CSRD Governance,
ESG Risk & Assurance Readiness
José Yakoubian
I spent most of my career on the inside of that judgment, at Sustainalytics, deciding whether a sustainability or transition claim deserved the label investors, insurers, and rating agencies were being asked to trust. Now I use that same scrutiny to make sure your claims hold up before anyone else gets the chance to decide against them.
Most CSRD advisory stops at the framework. I work at the level where the decision carries real exposure: approving the disclosure, signing off the materiality assessment, declaring EU Taxonomy alignment under incomplete data.
My background is in mechanical engineering and a decade in capital-intensive energy operations. That shapes how I think about risk — at the asset level, not just the reporting level.
I am José Yakoubian
My perspective was shaped across several environments. I grew up in Venezuela, spent 15 years in Canada, and now live and work from the Netherlands. Moving across those realities gave me an early understanding of how business, energy, governance, and society are connected.
That is what continues to shape my work today: helping organisations create alignment across leadership, finance, operations, risk, legal, and sustainability when decisions carry long-term consequences.
Twenty years across energy, capital markets, and sustainability governance
Green Line Studio works at the intersection of regulation, financial controls, and execution.
I am typically brought in when sustainability decisions move beyond disclosure and begin carrying governance, financial, or regulatory consequences for the organisation. These are consequential decisions: approve the disclosure, define the scope, commit to the target.
A background in mechanical engineering and field operations gives me an operational perspective most sustainability advisors lack. I think in terms of systems, controls, operational realities, and how decisions actually behave once they move beyond the disclosure itself.
I stay close to the work and remain involved through execution, helping leadership teams make decisions that hold up under external review.
Speaking engagements have included Environmental Finance's ESG in Fixed Income EMEA conference (London, 2022), where I was an invited speaker on sustainability-linked bonds, market credibility, and greenwashing exposure in sustainable finance.
Senior judgment, direct access, and no large-firm machinery.
Polished slides do not resolve difficult decisions. You need someone who can identify where the real governance, assurance, regulatory, or credibility risk sits, challenge weak assumptions early, and turn that judgment into a practical course of action.
GreenLine Studio brings the scrutiny of an ESG ratings agency and the commercial discipline of an advisor to every engagement. The objective is simple: decisions that are clearer, claims that are more defensible, and work that stands up when challenged by auditors, investors, and regulators.
Engagements built around a specific situation, not a service catalogue.
The four areas below reflect where governance gaps most consistently translate into audit exposure, regulatory risk, or capital markets credibility problems.
Double materiality, ESRS gap analysis, governance structures, and implementation support built for assurance scrutiny — not just to produce a report. Finance, legal, risk, and operations aligned around decisions that survive external review.
Governance-firstSecond-Party Opinions, EU Taxonomy alignment, and green and sustainability-linked framework assessments. Backed by direct involvement in EUR 30–50B of thematic debt transactions across global capital markets.
Capital markets depthStructured programmes for leadership teams and risk functions covering CSRD, ESG risk, sustainable finance, and enterprise risk management. Designed so that the people approving disclosures and materiality outcomes understand what they are signing, and what they are accountable for.
Decision-readyMateriality framing and disclosure governance informed by assessing 100+ listed companies annually in high-scrutiny sectors. Understanding of how ESG risk is judged externally — by investors, rating agencies, and regulators — not just reported internally.
Investor-grade rigourGovernance and capital markets exposure
What connects these engagements is not the category of work — it is the moment of consequence: a disclosure that required sign-off, a materiality decision with board exposure, a financing framework where credibility was on the line.
Led CSRD governance and implementation engagements across manufacturing, insurance, and financial services. Supported institutional investors and Dutch insurance groups on climate transition strategy aligned with NZIF, including carbon exposure analysis and regulatory implementation roadmaps across CSRD, ESRS, SFDR, and EU Taxonomy.
Led a full double materiality assessment for a multinational industrial group with no established ESG function ahead of first reporting obligations. Covered stakeholder interviews, executive workshops, ESRS benchmarking, and materiality prioritisation, establishing a governance foundation across leadership, risk, and operational functions.
Supervised 110+ ESG risk rating assessments annually across publicly traded energy and mining companies, one of the most externally scrutinised sectors in global capital markets. This work provided direct insight into how investors, rating agencies, and capital providers evaluate ESG performance: what governance structures hold under pressure, what disclosure gaps create credibility risk, and where management quality is the deciding variable.
Supported green financing frameworks for two of Europe’s largest low-carbon mobility initiatives. Work included governance assessment, use-of-proceeds eligibility, lifecycle and avoided emissions methodologies, and alignment with ICMA Green Bond and Green Loan Principles across automotive electrification and battery manufacturing.
Supported financing frameworks for telecommunications and digital infrastructure platforms across Europe. Work covered 5G and fibre modernisation, renewable electricity sourcing, circularity, KPI calibration, and science-based emissions reduction targets.
Supported financing frameworks across banking, private credit, and investment holding platforms where financed emissions methodology and disclosure credibility carried direct implications for investor confidence. For ICG, this included one of the early sustainability-linked bond frameworks in the private equity sector aligned with emerging SBTi Private Equity Guidance, translating portfolio decarbonisation expectations into financially linked performance targets.
Assessed sustainability-linked finance frameworks for two of the world’s largest retail and food groups. KPI materiality and target calibration covered Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, FLAG emissions, agricultural supply chains, renewable electricity, circular economy, and large distributed retail networks.
Supported green financing linked to logistics real estate decarbonisation and energy-efficient buildings across Europe. Scope included EU Taxonomy alignment, climate risk integration, project selection criteria, and alignment with ICMA Green Bond and Green Loan Principles.
Supported a combined green and sustainability-linked financing framework covering sustainable forestry, biomaterials, circular manufacturing, and industrial decarbonisation. Scope included use-of-proceeds eligibility, KPI calibration, and alignment with Green Bond and Sustainability-Linked Finance Principles.
Most governance failures begin before the first disclosure is written.
They begin when the people responsible for sustainability decisions do not fully understand the regulatory environment they are operating in, the scrutiny they are inviting, or the accountability they are accepting. These programmes build the capability to question assumptions, interpret ESG information, and connect sustainability requirements to governance, risk, finance, and operational decisions.
Programmes have been delivered for corporate teams and operational functions across multiple sectors, both in-person and virtually.
Applied ESG, CSRD, double materiality, sustainable finance, and ESG risk training. Designed for professionals who need to work fluently across disclosure, governance, and implementation without a background built specifically for it.
Board and leadership sessions focused on the questions senior decision makers need to ask before approving disclosures, materiality outcomes, transition claims, or sustainability commitments that carry financial and regulatory exposure.
Operational risk management training that helps risk, audit, and operations teams bring sustainability and climate risk into existing enterprise governance, escalation, and control frameworks without rebuilding from scratch.
Selected references across advisory, capital markets, ESG risk, and training
For ESG governance, sustainable finance, climate transition, or training support, choose a time that works for you.
Amsterdam, Netherlands
+31 6 2939 6705
jose@greenlinestudio.nl
Jose Yakoubian on LinkedIn
GreenLine Studio on LinkedIn
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