Independent Limited Assurance Report
To the management of Public Joint Stock Company “PhosAgro”:
Introduction
We have been engaged by the Management of Public Joint Stock Company “PhosAgro” (hereinafter – the “Company”) to provide limited assurance on the selected information described below and included in the Integrated annual report of the Company for the year ended 31 December 2020 (hereinafter – the “Integrated annual report”). The Integrated annual report represents information related to the Company and its subsidiaries (hereinafter together – the “Group”).
Selected Information
We assessed the qualitative and quantitative information specified in Appendix 1 to this report, that is disclosed in the Integrated annual report and referred to or disclosed in the GRI content index of the Integrated annual report (hereinafter – the “Selected Information”).
The scope of our assurance procedures was limited to the Selected Information for the year ended 31 December 2020 only. We have not performed any procedures with respect to earlier periods or any other items included in the Integrated annual report and, therefore, do not express any conclusion thereon.
Reporting Criteria
We assessed the Selected Information using relevant criteria, including reporting requirements, in the respective GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards 102, 202, 203, 205, 302, 303, 304, 305, 306, 307, 401, 403, 404 and 413 (hereinafter – the “GRI Standards”) published by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) (hereinafter – the “Reporting Criteria”). We believe that the Reporting Criteria are appropriate given the purpose of our limited assurance engagement.
Responsibilities of the management of the Group
The management of the Group is responsible for:
- designing, implementing and maintaining internal control relevant to the preparation of the Selected Information that is free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error;
- establishing internal methodology, including objective reporting criteria, and guidelines for preparing and reporting the Selected Information in accordance with the Reporting Criteria;
- preparing, measuring and reporting of the Selected Information in accordance with the Reporting Criteria; and
- the accuracy, completeness and presentation of the Selected Information.
Our responsibilities
We are responsible for:
- planning and performing the engagement to obtain limited assurance about whether the Selected Information is free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error;
- forming an independent conclusion, based on the procedures we have performed and the evidence we have obtained; and
- reporting our conclusion to the management of the Group.
This report, including our conclusion, has been prepared solely for the management of the Group in accordance with the agreement between us, to assist management in reporting on the Group’s sustainability performance and activities. We permit this report to be disclosed in the Integrated annual report, which will be published on the Company’s website 1, to assist management in responding to their governance responsibilities by obtaining an independent limited assurance report in connection with the Selected Information. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the management of the Group for our work or this report.
Professional standards applied and level of assurance
We performed a limited assurance engagement in accordance with International Standard on Assurance Engagements 3000 (Revised) “Assurance Engagements other than Audits and Reviews of Historical Financial Information”, issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board. A limited assurance engagement is substantially less in scope than a reasonable assurance engagement in relation to both the risk assessment procedures, including an understanding of internal control, and the procedures performed in response to the assessed risks. The procedures performed in a limited assurance engagement vary in nature and timing from, and are less in extent than for, a reasonable assurance engagement. Consequently, the level of assurance obtained in a limited assurance engagement is substantially lower than the assurance that would have been obtained had a reasonable assurance engagement been performed.
Our independence and quality control
We have complied with the independence and other ethical requirements of the International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including International Independence Standards) issued by the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA Code), which is founded on fundamental principles of integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentiality and professional behaviour, and the ethical requirements of the Auditor’s Professional Ethics Code and Auditor’s Independence Rules that are relevant to our limited assurance engagement in respect of the Selected information in the Russian Federation. We have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements.
Our firm applies International Standard on Quality Control 1 and accordingly maintains a comprehensive system of quality control including documented policies and procedures regarding compliance with ethical requirements, professional standards and applicable legal and regulatory requirements.
Work done
We are required to plan and perform our work in order to consider the risk of material misstatement of the Selected Information. In doing so, we:
- made enquiries of the Group’s management, including the Sustainability Reporting team and those with responsibility for Sustainability Reporting management and group reporting;
- conducted interviews of personnel responsible for the preparation of the Integrated annual report and collection of underlying data;
- performed analysis of the relevant internal methodology and guidelines, gaining an understanding and evaluating of the design of the key structures, systems, processes and controls for managing, recording, preparing and reporting the Selected Information;
- performed limited substantive testing on a selective basis of the Selected Information to check that data had been appropriately measured, recorded, collated and reported.
Reporting and measurement methodologies
Under the GRI Standards there is a range of different, but acceptable, measurement and reporting techniques. The techniques can result in materially different reporting outcomes that may affect comparability with other organisations. The Selected Information should therefore be read in conjunction with the methodology used by management in preparing the Integrated annual report, described therein, and which the Group is solely responsible for.
Our conclusion
Based on the procedures we have performed and the evidence we have obtained, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe, that the Selected Information for the year ended 31 December 2020 has not been prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with the Reporting Criteria.
27 April 2021 Moscow, Russian Federation
A.Y. Fegetsyn,
certified auditor (licence no. 03-001436),
AO PricewaterhouseCoopers Audit
Audited entity:
Public Joint Stock Company “PhosAgro”
Certificate of inclusion in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities issued on 5 September 2002 under registration № 1027700190572
Taxpayer Identification Number 7736216869
55/1 building 1, Leninsky prospect, Moscow, 119333, Russian Federation
Independent auditor:
AO PricewaterhouseCoopers Audit
Registered by the Government Agency Moscow Registration Chamber on 28 February 1992 under Nо. 008.890
Record made in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities on 22 August 2002 under State Registration Number 1027700148431
Taxpayer Identification Number 7705051102
Member of Self-regulated organization of auditors «Sodruzhestvo»
Principal Registration Number of the Record in the Register of Auditors and Audit Organizations – 12006020338
Appendix 1
Selected Information subject to limited assurance procedures
| GRI Standard | |
|---|---|
| 102-8 | Information on employees and other workers |
| 102-49 | Changes in reporting |
| 202-1 | Ratios of standard entry level wage by gender compared to local minimum wage |
| 202-2 | Proportion of senior management hired from the local community |
| 203-1 | Infrastructure investments and services supported |
| 302-1 | Energy consumption within the organization |
| 302-3 | Energy intensity |
| 303-3 | Water withdrawl |
| 303-4 | Water discharge |
| 303-5 | Water consumption |
| 304-3 | Habitats protected or restored |
| 305-1 | Direct (Scope 1) GHG emissions |
| 305-2 | Energy indirect (Scope 2) GHG emissions |
| 305-5 | Reduction of GHG emissions |
| 305-7 | Nitrogen oxides (NOX), sulfur oxides (SOX), and other significant air emissions |
| Emissions by unit of product | |
| 306-1 | Water discharge by quality and destination |
| Water discharge by unit of product | |
| 306-2 | Waste by type and disposal method |
| Waste by type of hazard (I-IV) | |
| Total weight of hazardous waste, with a breakdown by the following disposal methods | |
| 306-4 | Transport of hazardous waste |
| 307-1 | Non-compliance with environmental laws and regulations |
| 401-1 | New employee hires and employee turnover |
| 401-2 | Benefits provided to full-time employees that are not provided to temporary or part-time employees |
| 403-1 | Occupational health and safety management system |
| 403-2 | Hazard identification, risk assessment, and incident investigation |
| 403-3 | Occupational health services |
| 403-4 | Worker participation, consultation, and communication on occupational health and safety |
| 403-5 | Worker training on occupational health and safety |
| 403-6 | Promotion of worker health |
| 403-7 | Prevention and mitigation of occupational health and safety impacts directly linked by business relationships |
| 403-8 | Workers covered by an occupational health and safety management system |
| 403-9 | Work-related injuries |
| 403-10 | Work-related ill health |
| 404-1 | Average hours of training per year per employee |
| 404-2 | Programs for upgrading employee skills and transition assistance programs |
| 404-3 | Percentage of employees receiving regular performance and career development reviews |
| 413-1 | Operations with local community engagement, impact assessments, and development programs |