Independent auditor’s report to the members of Vodafone Group Plc (continued) 128 Vodafone Group Plc Annual Report 2024 Strategic report Governance Financials
Other information
Climate change Stakeholders are increasingly interested in how climate change will impact Vodafone Group Plc. The Group has determined that the most significant future impacts from climate change on its operations will be from its Planet activities and commitments set out on pages 38 to 42 and the material climate-related physical and transitional risks explained on pages 64 to 69 in the required Task Force for Climate related Financial Disclosures, both of which form part of the “Other information,” rather than the audited consolidated financial statements. Our procedures on these unaudited disclosures therefore consisted solely of considering whether they are materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit or otherwise appear to be materially misstated, in line with our responsibilities on “Other information”. In planning and performing our audit we assessed the potential impacts of climate change on the Group’s business and any consequential material impact on its financial statements. As explained in Note 1 Basis of Preparation to the consolidated financial statements, environmental, regulatory and other factors responsive to climate change risks are still developing, and are outside of the Group’s control, and consequently financial statements cannot capture all possible future outcomes as these are not yet known. The degree of certainty of these changes may also mean that they cannot be taken into account when determining asset and liability valuations and the timing of future cash flows under the requirements of UK adopted international accounting standards. The significant accounting estimates and judgements assessed by management to be potentially impacted by climate risks have been described in Note 1 and with further disclosure in respect of the impact on the Group’s long-range plans and deferred tax asset recognition provided in Note 4 and Note 6 respectively.
Our audit effort in considering the impact of climate change on the consolidated financial statements was focused on evaluating management’s assessment of the impact of climate risk, physical and transition, their climate commitments, the effects of material climate risks disclosed on pages 64 to 69 and the significant judgements and estimates disclosed in note 1, 4 and 6 and whether these have been appropriately reflected in asset values and associated disclosures where values are determined through modelling future cash flows, being ‘Goodwill’, ‘Other intangible assets’ and ‘Deferred tax assets’, and in the timing and nature of liabilities recognised, being ‘Asset Retirement Obligations’. As part of this evaluation, we performed our own risk assessment, supported by our climate change internal specialists, to determine the risks of material misstatement in the financial statements from climate change which needed to be considered in our audit. The findings from our procedures supported our evaluation and challenge of the adequacy of climate change considerations in the Directors’ assessment of going concern and viability and associated disclosures. Based on our work we have not identified the impact of climate change on the financial statements to be a key audit matter or to materially impact a key audit matter.
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