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Alaya Consulting is a specialist consultancy focusing on ESG reporting, pre-assurance and sustainability training.
Alaya Consulting is a specialist consultancy focusing on ESG reporting, pre-assurance and sustainability training.
Associate consultant
Ruby Fang joined Alaya Consulting as an associate consultant in hopes to promote corporate social responsibility and sustainable development. Her main role includes day-to-day client communication, data management and preparation of reports. She graduated from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology with a major in Environmental Sciences and a minor in Social Sciences. Ruby has also completed the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) accreditation training.
Associate consultant
I joined Alaya Consulting with an interest in environmental protection and sustainable development, hoping to provide better solutions for different companies, promoting sustainable development and achieving carbon neutrality. I was mainly responsible for data collection, environmental disclosure, carbon audits and assisting in the preparation of reports. I am fluent in Cantonese, Mandarin and English. I graduated with a master’s degree in environmental engineering and management from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and a bachelor’s degree in atmospheric science from Nanjing University. I am also a yoga enthusiast.
Associate consultant
Xiaotong is responsible for handling data collection, writing ESG reports, and day-to-day client communications. She also assists with ESG disclosures and client support. She obtained her Master of Chemical Engineering in Shenzhen University, with a longterm focus on environmental pollutant assessment.
She also graduated in Bachelor of Engineering Science from Chang’an University, majoring in water pollution management.
Intern
Alisa Lam is an intern working at Alaya consulting during her gap year. She plans on studying Politics, International Relations and Global Sustainable Development at Warwick University in 2022. She has a keen interest in understanding what makes the best sustainability report, promoting corporate social responsibility and learning how to tailor sustainable strategies for different companies. She understands that implementing environmental and social policies is crucial in building a successful and resilient enterprise in today’s world. She is responsible for writing and revising reports as well as doing research for Alaya.
Management Trainee
Gabriel joined Alaya Consulting as a management trainee, responsible for conducting ESG advisory and reporting along with assisting the business development and marketing team.
He graduated from The University of Hong Kong with a bachelor’s degree of science majored in Environmental Science. Gabriel understands that working towards improving environmental and social issues is fundamental to building a sustainable and successful business. He would like to make a positive impact by joining the ESG advisory industry.
Associate consultant
Better ESG management shapes a more resilient and sustainable future.
Responsible for handling social data collection and analysis; Assist in preparing the sustainability report and daily communications with clients; Advise clients on ESG- related issues to optimize ESG disclosure and improve ESG performance.
Graduated from Uppsala University in Sweden with a master's degree in business and economics. Master thesis themed in green finance.
Associate Consultant
Eason joined Alaya Consulting as an associate consultant, responsible for preparing ESG reports. He is passionate about sustainability and eager in helping enterprises to improve their ESG performance. He graduated from The Chinese University of Hong Kong with a bachelor’s degree in science, major in Earth System Science and minor in Biology. Eason’s hobbies are playing table tennis and playing the guitar.
Consultant
Alva Yeung is keen in helping companies create sustainability strategies to help mitigate environment and social impact. Coming from an international relations background, she is familiar with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, UN Global Compact and other international initiatives. She is also responsible for social data analysis, facilitating stakeholder communication, ESG report writing and day-to-day client communication. Alva has completed the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) accreditation training.
Alva obtained her Master of International Relations and Public Affairs in University of Hong Kong and Bachelor Degree in City University of Hong Kong, major in Asian and International Studies.
Business Development and Marketing Manager
Sunny joined Alaya in 2020 with a goal to bolster ESG and sustainability in Hong Kong.
He works with Alaya to develop and promote its initiatives such as HERA and ESG Newswire.
He also works with existing and new partners to collaborate and host events promoting ESG strategy and disclosure.
Sunny has great plans to design and develop Alaya’s own ESG rating system in the coming future.
Born in India, bred in Hong Kong, and a bachelor’s degree from NYU, Sunny comes from a rich and diverse range of experiences.
He majored in Finance and Marketing and minored in Social Entrepreneurship.
He co-founded his own social enterprise, Grounded Upcycling, in New York that upcycles spent coffee grounds into soap and face masks.
In his free time, Sunny likes to go hiking, read, or play Squash!
Founder
Tony is the founder of Alaya Consulting Limited. With more than 16 years of experience in advising C-suite executives, both in-house and from the client side, he is particularly experienced in the development of corporate sustainability strategies, training, communication and ESG reporting approaches.
Tony works with client companies to help them improve disclosure levels and ESG ratings. Recent clients include AAC Technologies, CIMC, Panda Green Energy, Chiho Environmental Group, Integrated Waste Management, Baguio, MicroPort, Tianjin Port and others. Recent projects include organising the Hong Kong ESG Reporting Awards, contributing to the development of industry best practices.
Tony is a Chartered Company Secretary, a GRI Nominated Trainer, a carbon audit professional accredited by the Association of Energy Engineers, a Practitioner of Institute of Environmental Management Association and a certified sustainability assurance practitioner. He has also successfully completed the practitioner training of Integrated Reporting.
Prior to setting up Alaya, Tony assumed senior roles in various leading communications agencies and a Fortune top 10 financial services group. Before embarking on his career in communications, Tony spent a number of years in banking and financial journalism. He received a master’s degree in Corporate Governance from Hong Kong Polytechnic University and a bachelor’s degree in International Business from The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Benefits of Pre-Assurance
“Third party assurance is absolutely critical to building trust and legitimacy in your ESG report. Institutional investors are increasingly pushing for it as standard practice, and if you don’t start soon you will be left behind.”
Or so you’ve probably been told at some point.
But that alone doesn’t address some glaring yet common difficulties that many companies face. If you’re confident in the quality and integrity of your ESG disclosure practices, then the benefits of seeking third party assurance will likely outweigh the cost of the process. It’s the icing on the cake. But what if your company is still catching up? What if your disclosure efforts still leave a lot to be desired? What if your cake is still far from ideal?
We understand that some of you simply do not feel ready to commit to a costly external assurance process. In that case, seeking a pre-assurance service could be a good starting point for helping you improve your ESG disclosure practices. In this post, we give you a basic understanding of the ESG reporting assurance process and its benefits, and explain why a pre-assurance service may be just the thing you need.
WHAT IS ASSURANCE?
The goal of assurance is to increase the quality, accuracy, and robustness of your disclosed information through external verification, in turn enhancing the trustworthiness of your ESG report in the eyes of your stakeholders. The assurance process encompasses three phases: planning, execution, and reporting and feedback.
In the planning stage, significant considerations may include :
Defining the scope and focus of the assurance process : Does the whole report need to be assured? Or only specific disclosures within?
Determining the level of assurance : AccountAbility’s AA1000 standard, for example, differentiates between Type I and Type II assurance levels. The former examines alignment with AccountAbility’s core principles of inclusivity, materiality, and responsiveness, while the latter further adds a comprehensive data verification process. Obviously, a higher level of assurance corresponds to a higher perception of trustworthiness in your ESG report.
Role and degree of support from management : How will management support the assurance process and how much information will they provide the assurer?
The execution stage involves the assurer conducting activities to verify the plausibility of your ESG report content, supported by relevant information provided by the reporting company. This may involve stakeholder engagement, executive or employee interviews, document reviews, and site visits.
At the end, the assurance provider writes an external assurance report that summarises the findings from the assurance engagement, including references to criteria and methodologies used, activities conducted, as well as limitations to the disclosure and assurance process. Depending on the assurance provider, feedback and recommendations may or may not be included in the overall cost. The end product is an assurance statement that can be included in a company’s ESG report for increased legitimacy and trustworthiness.
HOW CAN ASSURANCE BENEFIT YOU?
The assurance process can help you strengthen the robustness and quality of your data collection processes as well as stakeholder engagement practices, in turn leading to more confidence in the quality and integrity of your ESG report. Depending on the assurance standard used however, the benefits to your company may differ. AccountAbility’s AA1000 Standard for example has a particularly strong focus on stakeholder involvement and materiality. Assurance based on that standard will likely improve your stakeholder engagement practices as well as help you build receptivity to stakeholder concerns, and indeed many companies rely not only on ESG reporting, but also the assurance process as a platform for stakeholder engagement.
But external assurance can admittedly be a costly process as well with uncertain returns.
After all, an assurance statement that reveals systemic flaws in your disclosure practices isn’t very reassuring at all. If that’s your primary concern, then rather than investing in third party assurance, a pre-assurance service may better fit your needs.
THE VALUE OF PRE-ASSURANCE
Pre-assurance gives you preliminary feedback regarding current performance, as well as recommendations for improvement of disclosure processes and systems so that you’ll be confidently prepared when the real thing happens. At the same time there are crucial differences between the two. Third party assurance primarily looks at past and current actions to validate what has already been reported. A pre-assurance service on the other hand focuses on giving recommendations to improve disclosure systems and processes for future reporting. If your priority is getting yourself ready for external assurance, e.g. tidy up internal process and ensure data accuracy, then seeking a Pre-Assurance service certainly makes more financial sense.
KEY TAKEAWAY
While third party assurance is not yet mandatory in Hong Kong, there is no reason to ignore assurance completely. Indeed, it is recommended that companies aspire to improve their ESG disclosure practices and systems for future third party assurance in case demand for it does arise, and for that purpose consulting a pre-assurance service is a smart first step toward helping you achieve more accurate, transparent, inclusive, and trustworthy ESG reporting.
Got more questions about our pre-assurance services? Feel free to find out more by contacting Tony Wong at +852 3990 0793.