Materiality matrix

ESG questions are becoming a crucial issue, notably for our client, who needed to adapt to new demands from banks, rating agencies, stakeholders and the grand public, in terms of environmental, social, and ethical approaches.

Our client had put in place local action plans, but they were not fully coordinated, and the communication around these plans was isolated.

The client wished to identify amongst the actions put in place which were the most impactful, and challenge them with an external point of view in order to build their strategic vision and their communication around the management of their ESG issues in the general sense. We supported this organization by:

• Mapping out the actions put in place by conducting interviews with the people in charge of these actions
• Identifying and selecting key criteria for stakeholders by benchmarking the strategies claimed by key players in the sector
• Building their sustainability strategy together with them, by putting in place a materiality matrix and prioritizing the key challenges
• Working on the strategy and plans of action associated based on the existing plans

Our assessment allowed the client to define a CSR strategy in line with the expectations of the market and their ecosystem, as well as clear areas of communication.

Under the direction of their general director, our client wanted to add sustainability approaches to the development of its organization, for which it was necessary to define their long term vision and concrete actions from the first year. In this context, our client wished to define a clear strategy to be able to better define their communication policy and to define a primary short-term plan of action. We supported them in the following ways:

• Making an assessment of each of their challenges based on questionnaires and interviews with previously identified internal and external stakeholders
• Validating the high-priority challenges for the company after having placed them on a materiality matrix
• Defining operational plans of action to launch in the short-term

Our project allowed the client to structure their CSR approach within their vision, and to define concrete plans of actions for the short- and medium-term.

Our team supported a leading player in the electrical engineering sector define its long-term strategic CSR roadmap and build a materiality matrix. Following an initial scoping phase aiming at defining the group’s ambition, we carried out an inspirational benchmark of the CSR strategies of several industrial players and identified the key CSR-related stakes for the stakeholders in our client’s ecosystem (customers, suppliers, candidates, etc.).

Our team then characterized the issues identified in relation to the actions already implemented by our client, with the objective to drawing up an action plan for each key criterion not covered. This characterization exercise enabled us to build a materiality matrix, visually prioritizing the relevant initiatives to be implemented by our client: a tool for reading strategic CSR issues and for CSR communication.

Ultimately, and thanks to this preliminary investigation, we were able to work with our client’s management committee to co-build a medium-term CSR strategy and a short-term action plan.

Our client had already initiated a number of environmental initiatives and wanted to go further by working on its CSR strategy.

We began by helping them to define their CSR strategy. To do this, our team first carried out a materiality analysis to define the main pillars of its CSR strategy. We then defined the action plans to be put in place to bring these pillars to life, while capitalising on existing actions.

Secondly, we worked to get the internal teams on board by creating and leading a CSR community throughout the project, by setting up a newsletter and regular exchanges in different formats.

Our support has enabled our client to structure a CSR strategy that serves the business and to create an internal dynamic around these issues.