Assurance Statement

The SMART Company has been requested by Pearson plc to provide a statement relating to the accuracy of reported performance as described in the Pearson Environmental Review 2004.

The SMART Company is independent of Pearson plc, but it is not independent of the process of environmental management and reporting carried out by the company. In 2001, SMART was commissioned by Pearson to support the development and implementation of an environmental management system across all its operations. Our role is reviewed on an annual basis by a Pearson Board Director. Included within the scope of this consultancy has been advice on the development, structure and content of the Pearson Environmental Review.

Scope

Our work was focused on verifying that the data presented provides a reliable and accurate picture of company performance. The data covered the period 1st January 2004 to 31st December 2004. The scope of this statement relates to data concerned with:

• Energy and water consumed within buildings
• Presence of ozone depleting substances within buildings
• Complaints from neighbours
• Business travel (air, rail and road)
• Greenhouse Gas Emissions (from buildings and business travel)
• Waste generation within buildings, from unsold product and packaging
• Progress towards achieving environmental targets

The objective of this assurance statement is to provide a review of:

• Effectiveness of data collection
• Accuracy of environmental performance data
• Transparency and completeness of environmental information reported

Approach

Information and data collection was the responsibility of Pearson plc. It was the responsibility of SMART to support Pearson in developing a reliable reporting process. It is the responsibility of SMART to review data collected for accuracy and completeness. In order to achieve this objective, SMART:

• Discussed the process with members of the US and UK Environmental Working Groups
• Reviewed quantitative evidence of environmental performance
• Verified accuracy of performance data where significant changes were reported

Opinion

On the basis of this approach and our wider experience and knowledge of Pearson, we are satisfied that the performance data as presented in the report is fair and reasonable. The process highlighted areas for improvement:

• Improved data collection for some leased buildings and data derived from landlords
• Reporting of waste and packaging use

  Peter Hughes
  Director
  The SMART Company
  www.thesmartcompany.net