Assurance

Introduction and objectives of work

Bureau Veritas UK Ltd. (‘Bureau Veritas’) has been engaged by Canary Wharf Group plc. (‘CWG’) to provide independent assurance over the quantitative data and performance against targets contained within the ‘Canary Wharf Group Sustainability Report 2020’ (‘the Report’) published on this website.

This Assurance Statement applies to the related information included within the scope of work described below.

Scope of work

The scope of our work was limited to assurance over the following information included in the Report for the period 1^st of January 2019 to the 31^st of December 2019 (the ‘Selected Information’):

Progress against targets within the “Targets” section as stated in the “2019 performance” and

”CRG Update 2019” columns;

• Environmental data covering energy consumption, water consumption and waste generated;
• Scope 1 & 2 greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions;
• Other quantitative claims contained within the Report related to:
  • Additional environmental statistics reported in the “Better Environment” section;
  • Health and Safety, data pertaining to Level39 and Human Resources data (except turnover data), within the “Better Business” section;
  • Community engagement, investment and socio-economic impact data included in the section “Better Community”;
  • Sustainable certification/ratings data within the “Benchmarking” and “Awards and EAMs” sections; and

Our review also included the following:

• Evaluation of the Report against the European Public Real Estate (‘EPRA’) Sustainability Reporting Best Practices Recommendations (sBPR).
• Zero  waste  to  landfill  verification  for  CWG’s  management  business  i.e.  Canary  Wharf Management Ltd. (CWML).

Reporting criteria

The Selected Information has been prepared in accordance with the internal definitions set out by CWG for their Sustainability Reporting. These are aligned with internationally acceptable definitions of the relevant indicators, such as those established by the EPRA sBPR. CWG also established a definition for Zero waste to Landfill which was used to assess their status on the same.

Limitations and exclusions

Excluded from the scope of our work is verification of any information relating to:

Activities outside the defined verification period;

• Any other information included in CWG’s Report other than the scope defined above;
• Positional statements of a descriptive or interpretative nature, or of opinion, belief, aspiration or commitment to undertake future actions;
• Financial data taken from the Annual Report and disclosed in the CSR Report which are audited by an external financial auditor, including but not limited to any statements relating to production, tax, sales, and financial investments; and
• Any information relating to the re-use, recycling or treatment of the waste by third parties that are contracted by CWG for the consignment of this material, or that are in subsequent receipt of this material.

This limited assurance engagement relies on a risk based selected sample of sustainability data and the associated limitations that this entails. This independent statement should not be relied upon to detect all errors, omissions or misstatements that may exist.

Responsibilities

The preparation and presentation of the Selected Information in the Report are the sole responsibility of the management of CWG.

Bureau Veritas was not involved in the drafting of the Report. Our responsibilities were to:

• Obtain limited assurance about whether the Selected Information has been prepared in accordance with internationally acceptable definitions of the relevant indicators;
• Form an independent conclusion based on the assurance procedures performed and evidence obtained and report our conclusions and recommendations to CWG.

Assessment standard

We performed our work in accordance with the requirements of the International Standard on Assurance Engagements (‘ISAE’) 3000 Revised, Assurance Engagements Other than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information (effective for assurance reports dated on or after December 15, 2015).

Our conclusions are for ‘limited’ assurance as set out in ISAE 3000.

Summary of work performed

As part of its independent verification, Bureau Veritas undertook the following activities:

1. Conducted interviews with relevant personnel of CWG;
2. Examined the data collection and consolidation processes used to compile the Selected Information, including assessing assumptions made, and the data scope and reporting boundaries;
3. Reviewed documentary evidence produced by CWG;
4. Agreed a selection of the Selected Information to the corresponding source evidence;
5. Assessed the disclosure and presentation of the Selected Information to ensure consistency with assured information;
6. Evaluated the Report against EPRA sBPR Guidelines; and
7. The Zero waste to Landfill review involved interviews, document review, and inspection of internal and external records remotely, and associated management and reporting systems for CWML. Bureau Veritas reviewed waste data through to consignment and confirmation of final disposal for a range of CWML’s waste streams as well as permits associated with disposal destination.

It should be noted that the procedures performed in a limited assurance engagement vary in nature and timing from, and are less in extent than for, a reasonable assurance engagement and consequently, the level of assurance obtained in a limited assurance engagement is substantially lower than the assurance that would have been obtained had a reasonable assurance engagement been performed.

Further, due to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, Bureau Veritas was not able to conduct any physical site visit for the purpose of on-site verification of CWML’s waste management. All verification was completed remotely, via conference calls, screen sharing and document sharing. We do not believe this had a material impact on any conclusions drawn.

Conclusion

On the basis of our methodology and the activities described above, nothing has come to our attention to indicate that:

• The Selected Information is not fairly stated in all material respects. It is our opinion that CWG has established appropriate systems for the collection, aggregation and analysis of sustainability data;
• CWML has not achieved its disposal objective of “Zero Waste to Landfill” based on the definition established by CWG.

A detailed report with our findings and recommendations is provided to CWG management.

Statement of independence, integrity and competence

Bureau Veritas is an independent professional services company that specialises in quality, environmental, health, safety and social accountability with over 190 years history. Its assurance team has extensive experience in conducting verification over environmental, social, ethical and health and safety information, systems and processes.

Bureau Veritas operates a certified1 Quality Management System which complies with the requirements of ISO 9001:2015, and accordingly maintains a comprehensive system of quality control including documented policies and procedures regarding compliance with ethical requirements, professional standards and applicable legal and regulatory requirements.

Bureau Veritas has implemented and applies a Code of Ethics, which meets the requirements of the International Federation of Inspections Agencies (IFIA)2, across the business to ensure that its employees maintain integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentiality, professional behaviour and high ethical standards in their day-to-day business activities. The assurance team for this work conducted the verification independently and is not involved in any other Bureau Veritas projects with CWG.

London, July 2020