Public Consultation Period on the Latest AA1000 Assurance Standard Opened

The latest revision of the AA1000 Assurance Standard, the AA1000AS (2019), has been initiated by AccountAbility for public consultation via a globally accessible web platform today. The AA1000AS (2019) is an internationally accepted, freely available standard that provides the requirements for AccountAbility licensed assurance providers to conduct good-quality sustainability assurance on sustainability disclosures by reporting organisations.

For over two decades, organisations large and small, and across sectors, have successfully engaged AccountAbility’s guidance to identify, prioritise and respond to sustainability challenges to improve their overall, long-term performance. Beyond the remit of data verification, the AA1000AS (2019) will provide a holistic way of holding an organisation accountable for its sustainability management, performance, and reporting practices by assessing the adherence of an organisation to the latest AA1000 AccountAbility Principles, AA1000AP (2018).

The public consultation will be conducted through an online platform – collaborase.com – to facilitate participation from the wide global stakeholder base of the AA1000 series, during a period of one month. Upon completion of the public consultation and consideration of feedback received, the AA1000AS (2019) will be updated and finalised to replace the current AA1000 Assurance Standard (AA1000AS, 2008) for responsible and complete assurance engagements, based on the AA1000AP (2018).

Commenting on the opening of the public consultation period, the Chair of the AA1000 Steering Committee, and Director of the Sustainability Management Center at the Korea Productivity Center (KPC), Mr. Dongsoo Kim stated, “The AA1000AS Working Group and the task force team at AccountAbility have worked diligently to draft the latest version of AA1000AS (2019.) The public consultation period will allow them to gather invaluable insight from around the world, for the AA1000AS to make meaningful progress in sustainability disclosure and assurance.”

Chair of the AA1000AS (2019) Working Group, Mr. Murray Sayce, Principal (Corporate Sustainability), ERM CVS, UK commented, “The Working Group welcomes this stage of development for the new AA1000AS and has been encouraged by the enthusiasm with which the new AA1000 Accountability Principles has been received to date. The much anticipated new assurance standard will prove to be an excellent tool in driving reporting organisations to do the right thing, through listening and responding effectively to the stakeholder agenda and through well-structured and rigorous assurance that the new AA1000AS will bring.”

Stakeholders wishing to contribute feedback on the draft AA1000AS (2019) will have from 14th June until 14th July 2019 to access the proposed document via https://collaborase.com/aa1000as-2019

We thank you for your valuable engagement and perspectives in this process.