Role of Professionals in ESG — CA, CS & Sustainability Advisors | Nainit Savla & Associates

Role of Professionals in ESG

Q: Can a Chartered Accountant provide ESG advisory without specific sustainability qualifications?

A CA's existing expertise in financial reporting, audit, and internal controls provides a strong foundation for ESG work. ESG-specific technical knowledge (GHG protocols, GRI, TCFD) requires additional learning — ICAI offers ESG CPE programmes. SEBI's mandate that BRSR Core assurance be provided by CAs recognises the profession's core competencies.

Q: What is the role of the Company Secretary in BRSR filing and ESG governance?

The CS coordinates BRSR data collection, ensures board BRSR approval before filing, advises on ESG committee structures, manages SEBI interface, and ensures governance practices align with ESG expectations — the CS is the procedural backbone of the company's ESG compliance architecture.

Q: How is the internal audit function evolving to cover ESG risks?

Internal audit is expanding to cover ESG data quality review before external assurance, environmental regulatory compliance, ESG internal controls assessment, supply chain ESG risk evaluation, and reporting ESG findings to the Audit Committee alongside traditional financial risks.

Q: What competencies should a Chief Sustainability Officer have?

Technical GHG and ESG framework knowledge, strategic ESG-business integration ability, stakeholder communication skills, project management capability, and governance acumen for board ESG committee management. Many CSOs combine finance, law, environment, or strategy backgrounds with specific ESG technical training.

Q: How are professional institutes in India responding to the ESG opportunity?

ICAI has issued ESG assurance guidance, formed a Sustainability Reporting Standards Board, and is developing Indian Sustainability Reporting Standards. ICSI and ICMAI have both developed ESG training programmes. All three institutes recognise ESG as a major new service area and are building standards, guidance, and professional development capabilities.

The formalisation of ESG as a regulated, assured, and financially material corporate discipline has created one of the most significant new professional service domains of the decade — and finance and governance professionals are at its core. Chartered Accountants, Company Secretaries, Cost Accountants, and other finance professionals possess exactly the skills — financial reporting expertise, audit methodology, corporate governance knowledge, regulatory compliance understanding, and data quality discipline — that the ESG ecosystem demands. Understanding how each professional community can engage with ESG — and how companies can leverage their existing professional advisors for ESG compliance — is critical for both professionals building ESG capabilities and companies choosing their ESG partners.

Chartered Accountants in ESG

CAs are the mandated providers of BRSR Core assurance under SEBI regulations — bringing audit methodology, independence standards, and stakeholder credibility to ESG verification. CAs also advise on ESG accounting, carbon accounting, and the financial implications of climate risk.

Company Secretaries in ESG

Company Secretaries play a central governance role in ESG — managing BRSR filings, advising boards on ESG governance structures, drafting ESG committee charters, managing stakeholder engagement processes, and ensuring ESG policy compliance with the Companies Act and SEBI LODR.

Cost Accountants in ESG

CMAs bring expertise in cost accounting, product-level costing, and operational data systems — critical for quantifying environmental costs, carbon pricing impacts, lifecycle cost analysis, and the financial modelling of sustainability investments and circular economy initiatives.

Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO)

Advisory on the evolving role of the CSO — the senior executive responsible for ESG strategy and implementation — including organisational structure, reporting lines (to board or CEO), competency requirements, and the integration of sustainability into business strategy.

ESG Committee of the Board

Support for establishing and operationalising a board-level ESG or sustainability committee — terms of reference, meeting cadence, KPI oversight framework, and integration with audit committee, risk committee, and nomination and remuneration committee functions.

ESG in Internal Audit

Advisory on integrating ESG risk assessment and ESG data quality review into the internal audit function — assessing ESG-related internal controls, data governance, compliance with environmental regulations, and readiness for third-party ESG assurance.

Why Finance and Governance Professionals Are Central to ESG

ESG is fundamentally a reporting, governance, and assurance challenge — and these are domains where finance and governance professionals have decades of established expertise. The challenge of measuring and reporting GHG emissions accurately is not fundamentally different from measuring and reporting financial performance — both require a defined methodology, consistent application, traceable data, internal controls, and independent verification. The governance challenge of board ESG oversight is not different from the board's existing financial oversight role — it requires similar committee structures, KPI frameworks, and management reporting disciplines.

ICAI and ICSI have both recognised this opportunity — ICAI has issued guidance notes on ESG assurance and CAs are the mandated BRSR Core assurance providers; ICSI has developed ESG-related professional development programmes for Company Secretaries. The professional community is actively building ESG capabilities alongside their traditional financial and governance roles.

Key ESG Roles Finance Professionals Play

BRSR Core assurance provider (Chartered Accountant in practice — SEBI mandated)
ESG data auditor — verifying sustainability metrics before external disclosure
Carbon accounting advisor — quantifying Scope 1, 2, and 3 GHG emissions
Financial risk advisor — quantifying climate transition and physical risks in financial statements
Board ESG governance advisor (Company Secretary) — committee structuring, BRSR filing management
Internal ESG auditor — reviewing ESG data quality, controls, and regulatory compliance
ESG integration advisor for investment decisions (CFA, CA with sustainability expertise)
CSR compliance advisor — Section 135 Companies Act, CSR Committee, and annual reporting

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a Chartered Accountant provide ESG advisory without specific sustainability qualifications?

A CA's existing expertise in financial reporting, audit methodology, internal controls, and regulatory compliance provides a strong foundation for ESG advisory work — particularly in areas like ESG accounting, ESG data quality review, BRSR compliance advisory, and assurance engagements. However, ESG-specific technical knowledge — GHG accounting protocols, environmental management systems, social impact measurement, and specific framework requirements (GRI, TCFD, ISSB) — requires additional learning. ICAI has issued guidance on ESG assurance and offers ESG-related CPE programmes. CAs entering the ESG space typically combine their existing professional skills with targeted ESG technical training to build a comprehensive capability. SEBI's mandate that BRSR Core assurance be provided by CAs recognises the profession's core competencies in reporting, audit, and assurance.

What is the role of the Company Secretary in BRSR filing and ESG governance?

The Company Secretary has multiple ESG-related responsibilities: (a) coordinating the BRSR data collection process across the organisation — working with HR, operations, environment, and finance teams to gather the required disclosures; (b) ensuring the BRSR is reviewed and approved by the board before filing; (c) advising the board on ESG-related governance requirements — committee structures, policy adoption, stakeholder engagement; (d) managing the interface with SEBI on BRSR and other ESG regulatory matters; and (e) ensuring the company's Articles, board resolutions, and corporate governance practices align with evolving ESG governance expectations. The CS role in ESG governance is directly analogous to their existing role in financial governance — they are the procedural backbone of the company's ESG compliance architecture.

How is the internal audit function evolving to cover ESG risks?

Internal audit functions are progressively expanding their scope to include ESG risk assessment and ESG data quality review — particularly as ESG data becomes regulated and subject to external assurance. A mature internal audit ESG approach covers: (a) assessment of the completeness and accuracy of ESG data before it is submitted for external assurance; (b) review of the company's compliance with environmental regulations (pollution consents, EPR obligations, hazardous waste management); (c) evaluation of ESG-related internal controls — who collects data, who reviews it, and what prevents errors; (d) assessment of ESG risks in the company's value chain — supply chain labour practices, environmental compliance of key suppliers; and (e) reporting ESG risk findings to the Audit Committee alongside traditional financial and operational risks.

What competencies should a Chief Sustainability Officer have?

A Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) in an Indian company needs a combination of technical, strategic, and communication competencies: technical knowledge of GHG accounting protocols, environmental management, ESG frameworks (BRSR, GRI, TCFD), and relevant environmental laws; strategic ability to integrate ESG considerations into business strategy, capital allocation, and risk management; stakeholder communication skills to translate ESG data into compelling narratives for investors, regulators, customers, and employees; project management capability to drive ESG data collection, reporting, and programme implementation across a complex organisation; and governance acumen to manage the board ESG committee and coordinate with the CS, CFO, and audit committee on ESG matters. Many CSOs in India come from backgrounds in environmental science, finance, law, or strategy consulting — each bringing different strengths that must be complemented with specific ESG technical learning.

How are professional institutes in India responding to the ESG opportunity?

ICAI (Institute of Chartered Accountants of India) has issued guidance notes on ESG assurance, formed a Sustainability Reporting Standards Board, and is developing Indian Sustainability Reporting Standards aligned with ISSB. ICAI members are the designated BRSR Core assurance providers under SEBI's framework. ICSI (Institute of Company Secretaries of India) has developed ESG governance training programmes and has issued guidance on the Company Secretary's role in ESG. ICWAI/ICMAI (Institute of Cost Accountants of India) is developing sustainability costing frameworks and training for CMAs. All three premier professional institutes recognise ESG as a major new service area for their members and are investing in standards, guidance, and professional development to build ESG capabilities within their membership bases.

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