What did we do to reach our conclusions?
For the financial data we reconciled the financial data
on pages 4 with the audited 2008 financial statements
of Heineken.
To determine whether the other information
in The Report is fairly stated we:
performed a media analysis and internet search
on environmental, safety and social issues relating
to Heineken, to obtain information on relevant
sustainability issues in the reporting period;
reviewed the follow-up of the stakeholder dialogue
in The Report;
reviewed the systems and processes for information
management, internal control and processing of the
qualitative and quantitative information in The Report,
at corporate level;
reviewed the systems used for generating, validating
and aggregating the environmental and safety data at
corporate level;
visited six sites in Austria, Germany, Israel, Portugal,
The Netherlands and The United Kingdom to assess
the quality of the local data management systems and
the reliability of the reported data;
interviewed relevant staff and management at corporate
level responsible for the reported information on specific
issues in The Report, including agriculture, supply chain
responsibility, responsible beer consumption and impact
on developing markets;
collected and reviewed internal and external
documentation to determine whether the qualitative
information is supported by sufficient evidence.
During the assurance process we discussed changes to the
various drafts of The Report with Heineken, and reviewed
the final version of The Report to ensure that it reflected
our findings.
What are our conclusions?
Based on the above,
the financial data on page 4 are properly derived from
the 2008 financial statements of Heineken N.V., for which
KPMG issued an unqualified audit opinion;
the other information in The Report does not appear to
be unfairly stated.
What else did we observe?
Without affecting the conclusions presented above,
we would like to draw readers' attention to the following:
Heineken currently reports on itsC02 emissions and safety
performance for production units only. ForC02 emissions
Heineken determined that the impact of the total value
chain outweighs the impact of the production units.
The safety performance currently excludes distribution
and marketing activities. In order to effectively manage
environmental and safety impact we recommend Heineken
to set the scope of the redefined sustainability goals beyond
production and to extend the performance information in
the sustainability report accordingly.
The data management systems at the breweries can
be further improved in terms of documenting data
management procedures and recording the results of
these procedures, such as the data review by management.
We recommend improving the local data management
systems on these elements in light of monitoring
performance against the redefined sustainability goals.
KPMG SUSTAINABILITY
Drs. W.J. Bartels RA
Amsterdam, 8 April 2009
HEINEKEN N.V. SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2008 31
