Report assurance for global cement company

We provided independent assurance of the 2009 sustainable development report from global cement and aggregates company Holcim.

We assured the report using the AA1000 Assurance Standard (2008). We were engaged to provide Type 1 assurance, which covers evaluation of adherence to the AA1000APS (2008) principles of inclusivity, materiality and responsiveness. The scope of our work also included an evaluation of Holcim’s reporting against the Cement Sustainability Initiative Commitments and assurance of claims made by Holcim about its biodiversity objectives.

In an innovative move to provide an independent challenge on behalf of stakeholders as part of our assurance, we facilitated meetings of a Stakeholder Report Review Panel, a group of stakeholder representatives who gave their views on Holcim’s approach to identifying material issues and on drafts of the report. This helped strengthen our assurance opinion and provided many recommendations for Holcim to consider.

We previously provided independent assurance of Holcim's 2007 sustainable development report. We interviewed members of the Holcim Sustainable Development Steering Committee, and a wide range of international stakeholders. We also examined the Group’s sustainable development materiality review process, and considered the outcomes of materiality workshops held by operating companies in four countries. To prepare for the assurance assignment, we reviewed Holcim’s sustainability data to check its suitability for assurance.

Back in 2006, we helped Holcim enhance its arrangements for collecting sustainability data. This work included helping the company identify its material issues based on the expectations of stakeholders and the impact issues had on the company. At the same time, we supported Holcim in aligning its data collection and reporting with the Global Reporting Initiative G3 sustainability reporting guidelines.

Our assurance statement in the Holcim 2009 sustainable development report (PDF, 4.1MB)