ESG Verification and Assurance: The Hidden Factor Behind Your ESG Score in India
Indian companies investing in sustainability are often surprised to find their ESG scores don’t reflect the work they’ve put in. The reason is almost always the same, and it’s fixable.
Across India’s corporate landscape, ESG is no longer just a global reporting exercise. It is directly tied to supplier approvals, investor evaluations, and access to green finance. Companies are working hard to reduce emissions, improve governance, and strengthen social programs. Yet, when ESG scores come back from platforms like EcoVadis, CDP, or rating agencies, the numbers often fall short of expectations.
The gap is rarely about what organisations are doing. It is almost always about how that performance is captured, evidenced, and presented to the frameworks evaluating them.
ESG disclosure vs. ESG ratings: two different things
Understanding the difference between disclosure platforms and rating agencies is the first step to improving your scores.
Disclosure platforms like EcoVadis and CDP are participation-driven. Indian companies submit questionnaires, upload supporting documents, and respond to framework-specific criteria. The outcome depends almost entirely on what you submit and how well it maps to the scoring methodology.
Rating agencies work differently; they construct ratings from publicly available information including annual reports, sustainability disclosures, regulatory filings, and media coverage, often without any direct input from the company being assessed.
In both cases, gaps in your data translate directly into gaps in your ESG score. The mechanisms differ, but the outcome is the same.
You may already have an ESG rating, whether you know it or not
Many Indian companies are surprised to learn they don’t need to actively participate to receive an ESG rating, these agencies routinely assess organisations based solely on what’s in the public domain. If your sustainability report is missing key data, or if disclosures are inconsistently framed across documents, your rating will reflect those gaps. Missing or weakly supported data typically results in conservative scoring. Lower scores don’t always signal poor performance. More often, they signal poor visibility to good performance.
Where ESG scores are actually lost
In most cases, lower-than-expected ESG scores are not a reflection of what a company actually does. They are a reflection of how the company does get documented and presented. The most common reasons for score loss include:
- Questionnaire responses that are partially addressed or left vague
- Data reported inconsistently across different submissions and frameworks
- Missing or insufficient supporting evidence for key claims
- Answers that don’t map clearly to the specific scoring criteria of each framework
- Even well-established sustainability programs, with years of implementation behind them, can receive limited credit if the evidence isn’t clearly presented or aligned to the framework reviewing it.
How ESG verification improves your score
ESG verification is about more than accuracy. It’s about ensuring that disclosures are structured in a way the frameworks can actually evaluate and reward.
When structured verification is built into your ESG process, as part of a managed service, organisations in India can:
Catch gaps early
Identify and address missing evidence before submission, not after a low score comes back.
Align to scoring criteria
Map responses to how each framework actually scores, rather than answering generically.
Stay consistent
Ensure data and narrative responses hold together across multiple frameworks and reporting cycles.
The result is often a meaningful improvement in scores without any underlying change in actual performance. The work was always there; Verification & Assurance make it count.
The role of third-party ESG assurance
When specific metrics such as greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption, and social impact data are independently reviewed by a third party, rating agencies and disclosure platforms treat that information as more credible and reliable. This translates into tangible score benefits: greater confidence from reviewers, fewer conservative assessments where data quality is uncertain, and more stable scores across evaluation cycles. For Indian companies reporting under BRSR (Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting), GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) or any recognized standard for sustainability reporting or ESG reporting, third-party assurance adds a layer of credibility that purely self-declared data cannot.
Frequently asked questions
Can an Indian company receive an ESG rating without submitting any data?
Yes. Rating agencies assign ESG ratings based entirely on publicly available information, including annual reports, sustainability disclosures, regulatory filings, and media coverage. A company does not need to actively participate in the process to be rated.
This means Indian companies can have an ESG score they are unaware of. If public disclosures are incomplete or inconsistently presented, that score will reflect those gaps, often resulting in a lower rating than actual performance would warrant.
How does EcoVadis scoring work for Indian suppliers?
EcoVadis evaluates companies across four themes: Environment, Labour and Human Rights, Ethics, and Sustainable Procurement. Scores are based on questionnaire responses and the supporting documentation provided by the company.
For Indian suppliers responding to EcoVadis requests from global buyers, scores depend heavily on the quality, completeness, and relevance of evidence submitted for each theme. Well-established sustainability practices that are poorly documented or misaligned to EcoVadis criteria often receive limited credit, even when the underlying performance is strong.
How does CDP scoring work for Indian companies?
CDP assesses companies across three disclosure programs: Climate Change, Water Security, and Forests. Scoring is based on detailed questionnaire responses and supporting evidence, covering disclosed policies, targets, governance structures, and actions taken to manage environmental impacts.
Incomplete responses or data that lacks third-party verification tend to score lower, regardless of the actual sustainability measures in place.
Is BRSR assurance mandatory for Indian companies?
SEBI has introduced a phased roadmap making third-party assurance of BRSR Core disclosures progressively mandatory for listed Indian companies. The timeline is as follows:
FY 2023–24: Voluntary for the top 150 listed companies
FY 2024–25: Mandatory for the top 250 listed companies
FY 2025–26: Extended to the top 500 listed companies
FY 2026–27: Extended to the top 1,000 listed companies
Companies outside the current mandatory threshold are encouraged to adopt BRSR assurance voluntarily, as it strengthens disclosure credibility and supports better ESG ratings from international agencies.
How does Control Union India help improve ESG scores?
Control Union India provides independent verification and assurance services for GHG emissions inventories and ESG disclosures, conducted in line with recognized international standards. These services help organisations:
- Strengthen the accuracy and consistency of disclosed ESG data
- Demonstrate methodological robustness to rating agencies and disclosure platforms
- Meet the assurance requirements of frameworks including BRSR, EcoVadis, CDP, and GHG Protocol
- Build more credible, comparable, and defensible ESG reports over time
Externally verified disclosures are treated as more reliable by ESG rating agencies, which directly supports improved scores and more stable assessments across evaluation cycles.
Q: What are the different verification and assurance standards for ESG reporting?
- AA1000 Assurance Standard (AA1000AS) – Stakeholder-focused ESG assurance.
- ISO 14064-3 – GHG emissions verification.
- ISAE 3000 (Revised) – General assurance for non-financial and ESG information.
- ISAE 3410 – Verification of GHG emissions.
Ready to close the gap between your ESG performance and your ESG score?
Contact our team at reachus@controlunion.com to understand where your current disclosure scores and ratings stand and how verification and assurance can improve the scores and ratings.