The impact of remote sensing on monitoring and reporting - The case of conformance systems

The rapid development of remote sensing technologies (such as airborne, unmanned aerial vehicles and terrestrial sensors) as surveillance tools to monitor the environment exposes firms, industry sectors and national economies to new levels of transparency. The veracity and timeliness of remote sensing technologies outpaces the surveillance capabilities of existing monitoring and reporting practices in organisations and their supply chains – which are often based on in situ observations and operated through processes that were largely developed in the pre-internet era. This paper provides a conceptual analysis of the impact of remote sensing on conformance systems (also referred to as assurance systems) – an infrastructure that is typical for standards, monitoring and reporting mechanisms such as ISO 14001, the GRI or ESG.