Global ESG Evidence Architecture

This paper introduces the Global ESG Evidence Architecture, a conceptual framework that models sustainability governance as a seven-layer institutional system connecting real-economy sustainability activities with international sustainability standards. The architecture identifies a structural gap within the current ESG ecosystem: the absence of an evidence infrastructure layer capable of transforming sustainability actions into structured and verifiable ESG data prior to reporting and assurance processes. To address this gap, the paper introduces the concept of Evidence Anchoring, which describes the process through which sustainability activities are captured, structured, and converted into traceable evidence records. The study further presents the Participation–Action–Data–Value (PADV) framework as a conceptual model for structuring behavioral sustainability activities into institutional ESG evidence. Together, these elements provide a conceptual architecture for understanding how sustainability actions may evolve into verifiable ESG information within global governance systems.