Basis of calculations and definitions

The reporting period covers the period from January 1 to December 31, 2024.

The environmental metrics include all locations and companies in Comet’s scope of consolidation as listed in the Annual Report. Compared to the 2023 reporting year, the companies within the scope of consolidation have remained unchanged.

Comet has not made any changes to its locations for the calculation of environmental indicators in fiscal year 2024.

Environmental metrics that had been reported in the 2023 Annual Report for the year 2023 are restated in this 2024 report if the deviations from the actual values were significant, meaning if they exceeded ±10% of the total reported figures.

With the exception of the Flamatt site in Switzerland, which is owned by Comet, all of the company’s other sites are leased. As a result of these leases, not all the necessary data on energy consumption for the financial year is available in time for the end of the reporting period.

To obtain a comprehensive overview of energy consumption at these locations, the data collection for Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions calculations is based on various sources, including invoices received throughout the year, extrapolations based on the latest available data, or estimates derived from the previous year’s figures. The figures reported are based on a data collection and extrapolation processes for 2024 with a closing date in mid-January 2025.

Scope 1 and Scope 2 data is collected continuously, with monthly data as the lowest level of granularity. Data is reviewed twice a year. The first review is for the Annual Report. Data collection ends in the middle of December before the year-end. Missing data is completed with estimates. The second review is for the CDP; here, actual data replaces estimates wherever available.

The share of clean electricity is calculated based on certificates or specific product contracts for locations that purchase 100% of their electricity from low-carbon sources under these contracts. This applies to Flamatt (Switzerland), San Jose (USA), and Hamburg (Germany). For other locations, the share of clean electricity is determined using statistical information from the IEA.

Internal data logs, external invoices and information from service providers as well as data provided by the landlord are used to record water consumption, waste volumes and energy consumption for heating and vehicles. If such sources are not available, figures are estimated.

According to the GHG Protocol, only CO₂ is relevant for Comet, as emissions of the other six greenhouse gases are negligible in this context. In addition, any residual emissions from these gases are already accounted for in the emission factors of the respective energy sources, as these factors are reported in CO₂ equivalents.

Plausibility checks of the reported data are systematically ensured through year-over-year comparisons. For each data collection, as described in the “Data sources and data collection” section, those responsible for the locations check the data against the figures for the reporting year and the previous year. Any discrepancies identified are reported to the ESG team. In the event of values outside a tolerance of ± 20%, a detailed review is carried out. The ESG team then works with the respective site managers to check and correct such data points. If the deviation is outside the tolerance and is confirmed, a correction is made in the Annual Report for the following reporting year.

Collected data is converted to energy quantities. Energy values are then converted into carbon dioxide equivalents (CO₂e) by multiplying them by the corresponding emission factors. Both calculation steps are performed within specialized software. This process complies with the guidelines of “The GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard”.

For the calculation of Scope 1 emissions, i.e., direct emissions occurring from sources owned or controlled by the company, the specific consumption data is summarized and calculated using the emission factors published by the British Government, Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), UK Government GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting issued in 2021. These emission factors are updated regularly to ensure accuracy.

For the location-based Scope 2 emissions, which represent the indirect emissions from the electricity consumption of the locations, the calculation is carried out by multiplying the specific consumption data with the country-specific energy mixes, based on data from Our World in Data (OWID) 2023 databases.

For the market-based Scope 2 emissions, which are emissions calculated based on the contracted energy mixes available on the market, the emission factors are updated annually based on available electricity contracts and certificates of origin. For locations which do not have a certificate of origin or an electricity contract with a specific product, the residual electricity mix applies, which is more carbon-intensive than the country location-based mix. The emission factors for the residual mix of these countries are sourced directly from the Association of Issuing Bodies (AIB).

In the market-based approach, the emissions are calculated by taking into account the mix of electricity that is actually purchased and the emission factors of the respective technology. The technology-specific emission factors are taken from "Intep Treibhausgas-Emissionsfaktoren für den Gebäudesektor, Bestimmung von Emissionsfaktoren nach den Bilanzierungsregeln der KBOB und des GHG-Protocols, Version 1.2 vom 23.08.2022".

The contents of the 2024 Sustainability Report marked in the relevant places were subject to an external audit by Ernst & Young AG to obtain limited assurance regarding the compliance of the reported information with the GRI Standards.

Clean electricity/energy refers to electricity/energy sources that are characterized by low emissions of greenhouse gases and of other harmful substances during their generation or use, such as wind, hydro, solar, or nuclear.

Renewable electricity/energy is derived from sources that are naturally replenished on a human time scale. The classification as renewable focuses on the effectively inexhaustible nature of these electricity sources rather than their environmental impact alone.

Employees: Individuals who are in an employment relationship and on the company’s payroll according to national law or practice. This excludes individuals performaning work on another basis, such as consultants, contractors, agency workers, self-employed, etc.

Permanent employees: Employees with a contract that is not limited by time and/or performance of duties and whose expiry requires certain measures on the part of the employee/employer in accordance with national law or practice.

Temporary employees: Employees with a contract for a limited period of time (fixed-term contract) that ends when the specific time period expires or when a specific task or event is completed.

Full-time employees: Employees whose working hours are defined per period in accordance with national laws or practices standards.

Management levels: Management levels are based on our global grading structure. The following levels are defined: Employees, Middle Management, Senior Management, and Executive Committee.

Board of Directors: Comprises all members of the Board of Directors of Comet Holding AG.

Executive Committee (EC): Comprises all members of the Executive Committee of the Comet Group.

Regions: Europe – Denmark, Germany, Switzerland / Asia – China, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan / North America – Canada, USA.

Turnover rate: Rate of departures of permanent employees (voluntary and involuntary departures combined).

Calculation of turnover rate: Total number of departures of permanent employees as a percentage of average headcount of permanent employees during the year.

New entries rate: Rate of arrival of newly hired permanent employees.

Calculation of new entries rate: Total number of newly hired permanent employees as a percentage of average headcount of permanent employees during the year.

Calculation of the ratio of females in management: Number of females in Middle Management, Senior Management, and Executive Committee as a percentage of the total number of individuals employed in the respective levels.