BRSR Core Assurance in FY 2026-27: What the Top 1,000 Companies Need Ready

For many listed companies, FY 2026-27 is the first year in which their key ESG numbers must be independently checked. This guide explains what BRSR Core covers, what changed in 2025 and how to get ready, including how to keep plantation and offset claims from creating problems.

What BRSR Core is

SEBI introduced BRSR Core in its circular of 12 July 2023. It is a subset of the Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report: a short list of key performance indicators under nine ESG attributes, chosen because they can be measured and checked.

1. Greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint
2. Water footprint
3. Energy footprint
4. Embracing circularity (waste)
5. Employee wellbeing and safety
6. Gender diversity
7. Inclusive development
8. Fairness in engaging with customers and suppliers
9. Openness of business

The four environmental attributes include intensity ratios, so companies can be compared regardless of size.

Who must comply, and when

Assessment or assurance: the 2025 change

SEBI's circular of 28 March 2025 replaced the requirement for "reasonable assurance" with a choice. A company can have its BRSR Core either assessed, under standards developed by the Industry Standards Forum in consultation with SEBI, or assured under an assurance engagement. Either way, an independent party checks your numbers, and your data trail must stand up.

Readiness checklist

• Boundaries: list every site, subsidiary and operation included, and keep the list the same across attributes.
• Source data: energy bills, fuel records, water meters and waste manifests, kept by site and month.
• Emission factors: document which factors you used and why, and keep them consistent year to year.
• Controls: who collects, who reviews and who signs off each number.
• Changes: explain restatements and changes in method in the report.
• A dry run: have your assessor or assurer review last year's data before the real engagement.

How to handle tree plantation and offsets

Tree plantation is not one of the nine Core attributes, but it affects one of them indirectly. The GHG footprint attribute covers your Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions. Trees funded elsewhere must not be subtracted from these. An assessor will look for any netting, and finding it can raise doubts about the rest of your report.

Report plantation separately, under Principle 6 or Principle 8 of the wider BRSR, with its own evidence: locations, species, survival and any clearly labelled carbon estimate. Our BRSR Principle 6 guide shows where it goes.

Next steps

If your plantation data will appear anywhere in your BRSR, make sure it is as checkable as your energy data. We report every tree with geo-tags, photographs and survival data. See our ESG and BRSR support or try the BRSR readiness check.

Sources: SEBI circulars · BRSR Core assurance for FY 2026-27 (summary) · BRSR Core: assessment or assurance (summary). Last updated: October 2026. Rules change; check the latest notification before you rely on any detail.

Further reading: BRSR Principle 6: Where Tree Plantation and Biodiversity Go in Your Report · BRSR Value Chain Disclosures: Bringing Suppliers into Plantation Programmes