but also realize tangible operational benefits.

Conclusion

BRSR assurance, when executed meaningfully, goes far beyond validation.
It strengthens governance, improves data reliability, and embeds accountability across the organization. For Indian industries, this marks an important transition from reporting sustainability to managing it. Those who view assurance as an opportunity for improvement, not as a formality, will set the standard for credible and responsible business in the years ahead.

This blog reflects our ongoing commitment to sharing insights on CBAM. We look forward to your feedback at info@kbscertification.com.

About KBS Certification Services Ltd.

Founded in 2005, KBS is a globally recognized third-party assessment body, accredited to ISO 14065 by NABCB. With expertise in climate change, sustainability assurance, ESG, CBAM, Net Zero, and product certifications, we’ve validated and verified over 2500 projects worldwide under CDM, Verra (VCS), Gold Standard, and ISO 14064 standards. For more detail visit our website www.kbscertification.com

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