Onset of Mandatory Sustainability Requirements Begins to Impact Global Reporting, as India’s Mandatory BRSR Rules Drive Sharp Rise in Assurance, Study by IFAC, AICPA and CIMA Finds
Mumbai, India | July 3 – The global sustainability reporting ecosystem is becoming less fragmented as more of the world’s largest companies begin to adopt or form plans to use the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) standards and European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRSs), an updated report from the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) shows.
The report also finds India saw one of the largest global increases sustainability reporting and assurance worldwide.
The report, The State of Play: Sustainability Disclosure and Assurance (Six-Year Trends and Analysis, 2019-2024), is the sixth annual benchmark of sustainability reporting and assurance practices of global companies in G20 jurisdictions. Because the newest data in the report is from 2024, due to the typical lag for sustainability information, the results likely understate the extent of movement toward more uniform standards.
“(T)he global reporting ecosystem is transitioning from a fragmented landscape toward one that is increasingly structured, standardized, and integrated,” the report summarizes. “However, this transition is not yet complete and may continue to be challenged by shifting geopolitical and regulatory sentiment within some of the world’s largest economies.”
While global companies still use a patchwork of sustainability-related standards, the survey found progress in a number of areas:
- A third of companies with sustainability information disclosures in 2024 referenced the use or future use of ISSB standards, compared to only 16 percent that did so the previous year. Turkey adopted the ISSB Standards beginning for fiscal year 2024 and several additional jurisdictions will implement ISSB requirements in reports that will be published in 2026.
- Similarly, 20 percent of companies that disclosed sustainability information in 2024 said they used or plan to use ESRS, which suggests their implementation in the European Union may be having a cross-border impact.
- Use of other standards and frameworks – the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards and U.N. Sustainability Development Goals (SDG) – all fell by single digits between 2023 and 2024.
“Around the world, we are seeing growing alignment behind high-quality sustainability reporting and assurance practices,” said Lee White, IFAC’s chief executive officer. “This progress matters because trusted, decision-useful information supports better decisions, stronger organizations, and more efficient capital allocation. We expect this momentum to continue as stakeholders increasingly recognize the value of reliable sustainability-related information.”
India sustainability reporting and assurance practices report major increase
India is among the global leaders in both the uptake of sustainability reporting and the assurance of such disclosures, with the country’s new mandatory Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) requirements a primary driver of the global increase in sustainability assurance in 2024. Assurance over sustainability disclosures among India’s largest companies rose from 63% in 2023 to 88% in 2024 — one of the largest year-on-year increases of any jurisdiction in the study. Reasonable-level assurance over BRSR-reported information rose even more sharply, from 8% in 2023 to 51% in 2024, reflecting a substantial shift toward higher-rigor assurance as the mandate took hold. All of the largest Indian companies reviewed (100%) reported some form of sustainability-related information in 2024, consistent with 2023 and up from 98% in 2019.
Venkkat Ramanan, FCMA, CGMA, Regional Vice President – Asia Pacific at AICPA & CIMA, said: “India’s progress reflects something we’re seeing play out across our region: as regulators raise the bar on sustainability disclosure, it’s the accounting profession that gives companies and investors the confidence to trust what’s being reported. BRSR is a clear example of regulation and professional expertise reinforcing each other. He continued: “In the coming years, we expect to see further increases in ESG disclosure and assurance across Asia-Pacific region as it looks to address sustainability challenges and align with global standards.”
Among other highlights of the updated survey:
- Ninety-seven percent of global companies had some form of disclosure of sustainability information in 2024, a percentage drop from the previous year.
- Seventy-five percent of companies in the survey obtained assurance on their sustainability disclosures in 2024, up slightly from 73 percent the previous year. Most of the assurance performed was at a limited assurance level.
- Audit firms continue to lead in providing assurance on sustainability disclosures by large global companies (59 percent of engagements, up four percentage points from last year), with broad variations country to country.
“The growing use of audit firms for sustainability assurance is a good sign for capital markets and investors,” said Susan Coffey, CPA, CGMA, the CEO of public accounting for AICPA & CIMA. “Auditors have earned their reputation for trust and expertise, backed by strong professional certification programs and robust rules on audit, independence and professional integrity.”
Seventy-six percent of companies reported sustainability information with financial disclosures in 2024 annual or integrated reports, up two percentage points from the previous year. Organizations that obtain assurance over sustainability information within their annual or integrated reports overwhelmingly use their statutory auditor to provide assurance over those disclosures.
While the global research shows that Mexico, Singapore and Turkey all had large increases in the percentage of audit firms performing assurance on sustainability information in 2024. In India, the rapid rise in assurance — and in the rigor of that assurance — following the introduction of mandatory BRSR requirements illustrates how regulatory mandates can accelerate market practice well beyond voluntary adoption, offering a model that other jurisdictions in the region may look to as they consider their own sustainability disclosure requirements.