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PRINCIPLES In order to control the rollout of its sustainable development commitments, manage related risks and encourage communication with stakeholders, SUEZ developed a specific reporting system for these areas in 2003. This system was developed on the basis of recommendations arising from the work performed at international discussion bodies like the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) or the World Business Council for Sustainable development (WBCSD). It covers all information required, including publication in the Management Report required by Article 225 of the Grenelle II Law and by Decrees dated 24 April 2012 and 19 August 2016 as well as by Ordinance 2017- 1280 of 19 July 2017 and Decree 2017-1265 of 9 August 2017.
Through its subsidiaries, SUEZ conducts very different types of business in the water and waste industries and has many different types of contracts, as shown by the wide variety of operational methods implemented at several thousand sites across the world. This wide array of situations in addition to constant change in the Group s operational scope make it particularly difficult to harmonize the definitions of relevant indicators as well as to calculate and collect statistical data. As a result, SUEZ is continuing its efforts to have data audited by third parties, a key to increased reliability. The aim is to make the non- financial reporting process an increasingly effective guidance tool for supporting the goals of the Group s Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility Roadmap, as well as a tool used in dialog regarding the ongoing improvement of its overall performance.
SCOPE The figures published in this report relate ex- clusively to fully consolidated companies whose operations are controlled by SUEZ. When a company becomes fully consolidated, 100% of its environmental data is incorporated, irrespective of the percentage held by the Group in its capital. The scope of consolidation is set on 30 June of each year. For disposals occurring after that date, the entity is expected to fill in the environmental questionnaire with the data available up until the date of disposal. Acquisi- tions completed after 30 June are not taken into account. The WTS BU (resulting from the acqui- sition of the activities of GE Water in September 2017) has therefore been included within the scope of reporting for 2018.
EXTERNAL AUDITS AND VERIFICATIONS For the 2018 fiscal year, the work that the Group requested a third party to perform now falls under the new obligations under Ordinance 2017-1280 of 19 July 2017 and Decree 2017- 1265 of 9 August 2017, which transposes into French law European Directive 2014/95/EU pertaining to the publication of non- financial information, namely producing a reasoned opinion on the statement of non- financial information expressing a limited assurance conclusion on: the statement complying with the provisions
set forth in Article R. 225-105 of the French Commercial Code;
the fairness of the information provided in
METHODOLOGY NOTE ON THE ANNUAL REPORTING
accordance with paragraph 3 of Article R. 225- 105-I and II of the French Commercial Code, namely action plans and results of policies, including key performance indicators related to the main challenges identified.
However, for the sake of maintaining continuity with previous years, this assignment has been expanded to producing a limited reasoned opinion on all the environmental and social indicators published during previous years and in the Management Report and Reference Document under the previous obligations of Article 225 of the Grenelle II Law, and which remain published for 2018 in chapters 6.8 and 17.2 of the Reference Document. These indicators are indicated by special characters (X) in the general table of indicators on pages 90 to 96.
In addition, beyond these regulatory obligations and to maintain continuity with previous years, the Group also entrusted its Statutory Auditors with specialized services for 2018: an assignment to verify six calculated
environmental indicators based on 124 primary environmental indicators with reasonable assurance;
an assignment to verify 10 calculated social indicators based on 32 primary social indicators with reasonable assurance;
an assignment to verify two societal indicators with reasonable assurance.
The indicators verified with reasonable assurance are indicated by special characters (XXX) on pages 90 to 96. The nature of the work carried out and the
conclusions of the Statutory Auditors appointed as independent third parties, dated 6 March 2019, are available on pages 85 to 87 of this report.
CONTRIBUTION OF THE ANNUAL REPORTING PROCESS TO MONITORING THE TARGETS IN THE SUEZ ROADMAP Once the data gathered had been processed, the environmental, employment and societal reports were used to provide traceability for the quantified indicators in the Group s 2017-2021 Sustainable Development Roadmap. Furthermore, because the Sustainable Development Roadmap is the framework for a progressive approach, some of the indicators, which are accompanied by targets to be achieved in 2021 according to dedicated action plans, do not systematically cover all the business activities or the entire scope covered by the Group s environmental and employee reports. These restrictions on the consolidation scope have been indicated on a case-by-case basis in the chapters relating to each of the Roadmap s 12 commitments.
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2 APPENDICES
