Compliance of the sustainability information included in Chapter 4 Sustainability Statement of the Groupe management report with the requirements of Article L.233-28-4 of the French Commercial Code, including the ESRS
Nature of procedures carried out
Our procedures consisted in verifying that, in accordance with legal and regulatory requirements, including the ESRS:
- the disclosures provided enable to understand the general basis for the preparation and governance of the sustainability information included in Chapter 4 Sustainability Statement of the Groupe management report, including the basis for determining the information relating to the value chain and the exemptions from disclosures used;
- the presentation of this information ensures its readability and understandability;
- the scope chosen by Publicis Groupe SA for providing this information is appropriate; and
- on the basis of a selection, based on our analysis of the risks of non-compliance of the information provided and the expectations of users, this information does not contain any material errors, omissions or inconsistencies, i.e. that are likely to influence the judgment or decisions of users of this information.
Conclusion of the procedures carried out
Based on the procedures we have carried out and subject to the qualifications described below, we have not identified any material errors, omissions or inconsistencies regarding the compliance of the sustainability information included in Chapter 4 Sustainability Statement of the Groupe management report, with the requirements of Article L. 233-28-4 of the French Commercial Code, including the ESRS.
At the date of issue of this report (February 3, 2025), the sections of the URD to which Chapter 4 “Sustainability status” refers are in the process of being finalized. Consequently, we are not in a position to comment on the compliance with ESRS publication requirements of the items described in the following points of “Chapter 4 Sustainability statement” relating to the:
- strategy and business model;
- corporate governance;
- ESG risk management and mapping, and internal control;
- integration of sustainability issues into remuneration;
- compensation and equal pay – equity ratio.
Emphasis of matters
Without qualifying the conclusion expressed above, we draw your attention to the information provided in the Groupe management report:
- omitted data points or publication requirements are specified at the end of each section of the sustainability statement,
- the perimeters used to calculate the indicators linked to the “Decent wages” and “Equal pay for women and men” publication requirements are defined in Section 4.3.8.1 “Compensation and equal pay”,
- as mentioned, the information published in Section 4.2.9 “Natural resources and the circular economy” does not cover all the publication requirements of ESRS E5 “Resource use and the circular economy”.
Elements that received particular attention
Information provided in application of environmental standards (ESRS E1 to E5)
The information published on climate change (ESRS E1) is mentioned in “4.2 Environment: combating climate change” in the Groupe’s management report.
We present below the information to which we have paid particular attention concerning the compliance of this information with the ESRS.
Our work consisted in particular in:
- on the basis of interviews conducted with the management or persons concerned, in particular the management in charge of climate-related issues, we assessed whether the description of policies, actions and targets implemented by the entity covers the following areas: climate change mitigation and renewable energies;
- to assess the appropriateness of the information presented in Sections “4.2.1.3 Risks associated with environmental and climate issues” and “4.2.2 Reducing impacts with the ‘Net Zero Climate’ policy” of the environmental section of the sustainability information included in the Groupe management report, and its overall consistency with our knowledge of the entity.
