About this report
This CSR report provides information about the societal role of Q-Park in the calendar year 2013 for all stakeholders: customers, employees, shareholders, banks and (financial) business partners, suppliers, governments, those living in the neighbourhood, and societal organisations.
Contents and relevance
The emphasis of this report lies on the sustainability targets which are most relevant to Q-Park and where we can add the most value: the Quintessence targets regarding sustainable urban mobility. This report shows what has already been accomplished in this area. Additionally, we report in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative 4 guidelines in the economy, environment and social categories with the various subcategories which are relevant to us. The selection of GRI indicators is based on the materiality analysis which we conducted this year and which is explained in detail elsewhere in this report.
We are not publishing an integrated annual report for 2013, but this report does refer to the key financial figures for 2013. For further information about our financial results please refer to our financial Annual report.
Report scope and boundary
This report concerns Q-Park NV and all group companies in so far as these are majority holdings. For details please refer to the financial Annual report. We primarily gather data from parking facilities which are owned or long-leased by Q-Park, because we can exercise the most influence on these facilities. This concerns 37% of the total number of parking spaces. If we have measured our performance for a limited part of our facilities, this is explicitly stated. When calculating the CO2 footprint of our fleet we have included all our lease cars.
Reporting standards and testing criteria
We report according to the Transparency Benchmark 2014 criteria and include standard disclosures according to the ‘GRI Sustainability Reporting Guidelines’. The Construction and Real Estate Sector Supplement does not sufficiently reflect the nature of our investment property, which is why we do not apply this. Q-Park's policy is based on the EU SDS, ISO 26000 self-declaration, OECD Guidelines and UNGC Principles, ICC Code and the Dutch Corporate Governance Code (2007). For our energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and CO2 calculations we used the GHG Protocol and the DEFRA.
Data gathering and control
The data is gathered annually in the ten countries where we operate and in the holding company. The questions and definitions were drawn up in 2010 in cooperation with external experts and since then have been further improved and adjusted. Where possible, corrections have also been made to data from previous years. In addition, we have drawn up a protocol with a clear explanation of our (Quintessence) indicators and definitions, to avoid any misunderstanding. You will find many of these definitions in the glossary. To ensure the quality of the information, the reporting process is standardised and the data reporting structure is checked for completeness and plausibility. For some parts of the models, such as data collection and the CO2 footprint calculation, we have made use of experts' opinions and estimates. There is therefore a degree of inherent uncertainty to these calculations. The figures we report here are the best possible estimates. We will improve our methodology in the future as our insight continues to evolve.
Changes compared to 2012
In 2013, the Quintessence targets up to and including 2017 were determined expressed as percentages. The advantage of this is that each country can relate its own objectives to the number of parking facilities and employees. This also means that we no longer use a base year. One change from 2012 concerns the QEC-1 indicator; the number of publications and/or speaking engagements on fair parking tariff strategies in target cities. We believe it is our responsibility to strive towards the economic and social principle that the user pays. We endeavour to explain that paid parking can be deployed as an instrument where many people want to make use of the same limited space at the same time. The conversion factor for the emissions from our flights has been revised and updated for previous years.