Double Materiality Radar Process

Over five years ago, we recognised the need to support companies with a more comprehensive and strategic approach to materiality. Since then, we have partnered with dozens of companies around the world to develop, pilot, and refine a new approach to Double Materiality Assessment.

The Embedding Project’s Double Materiality Radar process helps you to rigorously and systematically identify, rank, and prioritise sustainability issues for your company and to understand which issues are material (and warrant disclosure) and which issues are strategically relevant (and require strategic attention).

The Radar process has been used by companies in a range of sectors and aligns with the emerging expectations of the ISSB (including the current expectations of SASB and CDSB) and the EU ESRS. It also aligns with GRI’s expectations around impact-based materiality and the need to address human rights impacts.

Our Double Materiality Radar process helps companies to take a disciplined approach by:

Systematically exploring a comprehensive list of ESG issues

Assessing and ranking their actual and potential direct and value chain impacts (impact materiality)

Identifying the best opportunities to contribute to positive systems- level change

Assessing the business relevance of ESG issues to identify sustainability- related financial and strategic risks and opportunities

"Approaching sustainability for a conglomerate like IBL Ltd has been a challenge, as we have numerous companies and business units with varying levels of maturity. Complex tools for materiality assessments were getting us nowhere and we were losing engagement. Through our partnership with the Embedding Project, we started a journey where the building of a radar allowed re-engagement through a simple, yet powerful approach. It is thrilling to be on this journey."

Christine Marot, Group Head of Technology & Sustainability, IBL Ltd

"The Embedding Project’s materiality radar was the foundation to our understanding of our material risks and opportunities, using the latest double methodology lens. The self-discovery approach was perfect for our organisation and helped create buy-in to the process and results."

Richard Outhwaite, Sustainability Impact Manager, Vega

Our Double Materiality Radar assessment includes

Project planning and start-up

We work with your project team to structure and sequence your materiality assessment, identify workshop participants, and help to socialise the project within the organisation.

Subject matter expert workshops

We facilitate structured focus groups of different internal subject matter experts to explore each issue in one of eight dedicated workshops (~2 hours).

In the workshops, we examine operational impacts, value chain impacts, and your potential for broader systems influence (together, impact materiality) and we also examine the strategic risks and opportunities these issues present for your business (financial materiality).

Radar preparation, calibration, & socialisation

We document our assumptions and findings and prepare a preliminary Radar. We calibrate it through a series of conversations with your team. We then develop a findings presentation deck and provide support for socialisation of the findings more broadly with process participants and your executive team.

Optional add-ons:

Additional engagement with external stakeholders to help validate and nuance the internal findings.
Findings presentations that include custom Radar visualisation for each business unit.
Support for further strategic planning stemming from the Radar findings.

Deliverables

Radar visualisations illustrating relative materiality and data confidence

Spreadsheets documenting the basis for ranking of each topic and sub-topic

A power-point presentation for internal use to share materiality assessment results and for business planning to incorporate material sustainability topics