To the Board of Directors and to the Supervisory Board of Lenzing Aktiengesellschaft, Lenzing
This English language independent assurance report is a translation provided for information purposes only. The original German text shall prevail in the event of any discrepancies between the English translation and the German original. We do not accept any liability for the use of, or reliance on, the English translation nor for any errors or misunderstandings that may derive from the translation.
We have performed an independent limited assurance engagement on the combined consolidated non-financial report according to §§ 243b and 267a UGB (“NFI report”) for the financial year 2022, which has been published as Sustainability Report 2022 of
Lenzing Aktiengesellschaft, Lenzing
(referred to as “Lenzing” or “the Company”).
Conclusion
Based on the procedures performed and the evidence we have obtained, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the NFI report of the Company is not in accordance with the legal requirements of the Austrian Sustainability and Diversity Improvement Act (§§ 243b and 267a UGB), the provisions of Article 8 of the Regulation (EU) 2020/852 as amended and the supplementing delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2178 (hereafter “EU Taxonomy Regulation”) and the sustainability reporting guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI Standards) Option “in accordance with” in all material respects.
Management’s Responsibility
The Company’s management is responsible for the proper preparation of the NFI report in accordance with the reporting criteria. The Company applies the legal requirements of the Austrian Sustainability and Diversity Improvement Act (§§ 243b and 267a UGB) and the sustainability reporting guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI Standards) Option “in accordance with” as reporting criteria. In addition, the company prepares disclosures in accordance with the EU Taxonomy Regulation, which are published as part of sustainability reporting.
The Company’s management is responsible for the selection and application of appropriate methods for non-financial reporting (especially the selection of significant matters) as well as the use of appropriate assumptions and estimates for individual non-financial disclosures, given the circumstances.
Furthermore, their responsibilities include the design, implementation and maintenance of systems, processes and internal controls that are relevant for the preparation of the sustainability report in a way that is free of material misstatements – whether due to fraud or error.
Auditors’ Responsibility
Our responsibility is to state whether, based on our procedures performed and the evidence we have obtained, anything has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the Company’s NFI report is not in accordance with the legal requirements of the Austrian Sustainability and Diversity Improvement Act (§§ 243b and 267a UGB), the legal requirements of the EU Taxonomy Regulation and the sustainability reporting guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI Standards) Option “in accordance with” in all material respects.
Our engagement was conducted in conformity with the International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE 3000) applicable to such engagements. These standards require us to comply with our professional requirements including independence requirements, and to plan and perform the engagement to enable us to express a conclusion with limited assurance, taking into account materiality.
An independent assurance engagement with the purpose of expressing a conclusion with limited assurance (“limited assurance engagement”) is substantially less in Scope than an independent assurance engagement with the purpose of expressing a conclusion with reasonable assurance (“reasonable assurance engagement”), thus providing reduced assurance. Despite diligent engagement planning and execution, it cannot be ruled out that material misstatements, illegal acts or irregularities within the non-financial report will remain undetected.
The procedures selected depend on the auditor’s judgment and included the following procedures in particular:
- Inquiries of personnel at the group level, who are responsible for the materiality analysis, in order to gain an understanding of the processes for determining material sustainability topics and respective reporting thresholds of the Company;
- A risk assessment, including a media analysis, on relevant information on the Company’s sustainability performance in the reporting period;
- Evaluation of the design and implementation of the systems and processes for the collection, processing and monitoring of disclosures on environmental, social and employees matters, respect for human rights, anti-corruption as well as bribery and also includes the consolidation of data;
- Inquiries of personnel at the group level, who are responsible for providing, consolidating and implementing internal control procedures relating to the disclosure of concepts, risks, due diligence processes, results and performance indicators;
- Inspection of selected internal and external documents, in order to determine whether qualitative and quantitative information is supported by sufficient evidence and presented in an accurate and balanced manner;
- Assessment of the processes for local data collection, validation and reporting, as well as the reliability of the reported data through a (remotely conducted) survey performed on a sample basis at Lenzing Fibers LTd., Grimsby, UK.
- Analytical evaluation of the data and trend of quantitative disclosures regarding the GRI Standards listed in the GRI-Index, submitted by all locations for consolidation at the group level;
- Evaluation of the consistency of the of the Austrian Sustainability and Diversity Improvement Act (§§ 243b and 267a UGB), the EU Taxonomy Regulation and the GRI Standards, Option “in accordance with” to disclosures and indicators of the NFI report, which apply to the Company;
- Evaluation of the overall presentation of the disclosures by critically reading the NFI report.
The procedures that we performed do not constitute an audit or a review. Our engagement did not focus on revealing and clarifying of illegal acts (such as fraud), nor did it focus on assessing the efficiency of management. Furthermore, it is not part of our engagement to audit future-related disclosures, prior year figures, statements from external sources of information, expert opinions or references to more extensive external reporting formats of the Company.
Restriction on use
Because our report will be prepared solely on behalf of and for the benefit of the principal, its contents may not be relied upon by any third party, and consequently, we shall not be liable for any third party claims. We agree to the publication of our assurance certificate and NFI report. However, publication may only be performed in its entirety and as a version that has been certified by us.
General Conditions of Contract
Our responsibility and liability towards the Company and any third party is subject to paragraph 7 of the General Conditions of Contract for the Public Accounting Professions.
Linz, 3rd of March 2023
KPMG Austria GmbH
Wirtschaftsprüfungs- und Steuerberatungsgesellschaft
Mag. Alexander Gall
Wirtschaftsprüfer
(Austrian Chartered Accountant)