Independence Group Sustainability Report 2019

External assessment IGO participate in external benchmarking initiatives and sustainability-related assessments. We are deliberate in our participation, choosing those that add the greatest value to IGO or those more broadly recognised by external parties. A range of organisations offer third party assessments of sustainability performance and act as de facto sustainability ratings agencies. Few provide their results freely. Rather, participation in many assessments and access to the resultant comparative data is provided on a fee-for-service basis. While many larger companies provide data to a suite of these agencies, prior to FY19, IGO actively provided data to only one - the CDP. Furthermore, we are subject to the opinions of third party organisations and initiatives, which assess and recognise our performance based on publicly available information only. In FY19, IGO actively participated in two additional assessments for the first time, the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) and ISS Environmental & Social Disclosure QualityScore, as an increasing number of our stakeholders, especially shareholders, look to these organisations to assess our performance. The outcome of all these external assessments informs the continual improvement in our management approaches and sustainability performance. During FY19 we participated in: • Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) . The Dow Jones Sustainability World Index is a global sustainability benchmark offered by RobecoSAM and S&P Dow Jones Indices. As a benchmark for investors, it tracks the stock performance of the world’s leading companies in terms of economic, environmental and social criteria. In 2019, IGO participated in the RobecoSAM Corporate Sustainability Assessment for the first time. Our 2019 assessment resulted in IGO being selected as an index component of the DJSI, specifically the DJSI Australia. • CDP . The CDP is an independent, non-profit organisation that runs a global disclosure system to encourage companies worldwide to measure and manage their environmental impacts. IGO has participated in the annual climate change and water questionnaires since 2016 and participated in the forest questionnaire for the first time in 2019. • ISS Environmental & Social Disclosure QualityScore . ISS Environmental & Social Disclosure QualityScore uses a scoring and screening process to measure and identify areas of environmental, social and governance (ESG) risk through company disclosure to assist investors in assessing the portfolio risk exposure. Many large institutional investors now use their services. They assess the quality of ESG practice across industry groups, such as metals and mining, with a score of 1 indicating better disclosure and lower risk, and a 10 indicating worse disclosure and higher risk. At the time of preparing this report, IGO scored 3 for governance risk and disclosure (representing no change from the previous year), 3 for environmental risk (improving from a 6 in 2018) and 2 for social risk (improving from a 4 in 2018). The quality of corporate sustainability reporting is also completed by various non-government organisations and investment bodies. Some publish these assessments in the public domain. For example, every year the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI) reviews the quality of ESG reporting by each company in the ASX200. This is done on behalf of its members, who collectively invest over A$2.2 trillion in assets and own on average about ten per cent of every ASX200 company. ACSI has stated that ESG risks and opportunities have a material impact on the long-term performance of investee companies, and hence effective ESG management is central to the effective management of those companies. This year, for the fourth consecutive year, ACSI rated IGO’s sustainability reporting as sector “Leading”. In specific feedback to IGO, ACSI note that “each year market standards are rising and (we) would encourage you to continue to enhance the company’s reporting in future years.” In this and future sustainability reports, we have sought to take a leading position in sustainability reporting. 14 — IGO SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2019 OVERVIEW