Ernst & Young assurance statement
BP’s environment and society web content 2008 (the Report) has been prepared by the management of BP p.l.c., who are responsible for the collection and presentation of information within it. Our responsibility, in accordance with BP management’s instructions, is to carry out a limited assurance engagement on the Report and to include specific observations from our work in relevant sections of the Report. We do not accept or assume any responsibility for any other purpose or to any other person or organisation. Any reliance any such third party may place on the Report is entirely at its own risk.
What we did to form our conclusions
Our assurance engagement has been planned and performed in accordance with AA1000AS (2003)1 and ISAE30002. The AA1000 (2003) assurance principles of Materiality, Completeness and Responsiveness have been used as criteria against which to evaluate the Report.
In order to form our conclusions we undertook the steps outlined below.
1.Interviewed a selection of BP executives and senior managers to understand the current status of safety, social, ethical and environmental activities, and progress made during the reporting period.
2. Reviewed BP’s approach to stakeholder engagement through interviews and reviewing selected associated documentation.
1.Interviewed a selection of BP executives and senior managers to understand the current status of safety, social, ethical and environmental activities, and progress made during the reporting period.
2. Reviewed BP’s approach to stakeholder engagement through interviews and reviewing selected associated documentation.
3. Reviewed a selection of external media reports and conducted a high-level benchmarking exercise of the material issues and areas of performance covered in the environmental and social reports of BP’s peers, to test the coverage of topics within the Report.
4. Reviewed selected group level documents relating to safety, social, ethical and environmental aspects of BP’s performance, to understand progress made across the organisation and test the coverage of topics within the Report.
5. Reviewed information or explanation about the Report’s data, statements and assertions regarding BP’s sustainability performance.
4. Reviewed selected group level documents relating to safety, social, ethical and environmental aspects of BP’s performance, to understand progress made across the organisation and test the coverage of topics within the Report.
5. Reviewed information or explanation about the Report’s data, statements and assertions regarding BP’s sustainability performance.
6.Reviewed health, safety and environment, community investment, leadership diversity and ethics dismissals data samples and processes to test whether they have been collected, consolidated and reported appropriately at group level.
7.Reviewed BP’s processes for determining material issues to be included in the Report.
7.Reviewed BP’s processes for determining material issues to be included in the Report.
Level of assurance
Our evidence gathering procedures have been designed to obtain a limited level of assurance (as set out in ISAE3000) on which to base our conclusions. The extent of evidence gathering procedures performed is less than that of a reasonable assurance engagement (such as a financial audit) and therefore a lower level of assurance is provided.The limitations of our review
The scope of our work was limited to group level activities. We did not visit any of BP’s businesses. Our stakeholder engagement activities were limited to attendance at one event. Therefore, our conclusions on Materiality and Responsiveness are based on our discussions with BP management, our review of selected media and the review of documents provided to us by BP.Only the pages of the Report that are marked with the attestation footnote formed part of our review.
Our conclusions
Based on the scope of our review our conclusions are outlined below:Materiality
Has BP provided a balanced representation of material issues concerning BP’s sustainability performance?- With the exception of the subject areas listed below, we are not aware of any material aspects concerning BP’s sustainability performance which have been excluded from the Report.
- We consider that BP could have covered the following subject areas in more depth in the Report:
- Disclosure of future performance targets in relation to greenhouse gas emissions reduction.
- Explanation of how stakeholder views have been taken into consideration when determining BP’s response to challenging issues.
- Nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that BP management has not applied its processes for determining material issues to be included in the Report.
Completeness
Does BP have complete information on which to base a judgement of what is material for inclusion in the Report?- We are not aware of any material issues excluded from BP’s judgements on the content of the Report.
- We are not aware of any misstatements in the assertions made by BP management in the Report regarding sustainability activities.
- We are not aware of any material reporting units that have been excluded from the group wide data relating HSE, community investment, leadership diversity data and ethics dismissals data.
- Nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the data relating to the above topics has not been collated properly from group-wide systems.
- We are not aware of any errors that would materially affect the data as presented in the Report.
Responsiveness
How has BP responded to stakeholder concerns? With the exception of the issue highlighted in relation to Materiality, we are not aware of any additional issues of stakeholder interest that are not currently included in the Report’s scope and content.Observations and areas for improvement
Our observations and areas for improvement will be raised in a report to BP management. Selected observations regarding progress made and areas for improvement can be found in appropriate sections of the Report. These observations do not affect our conclusions on the Report set out above.Our Independence
As auditors to BP p.l.c., Ernst & Young are required to comply with the independence requirements set out in the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW) Guide to Professional Ethics. Ernst & Young’s independence policies, which address and in certain places exceed the requirements of the ICAEW, apply to the firm, partners and professional staff. These policies prohibit any financial interests in our clients that would or might be seen to impair independence. Each year, partners and staff are required to confirm their compliance with the firm’s policies.We confirm annually to BP whether there have been any events including the provision of prohibited services that could impair our independence or objectivity. There were no such events or services in 2008.
Our Assurance Team
Our assurance team has been drawn from our global environment and sustainability network, which undertakes similar engagements to this with a number of significant UK and international businesses.
London
April 2009
April 2009
1AA1000AS (2003) – The first edition of the AA1000 assurance standard from the Institute of Social and Ethical Accountability. (A second edition of the standard, AA1000AS (2008), was launched in October 2008.)
2International Federation of the Accountants’ International Standard for Assurance Engagements Other Than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information (ISAE3000).
2International Federation of the Accountants’ International Standard for Assurance Engagements Other Than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information (ISAE3000).
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