Trust in ESG reporting: The intelligent Veri-Green solution for incentivized verification

Abstract

In today's corporate environment, Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reports crucially reflect an organization's commitment to sustainability, environmental preservation, and social responsibility. As corporations share these detailed reports, the responsibility to validate and assure adherence to respected ESG benchmarks critically lies with third-party assurance organizations. However, the essential verification process often encounters challenges related to authenticity, credibility, and fairness, underscoring the need for a new solution. The selection of verifiers is a crucial aspect of this process, as their expertise and impartiality directly impact the validity and trustworthiness of the verification. Consequently, “Veri-Green,” an innovative blockchain-based incentive mechanism, has been introduced to improve the ESG data verification process. Considering potential risks in verification systems, such as reputational damage due to oversight or inadvertent approval of inaccurate data, and data security risks involving the management of sensitive organizational information, the verifier selection process needs to be thoroughly considered and designed. Through the utilization of advanced machine learning algorithms, potential verification candidates are precisely identified, followed by the deployment of the Vickrey Clarke Groves (VCG) auction mechanism. This approach ensures the strategic selection of verifiers and cultivates an ecosystem marked by truthfulness, rationality, and computational efficiency throughout the ESG data verification process. In this framework, verifiers are not only encouraged but also properly incentivized, developing a more transparent and equitable verification process, thereby driving the ESG agenda towards a future defined by genuine, impactful corporate responsibility and sustainability.