In times of accelerated change, dynamic materiality is the real-time radar that business needs, in order to respond to rapid change while delivering long-term value. If anything, the recent seismic changes, including disruptions of supply chains, cyber risk, Covid-19, the visible impacts of climate change on livelihoods, the Black Lives Matter movement, among others, confirmed that gone are the days when one materiality assessment would serve a business for a few years. As highlighted in our 2021 Actions for Business, being held to account is our watch-out for 2021: you need to know what matters most to your key audiences, and engagement with your key stakeholders is crucial to understanding what you will be held accountable for and where your key business opportunities will come from. As the landscape of expectations of what should be prioritised by business changes fast, so has the approach to materiality that has now evolved, producing – as the lead article describes – a whole range of materiality flavours. The article goes on to explore very practical questions sustainability practitioners are asking themselves, such as whether to use data tools and how often should they review materiality, but focuses on the ultimate question: what will you use materiality for? Our selected news stories this month focus on the increasingly apparent divide between a US and a European approach to materiality and the European Commission’s proposal for a Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive; a discussion on what should be reported under the G of ESG; and what to look out for based on the 16th edition of the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report. |