Are you ready for the new CSRD?
2023-03-22
Companies are updating their materiality assessments in order to be future-proof for the upcoming Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). A profound approach to assess double materiality, including impact and financial materiality, is needed, as well as a successful way to engage stakeholders in understanding impacts and discovering areas of improvement.
Materiality assessment is the perfect opportunity to proactively align the business with future expectations and co-create insight and value with stakeholders. It provides the reasoning for the companies to focus on specific sustainability topics and challenges to consider the full value chain when deciding on priorities. The results of the assessment guide business strategies, actions, and targets to consider what can be done to better manage the material impacts. In spite of the results, climate change and own workforce are so important topics that the regulation demands them to be covered by all companies that the regulation applies. Deep dives to other topics, such as human rights, might be needed as well to fully comply with the expectations.
The traditional materiality assessments have lacked meaning – they’ve focused on opinions over impact and haven’t been regarded as strategically useful tools. We are on a mission to change this, and position the materiality assessment as a meaningful tool, helping our clients to move from sustainability ambition to impactful action. This requires systematically developing capabilities for sustainability governance and bringing sustainability in the strategic and operative decision-making.