Enhancing CSRD preparedness through double materiality at pladis
Between July 2024 and February 2025, Simply Sustainable partnered with pladis to deliver a CSRD-aligned double materiality assessment (DMA) and gap analysis. Building on pladis’ existing sustainability programme, the project supported the business in preparing for the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) while strengthening its understanding of sustainability priorities and reporting readiness.
As a global snacking business operating across complex supply chains and multiple regions, pladis sought to build a robust, evidence-based understanding of its most significant sustainability impacts, risks, opportunities and dependencies. The DMA provided a structured methodology to assess these across the full value chain, while the subsequent gap analysis evaluated readiness to report in line with the European Sustainability Reporting Standards.
Together, this work established a clear and robust foundation for sustainability reporting and also contributed to the development of pladis’ global sustainability strategy.
Impacts and benefits
- Comprehensive value chain assessment: Mapped sustainability impacts, risks, opportunities and dependencies across upstream sourcing, own operations and downstream activities, providing a clear view of key exposure areas.
- Robust double materiality assessment: Assessed more than 100 impacts, risks, opportunities and dependencies, enabling pladis to identify 12 material sustainability topics aligned with ESRS requirements.
- Stakeholder-informed insights: Integrated perspectives from internal and external stakeholders across functions and geographies, strengthening the credibility and relevance of the assessment outcomes.
- CSRD readiness evaluation and roadmap: Assessed alignment with ESRS disclosure requirements, identified capability gaps, and delivered targeted recommendations to strengthen governance, data, policies and reporting processes.
- Foundation for sustainability strategy: Provided the evidence base to support prioritisation and target setting, contributing to the development of pladis’ global sustainability strategy.
The double materiality assessment allowed us to reaffirm what we believed were our key impacts, risks and opportunities. It also gave us a clear and structured understanding of the sustainability issues that matter to our stakeholders.Suzanne Westlake Director – Global Sustainability, pladis
With support from Simply Sustainable, we were able to take a consistent and evidence-based approach, supporting our journey towards CSRD compliance and shaping our broader sustainability strategy. The outputs have provided a strong foundation for continued progress.”
The story
Between mid-2024 and early 2025, Simply Sustainable supported pladis in strengthening its understanding of sustainability priorities and preparing for future CSRD-aligned reporting through a double materiality assessment and CSRD readiness gap analysis.
Double materiality assessment
The double materiality assessment built on pladis’ existing understanding of its sustainability priorities by providing a structured, evidence-based assessment of the issues most significant to its business and stakeholders across its global value chain. By assessing impacts, risks, opportunities and dependencies across upstream sourcing, operations and downstream activities, the project identified 12 material sustainability topics aligned with ESRS requirements.
The assessment provided greater visibility of where sustainability-related issues could have the most significant impact on people, the environment and business performance. It also brought together perspectives from stakeholders across functions, geographies and the wider value chain, helping to ensure that the outcomes reflected both stakeholder expectations and business realities.
As a result, pladis established a clear set of sustainability priorities and a robust evidence base to support strategic decision-making, future target setting and sustainability reporting.
CSRD readiness gap analysis
Building on the outcomes of the double materiality assessment, the CSRD readiness gap analysis provided pladis with a clear understanding of its current preparedness to meet ESRS disclosure requirements.
The review identified areas where existing governance, policies, processes and data collection practices already support reporting requirements, while highlighting opportunities for further development. This enabled pladis to gain a structured view of capability gaps and reporting challenges across its material topics.
The resulting roadmap set out prioritised recommendations to strengthen reporting readiness, improve data availability and enhance alignment with CSRD expectations. Together, these insights provided a practical foundation for future reporting and helped focus resources on the areas most critical to achieving compliance.
By combining a robust double materiality assessment with a targeted readiness review, pladis is better positioned to meet evolving reporting requirements while embedding sustainability considerations into long-term business planning and strategy development.
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