We use a materiality analysis. It’s a way of identifying critical environmental, social and economic issues that can either have a significant impact on our business or on what our stakeholders think of us. We undertook our first materiality analysis when we wrote our 2010 Sustainability Report. Part of the process involved conducting interviews with members of the research community, industry, government, customers, environmental non-government organizations, unions and investors. Through these interviews, we gained a better understanding of the sustainability issues of material importance to us and how stakeholders perceive our management of these issues.
The issues are broadly organized into environmental, social and economic categories and then placed into a matrix to determine where they stand in terms of potential impact and stakeholder concern. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and water consumption, for example, are issues that show up as of high impact and high concern on the matrix. So they are considered highly material.
In 2013, we updated our materiality assessment (when it comes to knowing what’s a concern for your stakeholders, you have to check in with them regularly). In doing so, we added three additional issues:
- First Nations relations and economic partnerships
- Conservation of protected areas
- Transparency and communication
These new issues were included in our most recent sustainability reporting prepared in compliance with the Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) G4 framework so that our stakeholders can access the information they are most interested in.
Check out Resolute’s combined 2014 Annual Report for more information about how we identify material issues and other interesting #RFPfacts.
