Internal Auditor IWA 48 Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)

Why ESG for Internal Auditors & Audit Team Members?

ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance, the three pillars organisations use to measure and improve how they impact the world, treat people, and manage accountability. In practice, ESG is how a business proves it’s operating responsibly, managing risk, and building long-term trust with stakeholders. It covers everything from emissions and resource use, to worker wellbeing and community impact, to ethics, transparency, and compliance.

Right now, ESG capability is one of the fastest-growing areas in business. Regulators are lifting expectations, investors are scrutinising claims, supply chains are under pressure to demonstrate performance, and customers want proof, not slogans. That means organisations need internal auditors and audit team members who can verify what’s real, identify gaps, and support continual improvement.

For you, this is a strong next step in your audit career.

Building ESG audit capability positions you to contribute to audits that touch every part of the organisation. It strengthens your professional credibility, expands the scope of audits you can participate in, and supports pathways into work such as ESG assurance, sustainability and responsible business, risk and governance, supplier auditing, and internal compliance programs.

This course prepares you to contribute effectively to ESG audits that:

• test what matters (not just what’s documented),
• uncover risks and opportunities,
• verify claims and performance,
• and support credible ESG reporting and continual improvement.

You’ll finish ready to support ESG audits internally—with a skillset organisations are actively looking for. If you are specifically looking to lead audit teams or run ESG audit programs, please refer to the Lead Auditor version of this course.

What You’ll Learn

• Interpret ESG principles and clause-based frameworks in real business contexts
• Map ESG obligations, risks, and stakeholder expectations
• Support ESG audit planning (scope, criteria, sampling, risk focus)
• Conduct effective interviews and evidence collection
• Identify nonconformities, gaps, and improvement opportunities
• Document clear, defensible audit evidence and contribute to ESG audit reporting
• Support follow-up activities, corrective actions, and improvement reviews
• Check ESG reporting for consistency, accuracy, and traceability
• Work effectively within an audit team and support the audit process end-to-end

Who This Course Is For

This course is designed for people who need to participate in ESG audits and contribute to audit outcomes, not necessarily lead audit teams.

It’s ideal if you are:

• an internal auditor or audit team member expanding into ESG
• supporting ESG, sustainability, or corporate responsibility activities and involved in internal audits
• a consultant supporting ESG system implementation and internal audit readiness
• working in compliance, risk, or governance and contributing to assurance activities
• preparing to support supplier / regulator / assurance audits as part of an internal team
• transitioning into ESG assurance support roles

If you need to lead ESG audits, manage audit teams, or run audit programs, please refer to the Lead Auditor IWA 48 Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) course.

If you already hold a Lead Auditor qualification, we recommend taking a look at the IWA 48:2024 ESG Implementation Specialist course to build on your existing qualification (no need to do it all over again).