Independent Practitioners’ Assurance Report to the Board of Directors of Metsä Board Oyj
METSÄ BOARD Annual review 2023
Business operations and value creation 2 This is Metsä Board 4 CEO’s review 6
■ Inherent limitations Inherent limitations exist in all assurance engagements due to the selective testing of the information being examined. Therefore fraud, error or non- compliance may occur and not be detected. Additionally, non-financial data may be subject to more inherent limitations than financial data, given both its nature and the methods used for determining, calculating and estimating such data. ■ Conclusion Our conclusion has been formed on the basis of, and is subject to, the matters outlined in this report. We believe that the evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our conclusions. Based on the procedures performed and the evidence obtained, as described above, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the Sustainability Information subject to the limited assurance engagement is not prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with the Company’s reporting guidelines, the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards, the SASB Standards, reporting principles related to Metsä Board and Metsä Group 2030 sustainability targets and Metsä Board selected own indicators, as well as EU Taxonomy reporting requirements.
We have been engaged by the Board of Metsä Board Oyj (0635366-7) (hereafter “Metsä Board” or “Company”) to provide limited assurance on selected corporate sustainability information (hereafter “Sustainability Information”) presented in Metsä Board’s Sustainability Statement for the year ended 31 December 2023. The Sustainability Information being reviewed is described in the GRI index and in the SASB index in the annexes of the statement. Reporting requirements under the Taxonomy Regulation have also been included under our review scope. ■ Board of Directors’ responsibilities The Board of Directors of Metsä Board is responsible for the preparation and presentation of the Sustainability Information in accordance with the following reporting guidelines, principles and criteria, • Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Standards, • Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Standards, • Metsä Board and Metsä Group 2030 sustainability targets, • Metsä Board selected own indicators, as well as • reporting requirements under the Taxonomy Regulation (EU 2020/852) and Commission Delegated Acts (EU 2021/2178 and EU 2023/2486). The Board is also responsible for determining Metsä Board’s objectives with regard to sustainability performance and reporting, including the identification of stakeholders and material issues, and for establishing and maintaining appropriate performance management and internal control systems from which the reported performance information is derived. ■ Our responsibilities Our responsibility is to carry out a limited assurance engagement and to express a conclusion based on the work performed. We conducted our assurance engagement on the Sustainability Information in accordance with International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000 (Revised), Assurance Engagements other than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information, and ISAE 3410 Assurance Engagements on Greenhouse Gas Statements, issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board IAASB. That Standard requires that we plan and perform the engagement to obtain limited assurance about whether the Sustainability Information is free from material misstatement. The nature, timing and extent of the assurance procedures selected depend on professional judgement, including the assessment of material misstatement due to irregularity or error. We believe that the evidence we obtain is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our conclusion on limited assurance.
We are independent of the Company in accordance with the ethical requirements applicable in Finland to the engagement we have undertaken and have fulfilled our other ethical obligations under those requirements. KPMG Oy Ab applies International Standard on Quality Management ISQM 1, which requires the firm to design, implement and operate a system of quality management including policies or procedures regarding compliance with ethical requirements, professional standards and applicable legal and regulatory requirements. ■ Procedures performed A limited assurance engagement on Sustainability Information consists of making inquiries, primarily of persons responsible for the preparation of information presented in the Sustainability Information, and applying analytical and other evidence gathering procedures, as appropriate. In the engagement, we have performed the following procedures, among others: • Interviewed members of Metsä Board senior management and relevant staff responsible for providing the Sustainability Information; • Assessed the application of the reporting criteria, i.e., the Company’s reporting guidelines, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Standards, Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Standards, reporting principles related to Metsä Board and Metsä Group 2030 sustainability targets and Metsä Board selected own sustainability indicators, as well as reporting requirements under the EU Taxonomy in the presentation of the Sustainability Information; • Assessed data management processes and working methods used to gather and consolidate the Sustainability Information; • Reviewed the presented Sustainability Information and assessed its quality and reporting boundary definitions; • Assessed the Sustainability Information’s data accuracy and completeness through a review of the original documents and systems on a sample basis and; • Conducted site visits to review the Sustainability Information on Metsä Board’s sites. 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 in a limited assurance engagement is substantially lower than the assurance that would have been obtained had a reasonable assurance engagement been performed.
Strategy and financial targets
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Value creation
Financial development 10 Key figures 12
Report of the Board of Directors
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• Sustainability statement • Sustainability statement assurance report
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Consolidated financial statements
78 Notes to the consolidated financial statements 126 Parent company financial statements 129 Notes to the parent company financial statements 142 The Board’s proposal to the Annual General Meeting for the distribution of funds 143 Auditor’s Report 147 Shares and shareholders 151 Ten years in figures 152 Taxes 153 Production capacities 155 Calculation of key ratios and comparable performance measures Corporate governance 157 Corporate governance statement 165 • Board of Directors of Metsä Board 168 • Corporate Management Team of Metsä Board
Helsinki, 8 February 2024 KPMG Oy Ab
Kirsi Jantunen APA Partner, Audit and Assurance
170 Remuneration report 174 Investor relations and investor information
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Report of the Board of Directors | METSÄ BOARD ANNUAL REVIEW 2023
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