Ownership is the foundation
Most data-quality problems in sustainability reporting start with unclear ownership. Finance owns the ledger, procurement owns the supplier data, operations owns the meters, and sustainability reports the final number. Without clear ownership, nobody is accountable for the figures that appear in disclosures.
A good governance framework assigns data owners and data stewards for each significant metric, with defined responsibilities for collection, validation, approval and change control.
Traceability matters more than perfection
You do not need perfect data to report well. You need to know where each figure came from, what was changed, who approved it, and what limitations apply. This is the difference between a number that can be defended and a number that collapses under scrutiny.
Build controls around the reporting cycle
Governance is not a one-off policy. It is a set of controls applied through the reporting cycle: data collection, validation, reconciliation, calculation, review, approval, evidence retention and change control. Each control should have a clear owner, a documented method and an audit trail.