Sustainability Report 2009 - The Co-operative

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Independent assurance Image: Poppy, The Co-operative Farms at Goole. Contents 117 Independent assurance statement 119 Reporting in accordance with the GRI G3 guidelines Reporting in accordance with the GRI G3 guidelines Independent assurance statement Focus on independent assurance 116 The Co-operative Group Sustainability Report 2009
Independent assurance statement Scope and objectives Two Tomorrows (Europe) Limited has undertaken independent assurance of The Co-operative Sustainability Report 2009 (the Report). The assurance process was conducted in accordance with AA1000AS (2008). We were engaged to provide moderate level Type 2 assurance, covering: • Evaluation of adherence to the AA1000APS (2008) principles of inclusivity, materiality and responsiveness (the Principles). • The reliability of specified sustainability performance information. The performance information included in scope was all key data and claims in the printed Report. We have not checked the collation of data for the financial information taken from The Cooperative’s audited Annual Report and Accounts. Source energy data provided by The Co-operative’s Energy Services team and historical Somerfield and Britannia data have not been subject to review. We did not review the GRI table or GRI application level in the Report. We were also engaged to provide high-level assurance on the data and claims in the Ethical Finance chapter (pages 40–46). We used the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Quality of Information Principles as criteria for evaluating performance information. Responsibilities of the directors of The Co-operative and of the assurance providers The directors of The Co-operative have sole responsibility for the preparation of the Report. Our statement represents our independent opinion and is intended to inform all of The Co-operative’s stakeholders in a balanced way. We were not involved in the preparation of any part of the Report. However, having reviewed and provided feedback on drafts of the Report, in a number of instances changes were made to the final version. We have had one other contract with The Co-operative in the past year to provide a Tomorrow’s Value Rating benchmark report. This is the fourth year that we have provided assurance for The Co-operative. Some members of our team have acted as assurance providers to Co-operative Financial Services for the previous 3 years and to The Co-operative Bank for its Partnership Report for the 6 years prior to that. Our team comprised Mark Line, Richard Evans, Adrian Henriques, Judith Murphy, Rachell Evans and Sini Forssell. Further information, including individual competencies relating to the team, can be found at: www.twotomorrows.com Basis of our opinion In our work, designed to gather evidence with the objective of providing the agreed level of assurance as defined in AA1000AS (2008), we undertook the following activities: • Review of sustainability issues that are of interest to stakeholders, could affect The Co-operative or were discussed with its management. • Interviews with members of the social goals team and selected managers in the businesses responsible for the management of sustainability issues. • Review of The Co-operative’s approach to stakeholder engagement and the outputs of recent stakeholder engagement. We had no direct engagement with stakeholders other than staff. • Assessment of information provided to us by The Co-operative on its reporting and management processes relating to the Principles. • Assessment of supporting evidence for key claims in the Report. • Review of the processes for gathering and consolidating data and, for selected samples, checking the data consolidation. • Review of referrals to the bank Ethical Policy Unit to support a high level of assurance that the data presented in the Report is accurate. Findings and opinion The Report demonstrates how The Co-operative has maintained its commitment to sustainability in terms of the extent to which sustainability is integral to its business model and the transparency with which it reports on its sustainability impacts and programmes. We reviewed and provided feedback on drafts of the Report and where necessary changes were made. On the basis of the work undertaken, nothing came to our attention to suggest that the Report does not properly describe The Co-operative’s adherence to the Principles or its performance. We believe the claims in the Ethical Finance section on which we are providing high-level assurance are reliable. The Ethical Finance team has undertaken significant additional workload in the complete review of Britannia investments against the bank Ethical Policy during 2009 and ongoing compliance with the Ethical Policy continues to be comprehensive. In terms of data accuracy, nothing came to our attention to suggest that data have not been properly collated from information reported at operational level, or that the assumptions used were inappropriate. We are not aware of any errors that would materially affect the data reported. Independent assurance Independent assurance statement Reporting in accordance with the GRI G3 guidelines The Co-operative Group Sustainability Report 2009 117
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Sustainability Report 2009 Focus on
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The Co-operative Group Sustainabili
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prioritising community investment a
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“There is a tide in the affairs o
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About this Report Target attainment
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Mechanisms that influence materiali
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distinct team within The Co-operati
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• the organisation includes the p
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Community investment Indicators Com
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Employee volunteering 14 Number of
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International development and human
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000 400000 500000 The Co-operative
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Completion of improvement actions i
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One Big Idea competition In Novembe
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employed from the local population.
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Read more in this Report • The Co
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Independent third-party auditors ar
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Beef production All own-brand fresh
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The Co-operative Asset Management o
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Achievements 1986 In the absence of
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Community involvement Food educatio
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to be considered in the provision o
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Ethical and sustainability engageme
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Ethics and sustainability overseas
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Social inclusion Indicators Access
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intended to enable UK consumers to
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Diversity Indicators Gender Ethnici
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The Trading Group and CFS are holde
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The Co-operative Asset Management -
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Climate change Indicators Energy: c
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Total net CO 2 emissions from energ
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Decrease 2006-2009: 40% Decrease Th
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Carbon footprinting In 2007/08, The
Page 67 and 68: Bank finance for renewable energy I
Page 69 and 70: Oil sands consist of oil trapped in
Page 71 and 72: Waste and packaging Indicators Wast
Page 73 and 74: 2007 2008 2009 140,766 r 134,798 r
Page 75 and 76: • 212 tonnes of tyres, oil and pa
Page 77 and 78: Biodiversity Indicators MSC-certifi
Page 79 and 80: Total percentage of own-brand fores
Page 81 and 82: Tillington Hills apple crush, part
Page 83 and 84: Yes 88% No 12% InSight customer fee
Page 85 and 86: Examples of decisions taken on chem
Page 87 and 88: The Co-operative Farms’ use of ch
Page 89 and 90: Focus on delivering value Contents
Page 91 and 92: Member economic involvement Share o
Page 93 and 94: Activism Democratically active memb
Page 95 and 96: The Co-operative Enterprise Hub: fi
Page 97 and 98: 2,057.3 2,057.3 1,271.5 1,271.5 57.
Page 99 and 100: British sourced, traditional Hampsh
Page 101 and 102: Employees Indicators Employee engag
Page 103 and 104: were in perceptions that: colleague
Page 105 and 106: CFS has developed, delivered or sup
Page 107 and 108: esult of greater awareness of the e
Page 109 and 110: 8 2006 figure comprises The Co-oper
Page 111 and 112: A range of drivers impact on custom
Page 113 and 114: Complaints received by other custom
Page 115 and 116: Public policy ‘influence and acti
Page 117: Trade and business association memb
Page 121 and 122: Reporting in accordance with the GR
Page 123 and 124: Recognition Social responsibility
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Sustainability Report 2009 - The Co-operative

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