09 October 2024

This Assurance Statement has been prepared for the organisation in accordance with our contract.

Terms of Engagement

©SDG Assessment was commissioned to provide independent assurance of the carbon dioxide (CO2) assertion (“the Report”) for the against the assurance criteria below to a level of assurance using our digital measurement, reporting and verification process. Our assurance engagement covered the operations and activities of the organisation and its operations , and specifically the following requirements: • Verifying conformance with: • World Resources Institute / World Business Council for Sustainable Development Greenhouse Gas Protocol: A corporate accounting and reporting standard, revised edition (otherwise referred to as the WRI/WBCSD Protocol) for the GHG data¹ ; Reviewing whether the Report has taken account of: • GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance; and • GHG Protocol Technical Guidance for Calculating Scope 3 Emissions. • Evaluating the accuracy and reliability of data and information for only the selected indicators listed below: • Direct (Scope 1), Energy Indirect (Scope 2) and Other Indirect (Scope 3) CO2 emissions; ▪ Scope 3 CO2 emissions verified if included by the organisation e.g. air travel, home/car electricity use, personal car travel, taxi travel, site-to site transport, rail travel and rental car travel emissions.

©SDG Assessment responsibility is only to the organisation.

©SDG Assessment disclaims any liability or responsibility to others as explained in the end footnote. It is the organisation's responsibility to collect, aggregate, analyze and present all the data and information within the Report and for maintaining effective internal controls over the systems from which the Report is derived. Ultimately, the Report has been approved by, and remains the responsibility of the organisation.

©SDG Assessment Opinion

Based on our digital measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) approach, except for the effect of the matters described in the Basis for Qualified Opinion, nothing has come to our attention that would cause us to believe that the organisation has not, in all material respects: • Met the requirements of the criteria listed above; and • Disclosed accurate and reliable performance data and information as summarized in the Carbon Footprint Report. The opinion expressed is formed on the basis of a limited level of assurance and at the materiality of the professional judgement of the verifier.

1 https://www.ghgprotocol.org/ 2 The extent of evidence-gathering for a digital MRV engagement is less than for a limited assurance engagement. Limited assurance engagements focus on aggregated data rather than physically checking source data at sites. Consequently, the level of assurance obtained in a digital MRV assurance engagement is lower than the assurance that would have been obtained had a limited assurance engagement been performed.

Basis for Qualified Opinion

• The Report includes CO2 emissions only. The organisation has not accounted for the other five greenhouse gas emissions required by the WRI/WBCSD GHG Protocol. This is not material.

©SDG Assessment Approach

©SDG Assessment assurance engagements are carried out in accordance with our digital MRV process. The following tasks were undertaken as part of the evidence gathering process for this assurance engagement: • electronic confirmation by relevant employees of the organization responsible for managing CO2 emissions data and records; • Utilization of our data management systems and carbon calculator to prevent significant errors, omissions or mis-statements in the Report. We did this by ensuring the effectiveness of data handling procedures, instructions and systems, including those for internal quality control; and • where necessary verifying historical CO2 emissions data and records at an aggregated level for the fiscal year.

Observations

Observations, including areas for potential improvement, were provided in a report to the organisation's management. These observations do not affect the opinions expressed in this assurance statement.

©SDG Assessment Standards Competence and Independence

©SDG Assessment implements and maintains a comprehensive management system that meets accreditation requirements for ISO 14065 Greenhouse gases – Requirements for greenhouse gas validation and verification bodies for use in accreditation or other forms of recognition. Code of Ethics of the Institute of Management Assessment of the United Kingdom. Our digital MRV process was designed by a team with the relevant qualifications, training and experience. The outcome of all verification and certification assessments is then internally reviewed by senior management to ensure that the approach applied is rigorous and transparent.

Signed by

Dr Lowellyne James FCQI, FIEMA
CEO
SDG Assessment Ltd
160 City Road
London, UK

©SDG Assessment Limited, its affiliates and subsidiaries, including, and their respective officers, employees or agents are, individually and collectively, referred to in this clause as 'SDG Assessment'. ©SDG Assessment assumes no responsibility and shall not be liable to any person for any loss, damage or expense caused by reliance on the information or advice in this document or howsoever provided, unless that person has signed a contract with the relevant ©SDG Assessment entity for the provision of this information or advice and in that case any responsibility or liability is exclusively on the terms and conditions set out in that contract. The English version of this Assurance Statement is the only valid version. ©SDG Assessment Limited assumes no responsibility for versions translated into other languages. This Assurance Statement is only valid when published with the Report to which it refers. It may only be reproduced in its entirety.