Maturity and materiality

Know where you stand.
Focus on what matters.

A clear starting point.
A reasoned set of sustainability priorities.

We help leadership assess the available evidence, engage stakeholders and establish which issues need attention before shaping the programme.

Discuss your assessment priorities

Two distinct questions

The current position.
The priorities ahead.

Understanding how developed a programme is and deciding which issues matter are complementary tasks. Each needs its own evidence and reasoning.

01 / Maturity

How developed and evidenced
are the current practices?

Examine systems, practices and disclosures against an agreed assessment basis. Compare relevant peers, identify gaps and establish what needs closer investigation.

The evidence: Available policies, responsibilities, practices, disclosures and supporting records within the agreed scope.
The management use: A baseline for deciding where the programme needs stronger evidence, clearer processes or further development.

A disclosure gap calls for investigation. It does not, by itself, establish that a practice is absent.

02 / Materiality

Which topics and impacts
deserve priority?

Examine the sustainability issues relevant to the organisation, engage stakeholders and assess the findings. Establish a documented basis for prioritisation.

The evidence: Topic assessment, stakeholder inputs, the organisation’s activities and the assessment of relevant impacts.
The management use: A focused agenda of material topics, with the rationale needed to inform strategy and subsequent action.

Stakeholder views inform the assessment. The method, participation and basis for the final priorities should remain clear.

How we help

Make the basis clear.
Make the findings usable.

The assessment should leave management able to explain what was examined, why a topic was prioritised and what needs to happen next.

Define the scope.

Agree the organisational boundary, topics, evidence base and purpose of the assessment. Select relevant peers and identify the stakeholders whose perspectives should inform the work.

Examine the evidence.

Review available policies, practices and disclosures. Document what the evidence establishes, what needs clarification and where further information is required.

Engage and prioritise.

Examine the topic set, design stakeholder engagement and analyse responses. Bring the findings together into a reasoned view of the issues and impacts requiring attention.

Review the implications.

Discuss the findings with functional leaders and management. Record the priorities, the basis for judgement and the recommendations to take into strategy and implementation.

Selected work · A leading infrastructure company

Two assessments.
A basis for the roadmap.

A disclosure-based maturity review and an impact materiality assessment established inputs for a leading infrastructure company’s sustainability strategy.

Maturity assessment

A disclosure baseline.
A basis for investigation.

The review examined published disclosures and compared them with relevant peers. Its findings described the disclosure base and areas for further examination.

Assessment basis: published information and relative peer comparison.

Impact materiality

Stakeholder inputs.
Reasoned priorities.

Leadership, employee and vendor inputs informed the assessment. The resulting topics were carried into the strategy, with defined priorities, owners and measures.

Assessment basis: topic assessment and structured stakeholder input.

Explore the infrastructure programme

What the work can include

An evidence base
for the next set of decisions.

The findings connect the current position with the priorities to be addressed through strategy, policy and performance management.

An assessment baseline

Maturity findings, peer comparisons where relevant, evidence gaps and areas for further investigation, with the assessment boundary made clear.

A documented set of priorities

Stakeholder inputs, prioritised topics and a materiality map, supported by the method, participation scope and rationale for the conclusions.

Recommendations for action

The findings that should inform policies, governance, measures and roadmap priorities, with questions requiring management decisions identified.

Start a conversation

Give your programme
a more specific direction.

Start with the current evidence, the stakeholder questions and the decisions the assessment needs to inform.

Discuss your sustainability priorities

Know where you stand. Focus on what matters.

The current position. The priorities ahead.

How developed and evidenced are the current practices?

Which topics and impacts deserve priority?

Make the basis clear. Make the findings usable.