WSJ Acknowledges Apex’s Expertise and Value in GHG and Sustainability Verification

Once a hippie buzzword commonly associated with kale, recycling, and farmers’ markets, “green” is now a household term at many of the largest and most innovative companies in the world. From top Fortune 500 companies to private firms large and small, sustainability and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) are now critical components and core elements of mission statements, core values, and investment strategies.

As organizations work to meet existing (and developing) reporting requirements, they are turning to firms who possess expertise in both building programs and verifying results. In their recent article “Companies Turn to Auditors to Verify Sustainability Data” published on June 10, 2021, the Wall Street Journal named Apex as one such expert in the field, and a partner in ESG verification for companies such as Apple, CVS Health, and Amazon. A silver verification provider accredited with CDP, Apex provides support for GHG standards including ISO14064, ISAE 3000, AA1000, GRI, SASB, TCFD, CDP, WRI/WBCSD Greenhouse Gas Protocol: A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard and related programs.

Apex Sustainability Lead Auditor Chris Ostermann, who has been working and leading such audits for over 10 years commented—“We are seeing a significant uptick in the number of companies reporting publicly and having their reporting assured by third parties. This has paralleled with an increase in the metrics that are being assured. Also, in order to meet the expanding requirements of ESG verification, assurance providers need to be extremely well versed across multiple standards and reporting requirements such as GHG Protocol, GRI, SASB, and TCFD.”

As the G-7 nations of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US come closer to establishing global standards for the disclosure of corporate environmental data, companies are already feeling the pressure to disclose, as Deloitte reported in their 2020 Resources Study. According to that study, over 60% of respondents surveyed felt increased pressure from stakeholders to disclose and/or address climate risk, and of those, roughly 90% had already taken steps to manage and measure those risks.

As we move closer to a more transparent society with increased pressure for public disclosure of many facets of your business, it becomes increasingly clear—greener and cleaner is the path forward. Apex is proud to be a leader in this space, and we are excited for what this means for the future—a keener eye for waste reductions pre- and post-manufacturing, reduction in energy usage, a more responsible supply chain, and products that are inherently better for the environment—produced by companies that measure what matters.