The “Assurance Gap” in ESG Information Disclosure in the Baijiu Industry: Current Status, Causes, and Countermeasures

Abstract

With the release of the Guidelines for Sustainability Reports of Listed Companies by the Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing Stock Exchanges, A-share ESG information disclosure has entered a new “partially mandatory” stage. As a traditional industry with high environmental sensitivity, the baijiu industry has significantly increased its ESG report disclosure rate. However, behind the prosperity of disclosure, the coverage rate and quality of third-party assurance have long remained low, forming an “assurance gap.” Based on the publicly available ESG reports of 15 listed baijiu enterprises with operating revenue of more than RMB 1 billion in 2025, this paper systematically reviews the current status of ESG information disclosure and assurance in the baijiu industry, deconstructs the specific manifestations of the assurance gap from four dimensions-calibers, depth, scope, and providers-and further analyzes the underlying causes of the gap from four levels: institutional supply, technical system, corporate governance, and service supply. The study finds that among the 15 sample enterprises, 5 implemented third-party assurance, with a coverage rate of approximately 33.3%, slightly higher than the average level of 29.8% for the mandatory disclosure group in the overall market. However, the assurance standards are mainly AA1000AS v3 Type 2 moderate assurance and ISAE 3000 reasonable assurance; the assurance scope is mostly limited to selected performance indicators or excludes forward-looking information; industry-specific topics are insufficiently covered; and all assurance providers are international TIC institutions or consulting companies, with accounting firms absent. The formation of the assurance gap is the result of multiple factors: insufficient adaptation between general standards and industry characteristics, immaturity of non-financial assurance technology, weak independence of corporate ESG internal control, and lagging supply of professional assurance services. Accordingly, this paper proposes targeted countermeasures from four dimensions-institutional norms, technical support, corporate governance, and service cultivation-in order to provide a reference for bridging the ESG assurance gap in the baijiu industry and improving the quality of sustainability information disclosure in the industry.