SUPPORTING STATEMENT: Like many investors, we read the ESG reports produced by our Canadian banks, hoping to find accurate,
reliable and complete information. Although a number of them use auditing firms to provide limited assurance
of the quality of the information presented, we believe it would be appropriate for the Bank to revise the level
of certification of its report in order to avoid the criticism of greenwashing that is increasingly being heard.
According to a recent PWC report(1), “In Canada, only 8% of companies in our analysis subject their
sustainability reporting to the same level of reasonable assurance as their financial statements”. According to
the experts who prepared this report, “Limited assurance is a good first step. But it’s only an interim measure
in the eyes of regulators and investors. Our Global Investor Survey 2022 explored the factors that increase
confidence in assessing the accuracy of an organization’s sustainability reporting. Nearly three-quarters (73%)
of investors in Canadian companies say reasonable assurance helps. By contrast, only 46% feel the same way
about limited assurance — underscoring the importance of preparing for reasonable assurance and producing
investor-grade ESG reporting”.
We believe that a reasonable certification every three years would help reassure all stakeholders about the
quality of the information disclosed.
“A practitioner can provide two types of assurance engagements: a reasonable assurance engagement
or a limited assurance engagement.
The nature, timing and extent of procedures performed in a limited assurance engagement is limited
compared with that necessary in a reasonable assurance engagement, but is still planned to obtain a
level of assurance that is, in the practitioner’s professional judgment, meaningful(2).”