BAA Limited (BAA) appointed Environmental Resources Management Limited (ERM) to provide independent assurance on selected information presented in its Corporate Responsibility Report 2007 (the Report).

Scope of our work
The environmental targets selected for our assurance engagement were:

• Air quality: Develop and publish a local air quality strategy for Stansted by 31 December 2007.
• Climate change and energy: CO2 derived from energy use to be less than 44,469 tonnes.
• Noise: Prepare a draft noise action plan for Stansted and develop a plan for consultation with key stakeholders by 31 December 2007 to enable the action plan to be agreed with key stakeholders by 30 April 2008.
• Waste: Recycle at least 30% of airport waste between April 2007 and 31 December 2007.
• Water: At least 95% of Stansted’s discharges to meet Environment Agency standards for the quality of surface water discharges.
• Water: Improve the monitoring and control of the surface water drainage system through the installation of additional water quality monitors and a telemetry system.

Objectives, basis of our work and limitations
We planned and performed our work to obtain all the information and explanations that we believe were necessary to gather sufficient evidence to provide a basis for our assurance conclusions as to whether the reported information and data set out in the ‘Scope of our work’ was appropriately reported.

We undertook assurance work at airport level only for this scope of work. We did not assess the appropriateness of the selected targets or the airport’s wider management and reporting of selected environmental issues. If the engagement had required us to do so, our conclusions may have been different.

If we had been asked to conclude on whether the reported information on the selected assurance topics is materially accurate, we would have needed to conduct more work at corporate and site level and gather further evidence to support our assurance opinion.

The reliability of the reported information and data is subject to inherent uncertainties given the available methods for determining, calculating or estimating the underlying information. It is important to understand our assurance conclusions in this context.

Reporting criteria and assurance standards
BAA applies its own environmental target assessment criteria. We performed our work in accordance with ERM’s assurance methodology which is based on the international assurance and audit standards: ISAE 3000, ISO 19011 and, where appropriate to our scope of work, AA1000AS.

Respective responsibilities and ERM’s independence
BAA and Stansted Airport’s management is responsible for preparing the CR Report and for the collection and presentation of information within it. ERM’s responsibility is to express our assurance conclusions on the selected scope of work agreed with BAA and Stansted Airport.

During 2007 we have worked with Stansted Airport and other BAA companies on other consulting engagements. ERM operates strict conflict checks and we have confirmed our independence to BAA for delivering this assurance engagement.

Our team and assurance activities
A multi-disciplinary team of environmental, corporate responsibility and assurance specialists performed the engagement. 

We conducted the following assurance activities:

• Reviewed self-assessment reports of progress against each target provided by each target owner
• Visited the airport to interview the relevant environmental target owners and review documentary evidence to support their self-assessed progress against each target and challenged the self-assessment on the basis of our findings
• Reported our assurance findings to management as they arose to provide them with the opportunity to correct them prior to finalisation of our work
• Reviewed the presentation of information relevant to the scope of our work in the CR Report to ensure consistency with our findings.

Our conclusions
Based on our work undertaken as described above, we conclude that, in all material respects, progress against the selected 2007 environmental targets set out are appropriately reported.

Our key observations and recommendations
Based on the assurance activities set out above, and without affecting our assurance conclusions, we provide the following key observations and recommendations for future improvements:

Highlights observed in target achievement:

• Climate change and energy: Energy efficiency initiatives, poster campaigns, and accreditation by the Carbon Trust for Energy Efficiency have all helped Stansted to exceed its energy target.
• Water: The investments made in water quality control and monitoring have enabled Stansted to improve its pollution control arrangements. Investments have included water quality monitors, a telemetry system to allow for remote and local monitoring and communication, a containment scheme for one of the airport’s balancing ponds, and collaboration with the Environment Agency to agree on balancing pond upgrades.

Areas for Stansted Airport to consider for future improvements:

• Achieving targets: Continue to work towards delivering the 2007 targets where no or some progress was made.
• Setting performance targets: Ensure targets set are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-based (SMART) so that performance can be effectively measured and monitored against them.

Environmental Resources Management Limited
London, UK
9 July 2008