A materiality assessment is the process a company uses to identify and rank the sustainability topics that matter most to its business and stakeholders, which then shape its strategy and reporting.
A materiality assessment is a structured process for identifying, prioritizing and validating the environmental, social and governance topics that are most significant to an organization. The results decide what goes into a sustainability report and where the company focuses its ESG strategy.
Depending on the framework, companies may assess financial materiality only, impact materiality only, or both, known as double materiality.
Results are often plotted on a matrix with importance to stakeholders on one axis and importance to the business on the other. Topics in the top-right corner are the highest priority.
A transport company surveyed drivers, customers and its lender. Road safety, driver fatigue, fuel emissions and data privacy scored highest. The company set targets for each and added fatigue-related incidents to its board safety dashboard.
Many companies do a full assessment every two to three years and review it annually.
Usually the sustainability team, with input from EHS, HR, finance, operations and legal.
For most industrial, construction, mining, energy and transport companies, worker health and safety is one of the most material topics.
Part of SafetyIQ's EHS glossary: plain-English definitions of workplace health and safety terms.
> Keep learning
> See it in action
Capture hazards, run inspections, track training and close out corrective actions in one platform built for high-risk, field-heavy work.
Book my free demo
Get a demo built around your sites, your teams, and the way your people work.
EHS, journey, and fatigue management software for field-heavy teams.
.png){kind=logo}
.png)