Abstract
<jats:p>The Global ESG Evidence Architecture (GEEA) introduces a conceptual governance framework describing how sustainability evidence flows across institutional ecosystems through a seven-layer governance architecture centered upon the Evidence Infrastructure Layer.</jats:p> <jats:p>Operating as the conceptual foundation of the broader Evidence Infrastructure Ecosystem, GEEA addresses a structural challenge increasingly observed across sustainability governance: reporting standards, assurance methodologies, financial systems, and regulatory frameworks all depend upon sustainability information whose upstream evidence generation architecture remains insufficiently defined.</jats:p> <jats:p>The framework identifies the Evidence Infrastructure Layer as the missing institutional layer responsible for transforming participation activities into structured, traceable, and governance-ready evidence before reporting and assurance processes occur.</jats:p> <jats:p>To address this challenge, the paper introduces the concept of Evidence Anchoring as the institutional mechanism through which sustainability participation is captured, structured, and preserved as trustworthy evidence.</jats:p> <jats:p>The paper further introduces the conceptual origin of the Participation–Action–Data–Value (PADV) methodology, establishing the first evidence generation model within the broader Evidence Infrastructure Ecosystem.</jats:p> <jats:p>The framework does not generate evidence. The framework does not perform reporting. The framework does not perform assurance.</jats:p> <jats:p>Instead, GEEA provides the conceptual governance architecture necessary for understanding how sustainability evidence flows across institutional ecosystems and supports subsequent methodological, architectural, governance, and implementation frameworks.</jats:p> <jats:p>By establishing the conceptual foundation of the Evidence Infrastructure Ecosystem, GEEA provides the institutional basis upon which PADV, NTCC, InstiTech, ICTF, STRC, V-LAYER, and subsequent Evidence Infrastructure frameworks are constructed.</jats:p>