Independent Assurance Statement to Mondi Group

Performance
Independent Assurance Statement to Mondi Group
ERM Certification and Verification Services (ERM CVS) was engaged by Mondi Group to provide
assurance in relation to the information set out below and presented in the online Mondi 2014
Sustainable Development Report (the Report).
Engagement Summary
Scope:
1. W
hether the 2014 data for the following key performance indicators (‘KPIs’) are
fairly presented, in all material respects:
2. W
hether the Report has been prepared in accordance with the GRI G3
Sustainability Reporting Guidelines (the ‘GRI G3 Guidelines’).
•Total energy usage (GJ);
3. Whether the disclosures relating the above KPIs in the Report are consistently
presented in the Mondi Group Integrated report and financial statements 2014
(Integrated Report) and Mondi Group’s printed sustainability publication, Working
together for a sustainable future 2014 (the printed sustainability publication).
•Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions (tonnes CO2e);
•Environmental incidents (Levels II and III, number);
•Total water input (m3);
•Total water output (m3);
•Total contact and non-contact water use (m3);
•Total hazardous and non-hazardous waste (tonnes);
•NOx emissions (tonnes);
•Certified wood and pulp procured (tonnes);
4. W
hether the disclosures relating to GHG emissions presented in the section
‘Greenhouse gas emissions and climate change’ on page 34 of the Integrated
Report comply with the requirements of the UK Companies Act 2006 (Strategic
Report and Directors’ Report) Regulations 2013.
In addition we were asked to check whether the report is consistent with the criteria
for a GRI G.3 Application Level B+.
•Chain-of-Custody certified operations (number, percentage);
•Total Recordable Case Rate (number/ 200,000 hours).
•Land claims settled in forestry operations in South Africa (number and percentage);
•Land transferred to claimant communities in forestry operations in South Africa
(area and percentage);
•Saleable production volume (tonnes, m2, sacks)
Reporting
Criteria:
The Sustainability Reporting Guidelines G3 of the Global Reporting Initiative and internal indicator criteria developed by Mondi and described in the section ‘About this report’
and the relevant performance sections.
ISO14064-1:2006 and the WBCSD WRI GHG Protocol (2004) for the Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions.
Assurance
Standard:
ERM CVS’ assurance methodology, based on the International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE 3000).
Assurance
level:
Reasonable assurance: Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions for Mondi Group’s pulp and paper mills.
Respective
responsibilities:
Mondi Group is responsible for preparing the Report and for the collection and presentation of the information within it.
ISO 14064-3:2006 for the Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions.
Limited assurance: Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions for Mondi Group’s converting operations, and all other scopes set out above.
ERM CVS’ responsibility is to provide conclusions on the agreed scope based on the assurance activities performed and exercising our professional judgement.
102 Mondi Group | Sustainable development report 2014
Performance
Independent Assurance Statement to Mondi Group continued
Our conclusions
•A review of external media reporting relating to
Mondi Group to identify relevant sustainability
issues in the reporting period.
In our opinion, the 2014 Scope 1 and Scope 2
GHG emissions for Mondi Group’s pulp and paper
mills are fairly presented, in all material respects, in •A review of the internal reporting guidelines,
including conversion factors used.
accordance with the reporting criteria.
•Two visits to Mondi Head Office in Vienna,
Based on our activities:
Austria to
•nothing has come to our attention to indicate
–– Interview relevant staff to understand Mondi
that the 2014 data for the other KPIs, as listed
Group’s Sustainable Development (SD)
under ‘Scope’ above, are not fairly presented, in
strategy, policies and management systems
all material respects, with the reporting criteria;
for the KPIs.
•nothing has come to our attention to indicate
–– Interview relevant staff to understand and
that the Report has not been prepared, in all
evaluate the data management systems and
material respects, in accordance with the GRI
processes (including IT systems and internal
G3 Guidelines;
review processes) used for collecting and
reporting SD data.
•nothing has come to our attention to indicate
that the disclosures relating to the above KPIs in
•Visits to eight production sites in Germany,
the Report are not consistently presented in the
Russia, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Poland, Mexico and
Integrated Report and the printed sustainability
Turkey to verify the source data underlying the
publication; and
Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions, the
•nothing has come to our attention to indicate
other environmental and safety indicators, the
that the disclosures relating to GHG emissions
certified wood and pulp indicator, the Chain-ofpresented in the section ‘Greenhouse gas
Custody certification indicator and the saleable
emissions and climate change’ on page 34
production volume indicator.
of the Integrated Report do not comply with
•A visit to the offices of Mondi Group in
the requirements of the UK Companies Act
Pietermaritzburg, South Africa to review
2006 (Strategic Report and Directors’ Report)
the source data underlying the land
Regulations 2013.
claims indicators.
GRI application level
We conclude that the self-declared G3 Application
Level B+, based on the GRI Content Index
included in the Report, is consistent with the GRI
criteria for this Application Level.
Our assurance activities
A multi-disciplinary team of sustainability, GHG
and assurance specialists performed the
following activities:
103 Mondi Group | Sustainable development report 2014
•An analytical review of the year end data
submitted by all sites included in the
consolidated 2014 group data for the KPIs.
•Reviewing selected evidence related to the
design, information collection, and production
of the Report in accordance with the GRI G.3
Sustainability Reporting Guidelines.
•Reviewing the presentation of information
relevant to the scope of our work in the Report
to ensure consistency with our findings.
•Reviewing the consistency of the assured
disclosures between the Report, the Integrated
Report and the printed sustainability publication.
•Reviewing the GHG disclosures in the Integrated
Report against the requirements of the UK
Companies Act 2006 (Strategic Report and
Directors’ Report) Regulations 2013.
In addition, for the Scope 1 and Scope 2
GHG data:
•Assessing the conclusions of accredited thirdparty verification bodies relating to the verification
of Scope 1 CO2e emissions for 2014 from Mondi
Group’s pulp and paper mills that fall within the
scope of the EU emissions trading scheme (EU
ETS) and checking consistency of the verified
emissions with the data for these operations
included in the consolidated data in the Report.
•Requesting and performing desktop verification
of underlying source data for GHG emissions
from two other pulp and paper mills not
covered by our site visits or the EU ETS
verification process.
Our Observations
We have provided Mondi Group with a separate
detailed management report. Without affecting
the conclusions presented above, we have the
following key observations:
•Our work at Mondi sites this year indicates that
operations are improving their understanding
of the flow of water through the production
processes and are therefore more accurately
reporting contact and non-contact water use.
However, based on performance to date,
Mondi’s commitment to reduce specific contact
water consumption by 10% by 2015 against a
2010 base year remains a challenging target.
•The development of a new set of medium
term goals during 2015 together with Mondi’s
commitment to report in accordance with GRI
G4 guidelines in 2015 should facilitate further
focus on material sustainability issues in the
2015 report. During this process we recommend
consideration is given to the specific impacts of
Mondi’s expanding packaging businesses.
•Testing the calculation of the Scope 1 and
Scope 2 GHG emissions and reviewing
uncertainties associated with the measuring
and reporting of GHG emissions data for
Mondi Group’s pulp and paper mills at site and
Group levels.
Jennifer Iansen-Rogers
Head of Report Assurance
The limitations of our engagement
31 March 2015
The reliability of the assured data is subject
to inherent uncertainties, given the available
methods for determining, calculating or estimating
the underlying information. It is important to
understand our assurance conclusions in this
context. Our independent assurance statement
provides no assurance on the maintenance and
integrity of the website, including controls used
to achieve this, and in particular whether any
changes may have occurred to the information
since it was first published.
ERM Certification and Verification Services,
London
www.ermcvs.com
Email: [email protected]
ERM CVS is a member of the ERM Group. The work that ERM CVS
conducts for clients is solely related to independent assurance
activities and auditor training. Our processes are designed and
implemented to ensure that the work we undertake with clients
is free from bias and conflict of interest. ERM CVS and the staff
that have undertaken work on this assurance exercise provide no
consultancy related services to Mondi Group in any respect.