Reasonable assurance report of the independent auditor regarding the combined non-financial statement
To the Supervisory Board of Continental Aktiengesellschaft, Hanover
We have performed a reasonable assurance engagement on the consolidated non-financial statement combined for Continental Aktiengesellschaft (further “Continental” or the “Company”) and the Continental Group in accordance with Sections 315b and 315c of the German Commercial Code (HGB) in conjunction with Sections 289b to 289e HGB which is included in chapter “Sustainability and Consolidated Non-Financial Statement” of the consolidated management report as well as in the sections “Structure of the Continental Group,” “Strategy of the Continental Group” and “Report on Risks and Opportunities” of the consolidated management report, which are qualified as a part by reference, (further “combined non-financial statement”) for the period from January 1 to December 31, 2020 (Appendix 1).
Management’s responsibility
The legal representatives of the Company are responsible for the preparation of the combined non-financial statement in accordance with Sections 315b and 315c HGB in conjunction with Sections 289b to 289e HGB.
This responsibility of the legal representatives includes the selection and application of appropriate methods to prepare the combined non-financial statement and the use of assumptions and estimates for individual disclosures which are reasonable under the given circumstances. Furthermore, the legal representatives are responsible for the internal controls they deem necessary for the preparation of the combined non-financial statement that is free of – intended or unintended – material misstatements.
Practitioner’s responsibility
It is our responsibility to express a conclusion on the combined non-financial statement based on our work performed within a reasonable assurance engagement.
We conducted our work in the form of a reasonable assurance engagement in accordance with the International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000 (Revised): “Assurance Engagements other than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information,” published by IAASB. Accordingly, we have to comply with our professional duties and to plan and perform the assurance engagement in such a way that we, respecting the principle of materiality, reach our conclusion with a reasonable level of assurance. The audit of the combined non-financial statement encompasses the performance of audit procedures to obtain evidence for the information included in the combined non-financial statement. The choice of audit procedures is subject to the auditor’s own judgment.
Within the scope of our engagement we performed, amongst others, the following audit procedures:
- Inquiries of group-level personnel who are responsible for the materiality analysis in order to understand the processes for determining material topics and respective reporting boundaries for Continental
- A risk analysis, including media research, to identify relevant information on Continental’s sustainability performance in the reporting period
- Reviewing the suitability of internally developed definitions
- Evaluation of the design and the implementation of systems and processes for the collection, processing and monitoring of disclosures, including data consolidation, on environmental, employee and social matters, respect for human rights, and anti-corruption and bribery matters
- Inquiries of group-level personnel who are responsible for determining disclosures on concepts, due diligence processes, results and risks, performing internal control functions and consolidating disclosures
- Performing control-based audit procedures to assess the design and effectiveness of internal controls used to collect and process non-financial disclosures and data, including the consolidation of the data at group and business area level
- Substantive assurance procedures using, in particular, internal and external documentation in order to determine in detail whether the disclosures correspond to relevant underlying sources
- Analytical procedures for the evaluation of data and of the trends of quantitative disclosures as reported at group level by all sites
- Evaluation of local data collection, validation and reporting processes as well as of the reliability of reported data by means of sampling at Kaluga in Russia, Puchov in Slovakia, Changchun in China, Weißbach and Waltershausen in Germany
- Assessment of the overall presentation of the disclosures
In our opinion, we obtained sufficient and appropriate evidence for reaching a conclusion for the assurance engagement.
Independence and quality assurance on the part of the auditing firm
In performing this engagement, we applied the legal provisions and professional pronouncements regarding independence and quality assurance, in particular the Professional Code for German Public Auditors and Chartered Accountants (in Germany) and the quality assurance standard of the German Institute of Public Auditors (Institut der Wirtschaftsprüfer, IDW) regarding quality assurance requirements in audit practice (IDW QS 1).
Conclusion
In our opinion the combined non-financial statement of Continental Aktiengesellschaft for the period from January 1 to December 31, 2020, is prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with Sections 315b and 315c HGB in conjunction with Sections 289b to 289e HGB.
Restriction of use/general engagement terms
This assurance report is issued for the purposes of the Supervisory Board of Continental Aktiengesellschaft, Hanover, only. We assume no responsibility with regard to any third parties.
Our assignment for the Supervisory Board of Continental Aktiengesellschaft, Hanover, and professional liability as described above was governed by the General Engagement Terms for Wirtschaftsprüfer and Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaften (Allgemeine Auftragsbedingungen für Wirtschaftsprüfer und Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaften) in the version dated January 1, 2017 (https://www.kpmg.de/bescheinigungen/lib/aab.pdf). By reading and using the information contained in this assurance report, each recipient confirms notice of the provisions contained therein, including the limitation of our liability as stipulated in No. 9, and accepts the validity of the General Engagement Terms with respect to us.
Munich, March 2, 2021
KPMG AG
Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft
Hell
ppa. Mathias