Carbon Reporting: The New Business Norm?

Did you know a company can get fined for saying "eco-friendly" without proof? Greenwashing isn't just bad PR anymore. It's a legal risk. Under the EU's Green Claims Directive and strengthened CSRD enforcement, vague sustainability claims, "eco," "green," "climate neutral" now need to be backed by verifiable, third-party assessed data. No data? No claim. A few realities companies are waking up to: 1)"Carbon neutral" claims based only on offsets are being challenged across the EU 2) Regulators are treating unsubstantiated ESG marketing the same way they treat false financial statements 3) Consumers are noticing too, trust in vague green labels has dropped sharply in recent years For me, this is where law and sustainability collide in the most interesting way. Compliance isn't the boring part of ESG, it's the part that decides whether a claim is worth anything at all. If your sustainability story can't survive an audit, it's not a strategy. It's a liability. #ESG #CSRD #Greenwashing #SustainabilityCompliance #EURegulation #law #facts

ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance. It is a way of measuring how responsibly a company operates—not just how much profit it makes. 🌱 Environmental (E) – How the company protects the environment Simple meaning: Taking care of nature and reducing pollution. Saving electricity, Conserving water, Recycling waste, Reducing carbon, emissions, Planting trees 👥 Social (S) – How the company treats people Simple meaning: Caring for employees, customers, and the community. Keeping employees safe at work, providing training, treating everyone fairly, supporting community activities, Ensuring good working conditions 🏛️ Governance (G) – How the company is managed Simple meaning: Running the company honestly, ethically, and according to the law. Following company policies, preventing bribery and corruption, obeying laws and regulations, conducting internal audits, Protecting company information

An important reminder that standards play a critical role in shaping the frameworks that organisations will rely on for years to come. 👏 With the consultation on the revised ISO Net Zero Standard now underway, businesses have a valuable opportunity to help influence how emissions reduction, climate governance and net zero strategies are implemented across industries globally. For many organisations, however, one of the biggest challenges is simply ensuring that sustainability, legal, compliance, operational and leadership teams have access to the latest standards, regulations and guidance needed to support informed decision-making. At Intertek Inform, we help organisations simplify the management of standards and regulatory content through a single platform providing unlimited access for users and sites worldwide. Common challenges include: ✅ Keeping up with evolving sustainability regulations and standards ✅ Managing multiple standards subscriptions across departments and locations ✅ Ensuring everyone is working from the latest approved version ✅ Supporting ESG, sustainability and compliance initiatives with reliable information ✅ Reducing costs associated with acquiring and managing standards Examples of standards and frameworks frequently used by sustainability and legal teams include: 📖 ISO Net Zero Standard (under development) 📖 ISO 14064 – Greenhouse Gas Quantification & Reporting 📖 ISO 14068 – Carbon Neutrality 📖 ISO 14001 – Environmental Management 📖 ISO 50001 – Energy Management 📖 GHG Protocol Standards 📖 CSRD & ESRS Requirements 📖 ISSB Sustainability Disclosure Standards By partnering with Intertek Inform, organisations can: ✔ Improve governance and document control ✔ Reduce standards acquisition and management costs ✔ Accelerate access to critical sustainability information ✔ Strengthen compliance and ESG programmes ✔ Create a single source of truth across global teams ✔ Better prepare for audits, reporting requirements and stakeholder expectations As part of Intertek, a world-leading Assurance, Testing, Inspection and Certification (ATIC) organisation, customers can also access a broad range of sustainability, ESG, assurance, verification, auditing, testing and certification services—making Intertek a true one-stop partner for compliance, quality and sustainability excellence. The organisations that participate in standards development today help shape the business and sustainability landscape of tomorrow. Ensuring easy access to those standards throughout their lifecycle is equally important. 📧 alex.thornton@intertek.com 📱 +44 (0) 7542 839599 🌐 www.intertekinform.com #IntertekInform #NetZero #Sustainability #ESG #ISO #ISO14064 #ISO14068 #EnvironmentalManagement #CSRD #ESRS #StandardsManagement #RegulatoryCompliance #CorporateSustainability #ClimateAction #Intertek #ATIC

The future of the ISO Net Zero Standard is being shaped now and your voice matters. A huge thank you to Alexis McGivern, Head of Stakeholder Engagement and Research Fellow at Oxford Net Zero, and Emily Faint, Net Zero Policy Lead at the British Standards Institution BSI, for joining the Legal Sustainability Alliance this week to share their expertise on the consultation for the revised ISO Net Zero Standard. The standard will influence how organisations, including law firms and their clients, manage and reduce emissions for years – potentially decades – to come. This is a valuable opportunity to help shape a framework that will underpin credible net zero action across sectors. As Amanda Carpenter, CEO Achill Legal highlighted: "The ISO Net Zero Standard is changing. It will affect all law firms and their clients and provides an important framework for emissions management and reduction that will be in place for years, possibly decades. Now is the time to have your say." A few practical takeaways from the discussion: ✅ Submit your feedback through your National Standards Body (BSI in the UK). ✅ Be as specific as possible – proposed wording changes are far more likely to be considered than general comments. ✅ If you support a section of the draft, say so. Positive feedback helps protect important provisions from being weakened. ✅ All submissions are handled confidentially. Comments are grouped by country rather than by individual or organisation. 🗓️ UK (BSI) consultation deadline: 17 August 2026 📄 Alexis's presentation slides are available here: https://lnkd.in/eW_Zq8JQ Submit your comments: https://lnkd.in/eZUwceG3 Read more about the consultation: https://lnkd.in/eBUXN5tZ Thank you again to Alexis and Emily for sharing their insights and helping our members engage with this important consultation.  

What you say about sustainability now carries legal consequences. Green claims are not just a marketing matter. They are a governance, legal and assurance issue, and they need to be treated that way before publication, not after. Regulators across Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific and beyond are making this clear. Unsubstantiated or misleading sustainability claims can deceive consumers, distort markets and damage trust in the broader sustainability transition. The regulatory and legal frameworks now emerging are significant, fast-moving and carry real consequences for non-compliance. We have set this out in our latest whitepaper. #Trust #Greenwashing #Assurance #Audit https://lnkd.in/eUFQdBAM

Why sustainability is becoming a legal discipline🌍⚖️ Five years ago, sustainability teams wrote reports and legal teams wrote contracts. Those two worlds rarely met. Today I spend my days in the overlap — and it keeps growing: ESG clauses are now standard in supply agreements. Customers want audit rights over your emissions data. Disclosure frameworks carry liability, not just reputation. "Green" claims on packaging can trigger consumer-protection enforcement. M&A due diligence now includes climate and human-rights risk. The skill that matters most in this overlap isn't knowing every regulation. It's translation — being able to explain a GHG boundary decision to a lawyer, and a limitation-of-liability clause to a sustainability manager, in language each side actually uses. If you're early in your career and choosing between "legal" and "sustainability": you may not have to choose. The intersection is where the interesting problems live. What's the most unexpected place ESG has shown up in your legal work? #ESG #LegalCareers #Sustainability #CorporateLaw #ClimateRisk

Companies stopped saying "ESG" out loud. They didn't stop doing it. Only 6% of S&P 100 companies used the term in their sustainability reports by 2025. Two years earlier it was 40%. There is a name for this now: green hushing (coined by the consultancy South Pole). Saying less to avoid political heat, while the actual work continues. PwC found more companies are raising their climate ambitions than lowering them. They're just doing it quietly. Here's why this matters beyond vocabulary: When companies go quiet, disclosure laws become the only reliable signal. California's emissions reporting law is active. Australia's and Spain's kick in this year. The EU trimmed its reporting scope but kept the core for large companies. So we are entering a strange split-screen: less voluntary storytelling, more mandatory proof. Honestly? I think that's healthier. Marketing was always the least trustworthy part of sustainability. Verified numbers filed under penalty of law tell you more than any glossy report ever did. Trust built on proof beats trust built on branding. That's true for climate, for privacy, and for AI. Have you noticed companies around you going quieter on sustainability? What do you make of it? #ESG #Greenhushing #ClimateDisclosure #Sustainability

As sustainability regulations take shape, a lot of companies are asking the same question: once disclosures become standard, how do you keep telling your company's own story? Turns out voluntary reporting still has a job to do. It builds trust with investors, feeds the ratings platforms your partners are already checking, and reaches people a compliance filing never will. Swipe through for the gaps that are worth watching. 👉𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗱𝗲: https://lnkd.in/gfcRzvAB #SustainabilityReporting #CorporateDisclosure

The EU EmpCo (ECGT) Directive is set to significantly tighten rules to prevent greenwashing and strengthen consumer protection. From 27 September 2026, companies will need to meet stricter requirements on how environmental claims are made, evidenced, and communicated. This is the moment to reassess your sustainability messaging, ensure all claims are backed by robust and verifiable data, and reinforce governance processes to align with upcoming EmpCo obligations. Contact BreHat Consulting if you would like support on ESG compliance. Website: https://brehat.be/ #EmpCo #Greenwashing #Sustainability #Compliance #BreHatConsulting

New Zealand's climate reporting framework continues to evolve... The XRB is consulting on a roadmap that proposes closer alignment with IFRS S2, while also considering harmonisation with Australia's reporting requirements. For sustainability leaders, regulations change but the need for reliable data won't. Reliable emissions data, governance and audit-ready processes are the foundations that remain essential.