Belgium - Environmental services - Global Postal Sustainability Metrics and ESG Analytics Services

Introduction The SMMS programme is an IPC initiative aimed at reducing the environmental and social impacts of the global postal sector. The programme is an expansion of the EMMS, which focused on carbon emissions, and which ran from 2008 (launched fully in 2009) to 2019. The SMMS programme continues to expand and in 2027 it is anticipated that 30 posts from five continents will participate. The programme has been highly successful, with the participating posts reaching two of the original EMMS programme’s key targets early (to reduce carbon emissions by 20% and to achieve 90% in the programme’s qualitative Carbon Management Proficiency survey). More information can be found at https://www.ipc.be/services/sustainability/smms. IPC works with two consultancy companies for SMMS - an environmental consultancy and auditing consultancy. The environmental consultancy is handled in Lot 1 (Environmental Consultancy) and the auditing consultancy is handled in Lot 2 (Auditing Consultancy) The role of the environmental consultancy (Lot 1) is as follows: Item 1: Core SMMS activities A) Annual update to the existing SMMS questionnaires and guidance documents in line with best practice and member feedback. Tasks include: 1. Consolidate participants’ views, collate and analyse feedback on the SMMS process 2. Review and update the Management Proficiency questionnaire and associated guidance 3. Review and update the Performance Indicator calculator and associated guidance 4. Prepare tailored Performance Indicator calculator for each participating post 5. Prepare tailored Management Proficiency questionnaire for each participating post B) Gather, compile and analyse SMMS data. Tasks include: 1. Processing responses from the Management Proficiency questionnaire (including plausibility checks) for all participating posts 2. Compiling the Management Proficiency questionnaire responses at a group level and conducting analysis 3. Processing responses from the Performance Indicator calculator (including plausibility checks) 4. Compiling the Performance Indicator calculator data at a group level and conducting analysis 5. Supporting correspondence with IPC members to facilitate the SMMS process, including helping posts to complete questionnaires by responding to any technical queries they may have C) Preparation of Scorecards, Assessments and summary analysis. This includes: 1. Creation of tailored scorecards for each post benchmarking their performance to the wider group (including one round of review by the post in question) 2. Creation of an assessment for each post, containing post- and group-level results and generic analysis and recommendations (including one round of review by the post in question) 3. Creation of ‘sector scorecard’ displaying group-level performance and trends 4. Creation of written content (including qualitative and quantitative analysis) to populate IPC SMMS Sustainability Report webpages, including supporting draft graphics and data D) Supporting the IPC’s SMMS engagement activities. This involves the provision of support for: 1. The Annual SMMS Workshop, specifically: • Guidance and support to establish the workshop agenda • Preparation of presentation materials • Workshop attendance by two members of your team • Preparation of meeting summary for dissemination to posts[BB4.1] E) SMMS Programme strategic management 1. Support for the June/July Technical Review Committee (including preparation of: a slide deck containing preliminary results and analysis; notes and meeting actions, and attendance by two members of your team) 2. Support for the December Technical Review Committee (including preparation of: a slide deck containing final results and analysis; notes and meeting actions, and attendance by two members of your team) Item 2: Ongoing support and advisory services for SMMS programme A) The provision of additional support for the SMMS programme, as well as non-core SMMS tasks. Specifically, this will involve: 1. Project management, regular and ad-hoc project meetings and reporting 2. Preparation of material to support onboarding of new posts to the SMMS programme. 3. Preparing materials for the annual Green Postal Day 4. Support non-core SMMS activities (non-core activities include those that are not essential for the successful completion of the annual SMMS programme). For example, this includes: o Preparation of presentation material for the IPC’s post visits throughout the year o Preparation of presentation material for IPC internal and external meetings and working groups o In-person or virtual representation at IPC internal and external meetings (e.g. meeting with posts) o Responding to post information requests related to non-core SMMS issues (e.g. questions related to other reporting initiatives, such CSRD or CDP) o Undertaking ad-hoc surveys to gauge the opinion of participating posts (e.g. through survey tooling) on emerging topics o Supporting the continued development of the cross-border carbon footprint programme o Provision of written content and data for IPC’s Global Postal Industry Report (GPIR) o Provision of written content for external media coverage o Target (re)setting for existing (e.g. delivery efficiency) and new (e.g. sustainable packaging) group-level performance metrics o Preparation of materials for webinars (e.g. Kick o ff and Closing webinars) o Preparing data for transfer to the UPU’s OSCAR platform o Updating relevant sections of IPC’s annual UNGC report; Assurance level • Limited assurance on the sustainability KPIs related to: o Climate Change o Resource efficiency o Air quality o Circular economy o General add-on advice to support IPC/members Methodology • Independent Limited Assurance • ISAE 3000: Assurance engagement other than audits or reviews of historical information • Two-year assurance cycle covering accounting periods CY 2026 - 2027 (i.e. IPC’s sustainability reporting of 2027 - 2028) Activities • Auditing of overall IPC dataset • Visit 5 posts per year to audit their sustainability data • Presentation at IPC 2-day Annual Workshop in June each year. • Meet with IPC twice per year to evaluate SMMS programme and see which changes can be made. • Consultancy and advice on latest regulatory changes in the field of Sustainability. Scope • SPI key performance indicators Additional SMP Validation Checks o Qualitative validation checks on the SMP data of the IPC member posts. Note, these validation checks are not part of the assurance scope and we do not express an assurance conclusion