The time has come

for SDG & Materiality Analysis

In 2023 a third of all companies have not yet defined a climate target or expect to implement them after 2045. A closer look behind the scenes also shows that less than half have a concrete roadmap for meeting their sustainability goals. Correspondingly, only 11 percent of companies have been able to achieve CO2 savings on the basis of measures taken, which can certainly be explained by the crisis.

It is therefore time to identify key topics and carry out a materiality analysis. This is a process for identifying the most important sustainability subjects for a company. The relevance of the various sustainability subjects for the company and its stakeholders will be assessed here.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are closely linked to the materiality analysis. However, not all 17 SDGs of the United Nations have to be fulfilled by your organization. It is impossible for a company to address all SDGs equally. equally. A materiality analysis can help to identify the SDGs that are most relevant to the company.

In the future, significantly more issues will have to be considered material than was previously the case in accordance with the “principle of double materiality” – both in terms of the financial opportunities and risks for the company (outside-in) and in terms of the impact of the company’s own business activities on people and the environment (inside-out). In order to prioritize, the company’s entire value chain must be considered. It is helpful to answer the question: What impact does your own company have on the respective SDG? It should be noted that the SDGs are not a reporting standard, but overarching principles.

The result of a materiality analysis is a list of the most important sustainability topics that the company should address in order to improve its sustainability performance. This list forms the basis for setting targets and indicators and for developing measures as part of the sustainability strategy.