Verification: Why and How to Verify Your Data

• AA1000AS 

• ABNT NBR ISO 14064-3:2007 (Associação Brasileira de Normas Técnicas) 

• Advanced technologies promotion Subsidy Scheme with Emission reduction Target (ASSET) 

• Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA) des Airports Council International Europe 

• Alberta Specified Gas Emitters Regulation 

• ASAE3000

• Attestation Standards established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants/AICPA. Only assurance done using the following AICPA specific AT-C sections in combination are accepted:  AT-C 105 with AT-C 205 for Examination engagements  AT-C 105 with AT-C 210 for Review Engagements 

• Australia National Greenhouse and Energy Regulations (NGER Act) 

• California Mandatory GHG Reporting Regulations (also known as Californian Air Resources Board Regulations)  Verification under this regulation can be annual, biennial or triennial. If a company is in the process of having the current reporting year's emissions verified, they should report "third party verification or assurance underway - last year's statement attached" and attach the most recent statement from within the three years prior to the current reporting year. This guidance was updated in January 2013. 

• Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) Handbook: Assurance Section 5025  Only High levels of assurance are accepted, as Moderate is a 'review', rather than a full verification process. 

• Carbon Trust Standard  Companies should attach both the certification letter and certificate. Verification of GHG emissions as part of CTS certification can be annual or biennial. If a company is in the process of having the current reporting year's emissions verified, they should report "third party verification or assurance underway - last year's statement attached" and attach documentation from the most recent year with verification but no earlier than two years prior to the current reporting year. This guidance was updated in January 2013. 

• Chicago Climate Exchange verification standard 

• The Climate Registry's General Verification Protocol (also known as California Climate Action Registry (CCAR)) 

• Compagnie Nationale des Commissaires aux Comptes (CNCC)  National Company of Auditors (Pratique professionnelle relative au rapport du Commissaire aux Comptes sur certaines données ou informations environnementales et sociales ou sur les procédures d’établissement de ces données ou informations, contenues dans le rapport rendant compte en matière de « développement durable.) 

• Corporate GHG Verification Guidelines from ERT  Only Tier III and Tier II where it is clear that the verification has been performed by an independent third party. 

• DNV Verisustain Protocol/ Verification Protocol for Sustainability Reporting  This standard is only acceptable where the verification statement clearly confirms the independence of the verifier from the reporting organization and/or the data collection process. 

• Earthcheck Certified  For organisations in the travel and tourism industry. Scope 1 & 2 verification only. “Earthcheck Benchmarked” status under the same program does not include 3rd-party verification, thus is not an accepted standard. 

• ERM GHG Performance Data Assurance Methodology 

• IDW PS 821: IDW Prüfungsstandard: Grundsätze ordnungsmäßiger Prüfung oder prüferischer Durchsicht von Berichtenim Bereich der Nachhaltigkeit 

• IDW AsS 821: IDW Assurance Standard: Generally Accepted Assurance Principles for the Audit or Review of Reports on Sustainability Issues 

• ISAE 3000

• Dutch Standard 3000A 

• ISAE 3410, Assurance Engagements on Greenhouse Gas Statements This standard is valid for assurance reports covering periods ending on or after 30th September 2013. 

• ISO 14064-1  This service is only acceptable if it is evident that ISO 14064-3 was used by the verifier as guidance for the verification. 

• ISO 14064-3 

• JVETS (Japanese Voluntary Emissions Trading Scheme) Guideline for verification 

• Korean GHG and energy target management system 

• NMX-SAA-14064-3-IMNC: Instituto Mexicano de Normalización y Certificación A.C 

• CRevR 6 Bestyrkande av hållbarhetsredovisning (RevR 6 Assurance of Sustainability) 

• RevR6 Procedure for assurance of sustainability report from Far, the Swedish auditors professional body 

• Saitama Prefecture Target-Setting Emissions Trading Program 

• Standard 3810N Assurance engagements relating to sustainability reports of the Royal Netherlands Institute of Registered Accountants 

• SGS Sustainability Report Assurance  This service is only acceptable where the verification statement clearly confirms that the assurance is provided in accordance with ISO 14064-3 or AA1000AS. 

• Spanish Institute of Registered Auditors (ICJCE) 

• SSAE 3000 

• State of Israel Ministry of Environmental Protection, VERIFICATION OF GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS AND EMISSIONS REDUCTION IN ISRAEL GUIDANCE DOCUMENT FOR CONDUCTING VERIFICATIONS, Process A.  This guidance covers two processes, for CDP purposes we would only accept the process A. Emissions inventory of companies and organizations that report to the Israeli Voluntary GHG Registry; and not process B. 

• Swiss Climate CO2 label 

• Thai Greenhouse Gas Management Organisation (TGO) Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Verification Protocol 

• Toitū Envirocare’s carbonreduce certification standard  Companies should attach the Toitū carbonreduce certificate and assurance statement. Verification of GHG emissions as part of Toitū carbonreduce certification is annual. If a company is in the process of having the current reporting year's emissions verified, they should report "third party verification or assurance underway - last year's statement attached" and attach documentation from the previous year. Companies who have third-party verification using CEMARS should select this option in the questionnaire. 

• Toitū climate positive 

• Toitū net carbonzero 

• Tokyo Emissions Trading Scheme 

• Verification under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) Directive and EU ETS related national implementation laws 

1 The assurance provider needs to be subject to Parts A and B of the Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants issued by the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (the IESBA Code), or professional requirements, or requirements in laws or regulations, that are at least as demanding and/or clearly demonstrates equivalent independence in the assurance statement.   

2 Only assurance engagements that state that they are in accordance with the regulations and NGER (audit) determination 2009. Verification engagements do not give an opinion and therefore will not meet our criteria for the statement. Submitting data under NGER does not automatically confer to achieving an appropriate level of verification unless the condition stipulated previously is met.  

Note, this includes climate reporting/environmental management standards, verification services.   

• Australian Government's National Carbon Offset Standard This is not a verification standard. All verification undertaken for this program is done in accordance with another verification standard (such as ASAE3000 or ISO14064-3).   

• The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) This follows a different GHG accounting method (Project Accounting) compared to the one requested by CDP (Corporate Inventory Accounting) which means that the verification process under CDM does not verify the figures submitted to CDP.  

• The CLEEAR Standard This is a standard to record, measure and reduce carbon emissions therefore not resulting in verification of processes and data and does not guide a full verification process.  

• EN 45011 This is a standard for companies who are providing product certification.  

• EPA Climate Leaders Review  This applies to the “review” only. EPA does not regard the “review” as independent third party verification. However, some companies separately contract verifiers or assurers to verify/assure their EPA Climate Leaders inventory. Statements from this process are not “reviews” and should be completed using a standard that meets CDP’s criteria to be accepted. 

• EPA Part 75 This is a second party check i.e. by the recipient of the data. The CDP guidance document specifies a third party check. The EPA's enhanced requirements published in October 2014 have not altered this.  

• The GHG Protocol Corporate Reporting & Accounting Standard This is a corporate GHG inventory reporting standard.   

• Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) This is not a verification standard, but a reporting platform.  

• ISO 14001 This is a standard for the verification of environmental management systems i.e. of processes not resulting data and does not guide a full verification process.   

• ISO 14040-49 This is a life cycle assessment standard series which does not cover verification by third party procedures.  

• ISO 14065 This is a standard for companies who are providing GHG verification, not a standard on how to conduct verification of GHG emissions.  

• ISO/EC 17021 This is a standard for companies who are providing verification of management systems, and is not a standard on how to conduct verification of GHG emissions.  

• ISO 19011 This is a protocol for auditing management systems, i.e. of processes not resulting data and does not guide a full verification process. 

• ISO 50001 This is a standard for establishing, implementing, maintaining and improving an energy management system therefore not resulting in verification of processes and data and does not guide a full verification process.  

• OFWAT This is not a verification standard itself, but statements may be produced that mention a verification standard that is on the CDP list.  

• PAS 2050 This is a life-cycle GHG reporting standard for products and services.   

• TN-CC-003:2009-01 This is a GHG reporting standard. If they have verified data against this, ISO 14064-3 will be stated in the statement.   

• VfU (Verein fur Umweltmanagement) Indicators VfU is a corporate GHG inventory reporting standard. Note that the latest VfU methodology states it is compliant with CDP, which is true for calculating emissions figures but not for verification.   

• VfU (Verein fur Umweltmanagement) Indicators Standard These are environmental performance indicators for the financial industry and are not a verification standard. 

Any third-party verification standard referenced in a company’s disclosure to CDP is assessed against the criteria below, to determine whether it’s acceptable or not. 

Note that “Agreed upon procedures”, “pre-assurance” or internal verification are not accepted as verification under the CDP scoring methodology.   

• Relevance: The standard should specify that it relates to a 3rd party audit or verification process. For a program related standard, 3rd party verification should be specified as part of the program compliance. 

• Competency: The standard should include a statement regarding competency of verifiers; where it is a program and verification parties are stipulated, competency is assumed to be determined by the 2nd party and therefore need not be explicit in the standard. 

• Independence: The standard should contain a requirement that ensures that impartiality is maintained in cases where the same external organization compiles and verifies a responding company’s inventory. 

• Terminology: The standard should specify the meaning of any terms used for the level of the finding (e.g. limited assurance; reasonable assurance). 

• Methodology: The standard should describe a methodology for the verification that includes the verification of the process and/or system controls and the data. 

• Availability: The standard should be available for scrutiny.