To Deutsche Post AG, Bonn
We have conducted a limited assurance engagement on the sustainability statement of Deutsche Post AG, Bonn, combining the consolidated sustainability statement and the non-financial statement of the parent, included in section “Group Sustainability Statement/Nonfinancial Statement” of the combined management report for the parent and the group, (“the Combined Sustainability Statement”) for the financial year from January 1 to December 31, 2024. In addition, we have performed a reasonable assurance engagement on the disclosures
included in the Combined Sustainability Statement for the financial year 2024. The Combined Sustainability Statement was prepared to fulfil the requirements of Directive (EU) 2022/2464 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2022 (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, CSRD) and Article 8 of Regulation (EU) 2020/852 and Sections 289b to 289e, 315b and 315c German Commercial Code (HGB) for a combined non-financial statement.
Not subject to our assurance engagement are
Based on the procedures performed and the evidence obtained, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the Combined Sustainability Statement is not prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with the requirements of the CSRD and Article 8 of Regulation (EU) 2020/852, Sections 289b to 289e, 315b and 315c HGB for a combined non-financial statement, and the specifying criteria presented by the executive directors of the Company. This assurance conclusion includes that nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe
In addition, based on the procedures performed and the evidence obtained, the disclosures subject to a reasonable assurance engagement comply, in all respects material to the Combined Sustainability Statement, with the requirements of the CSRD and Article 8 of Regulation (EU) 2020/852, Sections 289b to 289e, 315b and 315c HGB for a consolidated non-financial statement, and the specifying criteria presented by the executive directors of the Company.
We do not express an assurance conclusion or opinion on individual disclosures.
We do not express an assurance conclusion on the parts of the Combined Sustainability Statement marked as unassured.
We conducted our 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”, issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB).
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 is substantially lower than the assurance that would have been obtained had a reasonable assurance engagement been performed.
Our responsibilities under ISAE 3000 (Revised) are further described in section “German Public Auditor’s Responsibilities for the Assurance Engagement on the Combined Sustainability Statement”.
We are independent of the entity in accordance with the requirements of European law and German commercial and professional law, and we have fulfilled our other German professional responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. Our audit firm has applied the requirements of the IDW Quality Management Standards and of the International Standard on Quality Management (ISQM) 1 issued by the IAASB. We believe that the evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our assurance conclusion and opinion.
The executive directors are responsible for the preparation of the Combined Sustainability Statement in accordance with the requirements of the CSRD and the applicable German legal and other European requirements as well as with the specifying criteria presented by the executive directors of the Company and for designing, implementing and maintaining such internal control as they have considered necessary to enable the preparation of a combined sustainability statement in accordance with these requirements that is free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud (i.e. fraudulent reporting in the Combined Sustainability Statement) or error.
This responsibility of the executive directors includes establishing and maintaining the materiality assessment process, selecting and applying appropriate reporting policies for preparing the Combined Sustainability Statement as well as making assumptions and estimates and ascertaining forward-looking information for individual sustainability-related disclosures.
The supervisory board is responsible for overseeing the process for the preparation of the Combined Sustainability Statement.
The CSRD and the applicable German legal and other European requirements contain wording and terms that are subject to considerable interpretation uncertainties and for which no authoritative comprehensive interpretations have yet been published. The executive directors have made interpretations of such wording and terms in the Combined Sustainability Statement. The executive directors are responsible for the reasonableness of these interpretations. As such wording and terms may be interpreted differently by regulators or courts, the legality of measurements or evaluations of the sustainability matters based on these interpretations is uncertain.
These inherent limitations also affect the assurance engagement on the Combined Sustainability Statement.
Our objective is to express a limited assurance conclusion based on the assurance engagement we have conducted, on whether any matters have come to our attention that cause us to believe that the Combined Sustainability Statement has not been prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with the CSRD, the applicable German legal and other European requirements and the specifying criteria presented by the executive directors of the Company.
In addition, our objective is to express a reasonable assurance opinion based on the assurance engagement we have conducted, on whether the concerned disclosures of the Combined Sustainability Statement are prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with the CSRD, the applicable German legal and other European requirements and the specifying criteria presented by the executive directors of the Company.
Furthermore, our objective is to issue an assurance report that includes our assurance conclusion and opinion on the Combined Sustainability Statement.
As part of a limited and reasonable assurance engagement in accordance with ISAE 3000 (Revised), we exercise professional judgement and maintain professional scepticism. We also
A limited and reasonable assurance engagement involves the performance of procedures to obtain evidence about the sustainability information. The nature, timing and extent of the selected procedures are subject to our professional judgement.
In performing our limited assurance engagement, we
In performing our reasonable assurance engagement, we also
We issue this report as stipulated in the engagement letter agreed with the Company (including the “General Engagement Terms for Wirtschaftsprüferinnen, Wirtschaftsprüfer and Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaften (German Public Auditors and Public Audit Firms)” dated 1 January 2024 of the Institut der Wirtschaftsprüfer (IDW)). We draw attention to the fact that the assurance engagement was conducted for the Company’s purposes and that the report is intended solely to inform the Company about the result of the assurance engagement. Consequently, it may not be suitable for any other than the aforementioned purpose. Accordingly, the report is not intended to be used by third parties as a basis for making (financial) decisions based on it.
Our responsibility is to the Company alone. We do not accept any responsibility to third parties. Our assurance conclusion and opinion are not modified in this respect.
Munich, February 18, 2025
Deloitte GmbH
Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft
Prof. Dr. Frank Beine Sebastian Dingel
Wirtschaftsprüfer
(German Public Auditor)