Industry Collaborations
ESG Services – Equatorial Strategies Group’s Collaboration with Verita
Organisations are facing tighter regulations, increased investor scrutiny, and heightened expectation from consumers, making it more important than ever to embed ESG considerations into the core of a business.
For investors and donors, credible ESG assurance is increasingly central to de-risking potential investments, particularly where operations or partners are exposed to complex governance, safeguarding, labour, or supply-chain risks.
The UK Companies Act, FRC guidelines, and modern slavery reporting mandates demand more from organisations than strategy and reporting – they require evidence, verification, and governance systems that work in practice.
Not only this, organisations operating in complex and high-risk environments require credible ESG assurance to strengthen compliance with evolving regulatory and assurance expectations, give investors and donors greater confidence that their commitments are embedded and capable of delivering measurable value, and protect people, operations, and long-term reputation.
Equatorial Strategies Group collaborates with Verita to deliver integrated ESG services that combine strategic advisory, investigative rigour, and independent verification.
Through this collaboration, Equatorial draws on Verita’s established UK-based expertise in due diligence, corporate investigations, and management consulting to support organisations seeking to achieve regulatory compliance, improve service levels, create cost efficiencies, and measure their impact on society.
Verita has extensive experience investigating complex cases across the public, private, and charity sectors, including serious incident reviews, institutional abuse, and high-level disciplinary matters for public bodies, businesses, political parties, and government departments.
By combining Equatorial’s deep experience in high-risk emerging markets and conflict-affected environments with Verita’s investigative and assurance capability, we help organisations strengthen compliance with evolving regulatory and assurance expectations. Our collaboration gives investors and donors greater confidence that Environmental, Social, and Governance commitments are embedded, credible, and capable of delivering measurable value.
This provides a practical basis for de-risking potential investments by identifying material ESG weaknesses before they crystallise into legal, operational, reputational, or fiduciary exposure.
Together, Equatorial and Verita provide ESG services designed to withstand regulatory, donor, and investor scrutiny.
Integrated ESG Advisory, Capacity, and Performance Services
ESG Capacity Assessments
Equatorial Strategies Group and Verita deliver ESG Capacity Assessments that evaluate how effectively an organisation embeds Environmental, Social, and Governance responsibilities into leadership oversight, policy architecture, operational practice, and data discipline. These assessments provide an evidence-based view of governance and control maturity across safeguarding, labour standards, supply-chain oversight, compliance, risk management, and disclosure integrity.
Capacity assessments determine whether ESG frameworks are credible, consistently applied, and aligned with regulatory requirements, domestic governance codes, donor safeguarding expectations, OECD Due Diligence Guidance, and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
ESG Performance Assessments
Building on capacity findings, ESG Performance Assessments measure how well ESG commitments translate into real-world outcomes. These assessments evaluate whether policies, controls, and oversight mechanisms produce consistent results that protect people, strengthen organisational resilience, and safeguard long-term value.
By combining Equatorial’s field-level insight and contextual intelligence with Verita’s benchmarking, analysis, and reporting expertise, these performance assessments identify gaps between stated commitments and operational reality – providing decision makers and investors with a clear picture of ESG effectiveness and risk exposure, and supporting UK investor scrutiny, shareholder expectations, and domestic reporting transparency.
Safeguarding, Working Conditions, and Supply-Chain Due Diligence
A core element of Equatorial’s collaboration with Verita is safeguarding-centred ESG due diligence, with particular focus on working conditions, child protection, labour practices, and supply-chain integrity.
Our joint approach integrates:
Safeguarding investigations and labour-practice verification
Supply-chain and partner due diligence
Tracing of labour, materials, funds, and decision-making pathways
Assessment of grievance mechanisms, escalation pathways, and accountability
Using evidence-based investigative methods – including document and data review, staff and stakeholder interviews, partner and supplier verification, and external intelligence – we identify risks such as modern slavery, child labour, exploitation, unsafe working environments, security-related harm, and governance failures that may be obscured by complex operating contexts or reliance on self-reported data to ensure UK Modern Slavery Act compliance, satisfy corporate transparency mandates, and achieve domestic supply-chain accountability standards
This approach enables donors and investors to assess both ESG capacity (whether appropriate safeguards and oversight exist) and ESG performance (whether those safeguards function effectively in practice), strengthening disclosure integrity and reducing legal, reputational, and fiduciary risk.
ESG Investigations, Due Diligence, and Independent Assurance
Drawing on Equatorial’s expertise in governance investigations, safeguarding, and intelligence-led analysis, alongside Verita’s background in corporate investigations, management consultancy, and UK regulatory compliance, the collaboration delivers ESG investigations and due diligence that go beyond compliance checklists.
These services are particularly suited to:
UK-operating companies facing complex domestic or international supply chains and partner-dependent operations.
Supply-chain viability assessments aligned with UK corporate transparency and modern slavery reporting mandates.
Situations involving alleged safeguarding failures, labour violations, or governance breakdowns that require independent, defensible scrutiny.
Pre-investment, pre-funding, or post-incident ESG reviews
NGO sector environmental and humanitarian programmes
Charitable sector donor-funded programmes
Findings are evidence-based, independently verifiable, and structured to support decision-making, investor assurance, regulatory review, and board-level accountability.
Why Independent Investigations Are Essential to Credible ESG
Verita’s team of experts consists of specialist investigators with backgrounds in complex regulatory, safeguarding, and corporate inquiries, with extensive experience managing operational challenges. By independently analysing complex, sensitive, or high-profile business issues affecting culture and governance structures, we are able to conduct robust investigations which get to the core of why things go wrong. Our unique set of skills means that we can identify issues affecting ESG and recommend actions for improvement which organisations can trust.
Case Example: Resolving Conflicts of Interest and Governance Breakdown
A public sector commissioning body faced complex governance challenges and allegations regarding potential conflicts of interest in service allocation and decision-making. Existing internal controls struggled to provide transparent oversight, raising concerns among stakeholders and regulators.
Verita was commissioned to conduct an independent investigation into the organisation's governance structures, register of interests, and decision-making pathways. Using thorough document reviews and stakeholder interviews, the team mapped out where structural vulnerabilities allowed conflicts to go unmanaged.
We delivered an objective, evidence-based report complete with actionable recommendations, enabling leadership to overhaul their governance framework, restore public and regulatory trust, and establish robust controls to prevent future oversight failures.
A Complementary, Independent Collaboration
Equatorial Strategies Group and Verita operate as independent but closely aligned partners, ensuring investigative integrity while combining complementary strengths. Through this collaboration, clients benefit from Equatorial’s strategic ESG advisory and field-level investigation capability, reinforced by Verita’s independent UK-based assurance expertise, without compromising objectivity or credibility.
Integrated ESG Advisory, Legal, and Assurance Services
As ESG expectations move beyond disclosure towards demonstrable governance, accountability, and operational resilience, Equatorial Strategies Group and Verita provide an integrated service that supports organisations in embedding responsible business practices into strategy, governance, risk management, and day-to-day operations. The collaboration combines ESG advisory, assessment, due diligence, investigations, and assurance for organisations operating in complex, high-risk, or multi-jurisdictional environments. This work is further strengthened by access to specialist ESG legal services through Equatorial’s affiliated London-based law firm, Meridian Legal Group, helping clients align ESG commitments with legal duties, governance structures, regulatory expectations, and investor scrutiny.
Engage With Us
Whether you are a donor, investor, board, or executive team seeking assurance over ESG risk, governance standards, safeguarding, working conditions, or supply-chain integrity, Equatorial Strategies Group and Verita offer a collaborative ESG capability designed for strict regulatory scrutiny and operational complexity.
We welcome confidential discussions to explore how this collaboration can support your governance, safeguarding, and due-diligence objectives – providing clarity, accountability, and confidence where it matters most.
Contact us to discuss tailored ESG advisory, investigations, or due-diligence support.
