How often?

A final practical challenge that companies will have to address is how regularly they ought to be revisiting their materiality assessment. Some issues will have enduring importance (such as health and safety or greenhouse gas emissions) and will likely be deemed material year after year. Yet there will be other issues that due to technological advances, legislative changes or  specific news events (for example, the recent public scrutiny in the UK of corporate taxes paid) suddenly rise up or fall down the corporate and sustainability agendas. How companies balance the relative importance of long-term issues, for which progress has already been made, against new and emerging issues, which perhaps initially pose more questions than answers, remains to be seen. What cannot be disputed, though, is that a regular materiality assessment should help ensure that no new issues are missed and help anticipate emerging issues before they become business critical.

Richard Westaway is a sustainability specialist at IMS Consulting. For over 20 years IMS Consulting has specialised in helping clients unlock their sustainable potential throughout their strategy, engagement and communications. Founder of StakeholderTALK™, the complete online engagement and communications toolkit, IMS is experienced in engaging with a wide range of stakeholders to inform sustainability reporting. It has delivered sustainability reports for leading companies, including Skanska AB, Morgan Sindall Group, Saint-Gobain and Jewson. As a CDP Accredited Provider, IMS Consulting’s engagement and communication platforms are used by British Land, the Green Construction Board and British Water.
www.imsplc.com.