Group emissions reporting moves to independent verification across all sites

From this reporting year, emissions figures from every site in the group will be verified by a party with no reporting line into the business that produced them. The change covers scope one, two and three, and applies to the operating companies on the same terms as the parent.

The previous arrangement had verification commissioned by the operating company. The board's view is that this was defensible in isolation and indefensible as a group standard, because the reviewer's continued engagement depended on the business being reviewed.

Verification is now commissioned centrally and reported to the environmental review committee. The committee is chaired by a non-executive director, and its findings reach the board whether or not management accepts them.

The group expects reported figures to move in the first year under the new regime, in both directions and at several sites. It has said in advance that it will publish those movements rather than restate prior years quietly, on the basis that a reporting change which only ever improves the numbers is not a reporting change worth making.

The full methodology will be published alongside the annual report.