This webinar, "Start ESG with Materiality," provides a comprehensive guide to understanding and implementing materiality assessments as a starting point for a company's Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) journey. The discussion emphasizes that materiality is a crucial concept for identifying the most relevant sustainability topics for a business to focus on. The presenters discuss both traditional financial materiality (how sustainability issues impact a company's financial performance) and impact materiality (how a company's operations affect the environment and society). The combination of both is referred to as double materiality.

The webinar explains that a materiality assessment helps companies identify relevant sustainability topics, align these topics with metrics, engage stakeholders, and guide sustainability strategy. It is highlighted that this process is not a one-time event but should be done annually to inform the reporting cycle. Our experts emphasize that stakeholder engagement is key to a thorough materiality assessment and that the process should not be a "captain's call" by a few individuals within the company.

The webinar outlines a step-by-step process for conducting a materiality assessment, including scoping, identifying topics, engaging stakeholders, analyzing data, and creating a materiality report. It also addresses common challenges such as limited internal understanding, stakeholder identification, data analysis, and the cost of external consultants. The presenters advise companies to start with a materiality assessment, even if it is not perfect, and to consider various approaches, from self-driven to facilitated, to align with their capacity and objectives.

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