Carlsberg Group Independent Assurance Report 2011

We were engaged by the Executive Board of Carlsberg A/S (further Carlsberg) to provide assurance on the performance for selected environmental indicators included on the Carlsberg Group CSR web section. The content of the CSR web section, including the identification of material issues, is the responsibility of the company’s management. Our responsibility is to issue an assurance report based on the engagement outlined below.

Our engagement was designed to provide limited assurance on whether the performance for the following environmental indicators is, in all material respects, presented in accordance with Carlsberg’s reporting criteria.

• Total thermal energy and electricity (GWh), total CO₂ (ktons) and total water (m³) used on site for beer, soft drinks and malt production;
  
• Specific energy consumption (kWh/hl) for beer and soft drink production;
  
• Specific CO₂ emissions (kg CO₂/hl) for beer and soft drink production;   
  
• Specific water consumption (hl/hl) for beer and soft drink production;
  
• Total production of beer and soft drinks (Million hl);

The performance for these indicators is shown by an asterisk (*) on the relevant environmental web pages together with the text ‘Within KPMG's assurance scope’.   

Procedures performed to obtain a limited level of assurance are aimed at determining the plausibility of information and are less extensive than those for a reasonable level of assurance.

We have also assessed whether the explanatory notes on the web pages ‘Energy and Emissions’ and ‘Water’ are consistent with our findings. 

Reporting criteria and assurance standard

For the information covered by our engagement scope Carlsberg applies criteria as detailed on the web page ‘Reporting Process and Scope’. It is important to view the performance of the selected indicators in the context of these criteria. We believe that these criteria are suitable in view of the purpose of our assurance engagement.

We conducted our engagement in accordance with the International Standard for Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000: Assurance Engagements other than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information, issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board. This Standard requires, amongst others, that the assurance team possesses the specific knowledge, skills and professional competencies needed to understand and review sustainability information, and that they comply with ethical requirements, including independence requirements.

Work undertaken

Our work for the selected indicators included the following procedures:

• A review of the systems and processes for collecting and processing the data  as well as the design and implementation of the internal controls at corporate level relating to these data.
  
• Interviewed relevant staff at corporate level responsible for the data and explanatory notes.
  
• An analytical review of the data and trend explanations submitted by all production sites for central aggregation.
  
• A review of conversion factors and the mathematical accuracy of the aggregation and indicator calculations for the data.
  
• A review of the reliability of the local data and the design and implementation of local validation processes at sites in France (Obernai), Russia (Yaroslavl) and China (Guangdong).

Conclusion

Based on the procedures performed, as described above, nothing came to our attention that causes us to believe that the performance for the selected indicators is not, in all material respects, presented in accordance with the reporting criteria as described on the web page ‘Reporting Process and Scope’.

We also report, to the extent of our competence, that the explanatory notes on the web pages ‘Energy and Emissions’ and ‘Water’ are consistent with our findings. 

Observations

During our work we have observed the following which we would like to highlight:

• In 2010 Carlsberg has further developed its CSR approach within the eight focus areas. In order to be able to monitor, manage and report CSR performance consistently we recommend Carlsberg to define a limited set of strategic corporate Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for all of the focus areas with measurable targets and to report more regularly on these to management.    
  
• The current environmental and safety indicators are restricted to Carlsberg’s production sites. We therefore recommend Carlsberg to extend its environmental and safety reporting to include activities such as logistics (storage depots and transport) where these are material to the company’s CSR performance and under Carlsberg’s control.