In the world of ESG, double materiality is a relatively new concept which has gained traction through the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). It is estimated that over 50,000 companies will have to report in accordance with CSRD by 2026. Even though your business might not be immediately or directly affected by CSRD, completing a double materiality assessment is now considered best practice for setting a business up for success.

Put simply, a double materiality assessment analyses how a business is impacted by ESG factors (the outside-in view) and how a business’s activities affect those ESG factors (the inside-out view). This provides a structure for a company to allocate resources to reduce their negative impact and to determine the scope of the business’s ESG reporting requirements.

Conducting a double materiality assessment aligned with the latest regulatory requirements can be daunting. Our team of experts will take you along on the journey and make the process practical and easy to understand. We conduct regular workshops to finalise stages from stakeholder mapping to financial impact assessment collaboratively.

Conducting a double materiality assessment aligned with the latest regulatory requirements can be daunting. Our team of experts will take you along on the journey and make the process practical and easy to understand. We conduct regular workshops to finalise stages from stakeholder mapping to financial impact assessment collaboratively. Our robust but practical approach to double materiality includes the following:

1. Determine potentially relevant sustainability matters: Using CSRD’s ESG topic list, best practice frameworks, competitor information, and sector-specific standards, we will establish a concise, yet comprehensive ESG topic list aligned with your business.
2. Identify and engage stakeholders: Stakeholders are pivotal to a robust double materiality assessment. We will conduct a thorough stakeholder mapping exercise with you to identify relevant stakeholders to engage. Stakeholder engagement aims to gain input into your organisation’s environmental and social impacts and insight into the potential risks and opportunities the ESG topics may have on the business.
3. Quantify environmental and social impact: Based on insights from the stakeholder engagement process and a thorough review of your business, we will use the CSRD metrics to quantify the positive, negative, actual and potential environmental and social impacts of the ESG topics.
4. Assess financial opportunities and risks: With the environmental and social impact determined, we work with your financial team to assess and quantify the financial risks and opportunities associated with each ESG topic.
5. Materiality matrix: The results from the impact materiality and financial materiality assessments will be combined to form a bespoke double materiality matrix identifying your critical material ESG priorities.
6. Materiality assessment report: Our final report will provide a detailed overview of the materiality assessment, a discussion of findings, and highlight key themes and opportunities on your priority issues. These results will also inform your ESG reporting priorities in line with regulations, best practice frameworks and standards.

To find out how our team of experts can help you with your ESG and sustainability strategy, contact Kendall Reid or request a call-back.