Responding to issues that matter most to our business

To make sure that we tackle the issues that really matter, we prioritise them by assessing their ‘materiality’ – i.e. the extent to which they impact our business and society. We do this by using a ‘Materiality Matrix’ which helps us focus activity in areas where we can, and should, have the greatest impact.

Our Materiality Matrix

As part of this process, we examine the risks and opportunities facing our business in the immediate and longer term, and score them based on their level of importance. This involves: 

• drawing on external insight from a broad range of stakeholders such as customers, colleagues, politicians, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and suppliers as well as the  United Nations Sustainable Development Goals; and
• engaging internal experts from across the business to understand how the issues may affect our operational or financial performance such as our reputation or growth.   

Prioritising issues through this process, enables us to focus our efforts on effectively managing our impact as well as our stakeholder relationships. 

Our materiality assessment is carried out every three years, with the above assessment undertaken in 2021 which will be updated later in 2023. This allows us to reflect any significant changes within our business or the external environment, to inform the development of our People & Planet Plan and it’s Foundations.