The Certified Sustainability Assurance Practitioner Program aims to:

• Enable practitioners to develop, validate and communicate their competence in a systematic manner.
• Make it easier for organisations to identify credible assurance expertise.
• Improve stakeholder confidence in the expertise of sustainability assurance professionals engaged by organisations.
• Develop a more systematic understanding of key competency requirements for providing effective assurance, and so establish a basis for informing this and other standards in future.

This Program is intended for all practitioners worldwide such as:

• Those who work in CSR departments involved in the development of corporate accountability programs;
• Those who work in departments involved in internal (assurance) audit processes;
• Those who provide consultancy services for organisations on sustainability assurance;
• External assurance providers who undertake assurance processes;
• Those just starting out in the area of sustainability assurance.

The Program offers certification at three grades.

As an Associate Sustainability Assurance Practitioner you will have an understanding of the field of sustainability assurance gained by attending relevant training. This grade is most relevant to those beginning their career in sustainability assurance, and those involved in related topics, such as report preparation or general management, wishing to formally demonstrate their knowledge of the field.

As a Sustainability Assurance Practitioner you are an active practitioner with demonstrable experience over a number of assignments with different clients or, for internal practitioners, over several assurance cycles covering a range of sustainability issues. Experience in stakeholder engagement is required, although not necessarily as part of formal assurance assignments.

As a Lead Sustainability Assurance Practitioner you are currently active in the provision of sustainability assurance and you have led a significant number of sustainability assurance assignments either internally or as part of external assurance assignments. Experience in stakeholder engagement as part of assurance assignments is essential, as is the lead role in forming assurance judgements and the preparation of external or internal assurance statements.

Please note that the difference between the three grades is not purely a matter of increased experience or skills, i.e. seniority, but a reflection of a practitioner’s respective role.

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For more information, visit IRCA’s website.