While most EU companies and organizations are waiting for the outcome of the Omnibus CSRD negotiations, some Swedish companies are moving forward. They are using the Sustainability Declaration, developed by the Technical Committee of the Swedish Institute for Standards, to report on their sustainability work.
Now that the Sustainability Declaration is available in English as well, companies and organizations outside Sweden can join the front-runners. They can do so by following and adopting this ESG standard, embedded within ISO 26000 standard, one of the international guidelines for sustainability with the broadest international acceptance.
While there is still uncertainty regarding the legal aspects of the Omnibus, mainly the scope of the CSRD, the technical aspects of the ESRS remain unchanged. For all those companies that have already initiated work on CSRD compliance (namely Governance, Strategy & Business Model, Impacts, Risks & Opportunities, and Metrics & Targets), this provides an opportunity to incorporate the findings from their CSRD work into the Sustainability Declaration. Furthermore, if they choose so, they can get their Sustainability Declaration independently verified by a third-party accredited organization.
Verify Agency is the first organization in Sweden to get accredited to verify organizational sustainability claims. It is accredited by Swedac under the ISO 17029. Given the fact that Swedac, an agency under Sweden’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs, is a member of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA) and a signatory of the IAF MLA for ISO 17029, Verify Agency’s accreditation extends to all the countries whose accreditation bodies are signatories of the Mutual Recognition Agreements. These are, in effect, more than 100 countries globally and all of the EU countries.
While some uncertainty about the final text of the CSRD persists, one thing is clear: sustainability is not a regulatory burden but a strategic advantage. The sustainability transition is no longer simply a political ambition and a social and environmental goal; it is the economic reality that drives competitiveness, resilience, and innovation. Therefore, today’s companies’ and organizations’ position is defined by the answer given to the following question:
Do we want to lead or merely comply?
If the answer is to lead, we encourage you to start using the SIS/TS 2:2025 Sustainability Declaration and systematically structure your sustainability work and reporting.
If you choose to further enhance the transparency and credibility of your Sustainability Declaration, VERIFY Agency will provide the third-party verification process, an effective means to combat any perception of greenwashing. At the same time, with the help of our digital platform for verification, you can answer the Sustainability Declaration questions in several other European languages.
Learn more and contact us regarding the third-party verification process. www.verifyagency.com
Future-proof your organization by getting your Sustainability Declaration independently verified.
About the Sustainability Declaration and Third-Party Verification
The sustainability declaration is primarily aimed at all small and medium-sized companies that, based on their business and ambition, want to conduct and report their sustainability work in line with international guidelines and practices.
The aim of the Sustainability Declaration is to:
- Identify
- Evaluate
- Prioritize strategic focus areas for the organization’s social responsibility (social, economic, and environmental impact)
- Stake out a clear direction for the involvement.
The Sustainability Declaration can be used by all types of organizations that want support in their sustainability work, and its purpose is to:
- Support internal assessment of the organization’s systematic sustainability practices.
- Enable self-declaration of work aligned with SS-EN ISO 26000:2021, with the option for external verification.
- Communicate sustainability efforts to external stakeholders, such as potential customers in procurement situations.
- Clarify the organization’s approach to identifying, evaluating, and prioritizing strategic focus areas in social, economic, and environmental impact.
- Show contribution to sustainable development in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
- Simplify sustainability reporting, whether statutory or voluntary, including the organization’s mandatory sustainability report.
VERIFY Agency stands as a trusted partner, officially endorsed to bring clarity and integrity to sustainability reporting. With the help of our digital platform for verification, you can answer the Sustainability Declaration questions in several other European languages. Learn more and contact us regarding the third-party verification process.
Future-proof your organization by getting your Sustainability Declaration independently verified.
