Verification
The board reviews corporate social responsibility issues as part of its risk management process. The board believes that the measures taken to review the sustainability information provide a suitable level of confidence.
Information on financial performance forms part of the external audit of Johnson Matthey’s financial accounts.
Human resources data is reviewed and verified by internal senior human resources professionals. Community investment data and information relating to charitable donations is reviewed and verified by internal experts.
Health and safety data is reviewed by group health and safety experts and as part of the group environment, health and safety (EHS) audit programme. Environmental data is reviewed by group environmental experts and as part of the group EHS audit programme.
All data is reviewed by internal sustainability experts and at appropriate levels of management up to and including the Chief Executive’s Committee.
Other information presented in the Sustainability Report is reviewed by the relevant functional experts and subjected to the same internal sign off procedures as the group Annual Report.
Johnson Matthey utilises external specialists on specific sustainability issues. Over the past year this has included external audits or reviews of people management systems, health and safety (OHSAS 18001) and environmental management systems (ISO 14001).
Assurance
Johnson Matthey has commissioned Corporate Citizenship to provide external assurance and commentary on this year’s Sustainability Report. This is the second consecutive year that Corporate Citizenship has assured Johnson Matthey’s Sustainability Report, using the AA1000 assurance standard, AA1000AS (2008), as the reference standard for the assurance process. Corporate Citizenship has evaluated the nature and extent of adherence to the AA1000AS principles of inclusivity, materiality and responsiveness, as well as the quality of Johnson Matthey’s sustainability performance data. The criteria used to assure the sustainability performance data were the GRI G3 Principles for Defining Report Quality and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (Revised), for greenhouse gas reporting. Corporate Citizenship's external assurance process has involved, but not been limited to, the following elements:
- Benchmarking against peers, competitors and internationally recognised standards in order to judge the completeness of Johnson Matthey’s sustainability reporting.
- Analysis of Johnson Matthey’s stakeholder engagement activity and stakeholder feedback.
- Review of national and international published sources of information about the views and opinions of external stakeholders.
- Examination of the report at set stages in its development and testing of the assertions throughout, drawing on evidence from supporting documentation, reporting mechanisms, and internal frameworks and processes.
- Examination of management and reporting systems, specifically related to environmental performance (including energy use, water use, greenhouse gas emissions and waste to landfill), occupational health and safety, employee and community investment data.
- Checks on a sample basis of elements of the report’s content back to underlying records, particularly with regard to the quantitative data within the report.
- Interviews with key sustainability practitioners at group level and within Johnson Matthey’s business divisions to understand the company’s Sustainability 2017 strategy, governance structures, key initiatives and challenges. This included in-depth interviews with individuals responsible for the Community; Human Resources; Health and Safety and Environmental aspects of Johnson Matthey’s sustainability performance, as well as individuals responsible for delivering the Sustainability 2017 strategy within different business divisions.
- Site visits to Johnson Matthey’s Royston and West Deptford sites.
Based on the work undertaken, Corporate Citizenship concluded that the Johnson Matthey Sustainability Report 2010/11 reflects the principles of AA1000 (2008): inclusivity, materiality and responsiveness. Click here for a full version of Corporate Citizenship's Assurance Statement, which includes detailed opinions on Johnson Matthey’s adherence to each AA1000AS principle, and commentary on the areas where Corporate Citizenship believe future reporting could be strengthened.