ASSURANCE REPORT
Independent Limited Assurance Report
on the Sonova 2021/22 ESG Reporting to the Board of Directors of Sonova Holding AG, Stäfa
We have been engaged to perform assurance procedures to provide limited assurance on the 2021/22 ESG Reporting of Sonova Holding AG and its consolidated subsidiaries (“Sonova”).
Scope and subject matter
Our limited assurance engagement focused on selected quantitative ESG indicators for the year ended on 31 March 2022 disclosed in the tables in the sections on ‘Protecting the planet’, ‘Advancing our people’ and ‘Acting with integrity’ of the 2021/22 ESG Report on Sonova’s website (https://report.sonova.com/2022) marked with the label ‘✔ PwC CH’ and summarized in the GRI content index.
Criteria
The reporting criteria used by Sonova are described and summarized in the respective sections on ‘Protecting the planet’, ‘Advancing our people’ and ‘Acting with integrity’ in the 2021/22 ESG Report of Sonova. The procedures applied by Sonova are based on the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards (GRI Standards) by which the ESG indicators are internally gathered, collated and aggregated.
Inherent limitations
The accuracy and completeness of ESG indicators are subject to inherent limitations given their nature and methods for determining, calculating and estimating such data. Our assurance report should therefore be read in connection with the reporting criteria. Further, the greenhouse gas quantification is subject to inherent uncertainty because of incomplete scientific knowledge used to determine emissions factors and the values needed to combine emissions of different gases.
Sonova’s responsibility
The Board of Directors of Sonova Holding AG is responsible for both the subject matter and the criteria as well as for the selection, preparation and presentation of the selected data and information in accordance with the criteria. This responsibility includes the design, implementation and maintenance of related internal control relevant to this reporting process that is free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.
Our independence and quality controls
We are independent of the Sonova in accordance with the International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including International Independence Standards) issued by the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA Code) that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements and other assurance engagements in Switzerland. We have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with the IESBA Code.
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.
Our responsibility
Our responsibility is to express a limited assurance conclusion on selected quantitative ESG indicators for the year ended on 31 March 2022 published in the 2021/22 ESG Report on Sonova’s website (https://report.sonova.com/2022) and marked with the label ‘✔ PwC CH’. We conducted our limited assurance engagement in accordance with the International Standard on Assurance Engagements 3000 (revised), “Assurance Engagements other than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information”, and, in respect of greenhouse gas emissions, with the International Standard on Assurance Engagements 3410, “Assurance Engagements on Greenhouse Gas Statements”, issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board. These standards require that we plan and perform this engagement to obtain limited assurance about whether the ESG indicators were prepared, in all material aspects, in accordance with the reporting criteria.
A limited assurance engagement undertaken in accordance with ISAE 3000 (revised) and ISAE 3410 involves assessing the suitability in the circumstances of Sonova’s use of applicable criteria as the basis for the preparation of the ESG indicators, assessing the risks of material misstatement of the ESG indicators whether due to fraud or error, responding to the assessed risks as necessary in the circumstances, and evaluating the overall presentation of the ESG indicators. 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 selected depend on the assurance practitioner’s judgement.
Summary of the work performed
Our assurance procedures include, amongst others, the following work:
- Evaluation of the application of Sonova guidelines
Reviewing the application of the Sonova internal ESG reporting guidelines such as the manual on ’Sonova GHG Accounting Methodology’ and the ‘HR KPI Calculation Factsheet’; - Site visit and management inquiry
Remote site visit procedures at Sonova Hearing (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. The selection was based on quantitative and qualitative criteria;
Interviewing personnel responsible for internal reporting and data collection at the site and at the Sonova Corporate level; - Assessment of the management and reporting processes
Inquiries of personnel involved in the preparation of the ESG Report regarding the preparation process, the internal control system relating to this process and selected disclosures in the Report; - Review of documentation and analysis of relevant policies and principles
Reviewing relevant documentation on a sample basis, including Sonova ESG policies, management of reporting structures and documentation; and - Assessment of the key figures
Performing tests on a sample basis of evidence supporting selected ESG indicators concerning completeness, accuracy, adequacy and consistency.
We have not carried out any work on data other than outlined in the scope and subject matter section as defined above. We believe that the evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our assurance conclusions.
Conclusion
Based on the procedures we performed, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the selected quantitative ESG indicators for the year ended on 31 March 2022 published in the 2021/22 ESG Report on Sonova’s website (https://report.sonova.com/2022) and marked with the label ‘✔ PwC CH’ are not prepared and disclosed in all material respects in accordance with the reporting criteria.
Intended users and purpose of the report
Our report is prepared for, and only for, the Board of Directors of Sonova Holding AG, and solely for the purpose of reporting to them on the ESG indicators in the 2021/22 ESG report and no other purpose. We do not, in giving our conclusion, accept or assume responsibility (legal or otherwise) or accept liability for, or in connection with, any other purpose for which our report including the conclusion might be used, or to any other person to whom our report will be shown or into whose hands it might come, and no other persons shall be entitled to rely on our conclusion.
We permit the disclosure of our report, in full only and in combination with the published 2021/22 ESG Report, to enable the Board of Directors to demonstrate that they have discharged their governance responsibilities by commissioning an independent assurance report over the ESG indicators in the 2021/22 ESG report without assuming or accepting any responsibility or liability to any third parties on our part.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, we will not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the Board of Directors of Sonova Holding AG for our work or this report.
PricewaterhouseCoopers AG
Sandra Böhm
Raphael Rutishauser
Zurich, 16 May, 2022
The maintenance and integrity of the Sonova website is the responsibility of the Board of Directors; the work carried out by the assurance providers does not involve consideration of the maintenance and integrity of the Sonova website and, accordingly, the assurance providers accept no responsibility for any changes that may have occurred to the reported ESG indicators or criteria since they were initially presented on the website.
