10.4 External report on sustainability data quality

To the readers of the 2020 Sustainability Report of Nutreco

About this external report

In its 2020 Sustainability Report Nutreco reports on the sustainability matters that Nutreco identified as being material to the company and its stakeholders. The quantitative data on these indicators were compiled on the basis of Nutreco’s reporting criteria and processes. We were asked by Nutreco to examine the reporting processes and controls and to assess the quality of the reported data in line with Nutreco’s criteria. This report provides an overview of our work and summarizes our observations.

What is the purpose of our work?

We advise management on how to improve its sustainability reporting processes and controls, enabling management to safeguard the quality of the reported data in the 2020 Sustainability Report of Nutreco. We conveyed our observations and recommendations for improvement to Nutreco.

 

What did we look at?

Nutreco asked us to have a critical look at a selected number of indicators that are published in its 2020 Sustainability Report. We looked at the key sustainability indicators of Nutreco. Which are energy use, water withdrawal, waste from production and the workforce data. The environmental indicators can be found in the chapter Our footprint and the workforce data is located in Our team. Additionally, we looked at the process of CO2calculation as well as the processes around Sustainable palm oil and Deforestation-free soy, which can be found in chapters Our footprint and One procurement respectively.

How did we assess data quality for the key indicators?

We started our work in November 2020 and finalized our procedures with the publication of the 2020 Sustainability Report. Altogether we worked approximately 300 hours on assessing data quality. We did this by conducting interviews and by assessing various supporting documents. We performed, amongst others, the following key activities:

  • We held remote visits via video conferencing at eight local operating companies in seven different countries.Six locations were interviewed for the first time and two were follow-ups from previous years. During these remote site visits we assessed the data that was reported to head office at the end of the third quarter. Part of our work consisted of assessing local reporting practices in line with Nutreco’s reporting criteria and reconciling the reported information to source data (e.g. invoices, local administrations, etc.).

  • At head office level we assessed the internal validation process that is in place to review data that was reported by local operating companies that were not visited by us.

  • We assessed the reporting process and related controls by performing interviews with people involved in the sustainability reporting process, which included walk-throughs on data at head office level.

  • We supported in the application of the voluntary GRI guidelines in the 2020 Sustainability Report.

How did we follow up from our findings?

Nutreco is continuously developing its sustainability reporting system and policies as explained in the 2020 Sustainability Report. Our assessment has led to some important recommendations for further improvement. We shared our detailed observations and recommendations for improvement with Nutreco.

Sustainalize, 21 April 2021

www.sustainalize.com

 

About Sustainalize

Sustainalize is a management consultancy firm that fully specializes in CSR and sustainability. We support organizations in developing their strategy, organizing their sustainability processes and improving their performance and quality of internal and external reporting. As sustainability data experts we believe in robust data quality as an important prerequisite to measure progress and ultimately to improve sustainability performance.