Which practice best describes external assurance for SASB disclosures regarding material topics?

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External assurance means a third party independently checks the company’s sustainability disclosures, especially the material topics that could affect financial performance and the data behind the metrics. This verification provides an independent opinion on whether the information is complete and accurate, which boosts credibility with investors and other stakeholders. In SASB disclosures, focusing assurance on material topics and the data that support those disclosures helps ensure the information is reliable and comparable, reducing information risk. The other approaches—unverified estimates, avoiding assurance, or relying only on internal data—do not provide that external check, so they don’t align with the purpose of assurance. Therefore, including external assurance for material topics and data accuracy/completeness is the best practice.