Materiality Assessment

In line with the strategic dimensions, Clariant conducts comprehensive materiality assessments on a regular basis. Validated by external stakeholders, the company identifies the topics that have the greatest impact on the ability to create long-term value and prioritizes with respect to performance, people, and planet.

Materiality assessment

Clariant evaluates the materiality of economic, environmental, and social topics on an ongoing basis, drawing upon regular stakeholder discussions and market monitoring. In addition, Clariant conducts comprehensive materiality assessments to identify relevant issues and prioritize initiatives. After the last assessment in 2017, this process was conducted in 2021. The assessment will be carried out again in 2023.

Drawing from recognized sources

The materiality assessment is based on two internationally recognized frameworks: first, the Integrated ReportingIntegrated ReportingReporting that extends traditional formats of corporate disclosure in order to communicate the full range of factors that significantly affect an organization’s ability to create value through its business model. An integrated report provides insight about the resources used and impacted by the company and their interdependence. It reflects and supports integrated thinking and decision-making that focuses on the creation of value over the short, medium, and long term.View entire glossary framework issued by the International Integrated ReportingIntegrated ReportingReporting that extends traditional formats of corporate disclosure in order to communicate the full range of factors that significantly affect an organization’s ability to create value through its business model. An integrated report provides insight about the resources used and impacted by the company and their interdependence. It reflects and supports integrated thinking and decision-making that focuses on the creation of value over the short, medium, and long term.View entire glossary Council (IIRC), which is now part of the Value Reporting Foundation (VRF), and second, the sustainability reporting standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). An external service provider specialized in materiality assessments facilitated the process.

Based on these frameworks and other sources, including the Sustainability Accounting Standards issued by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASBSASBThe Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Standards guide the disclosure of financially material sustainability information by companies to their investors. Available for 77 industries, the Standards identify the subset of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues most relevant to financial performance in each industry. More information: www.sasb.orgView entire glossary ), the UN Global CompactUN Global CompactThe UN Global Compact is a corporate sustainability initiative that supports companies to do business responsibly by aligning their strategies and operations with ten principles on human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption, and take strategic actions to advance broader societal goals, such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, with an emphasis on collaboration and innovation.View entire glossary , the SDGs, and topics covered by relevant ESG ratings and rankings, Clariant compiled an extensive list of economic, environmental, and social topics as a first step in the process. Topics that Clariant and its peers had identified in the past supplemented this catalogue such that the resulting list comprised 240 entries. Consolidating these entries resulted in 28 topics.

015CLARIANT MATERIALITY MATRIX

Business Growth and Profitability Read more in our section Business Growth and Profitability

Customer Relationships Read more in our section Customer Relationsips

Growth Opportunities from Sustainable Products and Solutions Read more in our section Growth Opportunities from Sustainable Products and Solutions

Business Ethics and Compliance Read more in our section Business Ethics an Compliance

Innovation and Technological Advances Read more in our section Innovation and Technological Advances

Climate Protection Read more in our section Climate Protection

Engaging Growing and Emerging Markets Read more in our section Engaging Growing and Emerging Markets

Supply Chain Resiliency Read more in our section Supply Chain Resiliency

Corporate Governance Read more in our section Corporate Governance

Occupational Health, Safety Read more in our section Occupational Health and Safety

Product Stewardship Read more in our section Product Stewardship

Risk and Crisis Management Read more in our section Risk and Crisis Management

Bio-Based Economy Read more in our section Bio-Based Economy

Human and Labor Rights Read more in our section Human and Labor Rights

Employee Engagement and Well-being Read more in our section Employee Engagement and Well-being

Resource Efficiency and Environmental Protection Read more in our section Resource Efficiency and Environmental Protection

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Read more in our section Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Circular Economy Read more in our section Circular Economy

Feedback from two perspectives

As a second step in the process, 42 external stakeholders provided their views on the relevance of each topic, while 13 senior Clariant managers evaluated the importance of the issues for Clariant’s value creation.

The external stakeholders were selected based on carefully defined criteria. The group included customers, nongovernmental organization representatives, sustainability experts, scientists, suppliers, and financial stakeholders.

Clariant senior managers evaluated the potential influence of the topics on strategy development and achievement, market positioning and growth opportunities, risk and reputation management, and compliance. Thus, Clariant implicitly accounted for impacts on sustainable development by considering these risks and opportunities.

The worldwide surveys of Management and stakeholders were conducted in English and Mandarin.

As the final step of the process, Clariant’s senior management evaluated and validated the results of the assessment in a follow-up workshop.

Materiality Matrix

The Clariant Materiality MatrixMateriality MatrixClariant continually evaluates and prioritizes economic, environmental, and social issues by assessing their materiality – the extent to which they impact our business and society. In 2021, Clariant conducted a comprehensive materiality assessment, which identified the issues that are most relevant to the company and its stakeholders. Both internal and external stakeholders were involved in the process which assessed the relevance of 28 topics spanning economic, governance, environmental and social dimensions. The material topics identified include employment opportunities, climate protection, product stewardship, as well as diversity, equity and inclusion. Clariant makes use of regular stakeholder interactions and market monitoring to make necessary adjustments to its materiality matrix.ClariantView entire glossary in Figure 015 summarizes the outcomes of the assessment. The horizontal axis depicts the relevance of the topics for Clariant’s value creation, whereas the vertical axis shows the relevance of the topics to stakeholders. The topics fall into two categories: Advance and Focus. Focus topics are essential to Clariant’s ability to create long-term value; Advance topics offer opportunities that will allow Clariant to better meet expectations.

Clariant is actively reviewing its priorities according to market trends and the company’s own ambitions. With the advances in bio-economy and circularity within the product and project portfolio and also anticipating the advances in initiatives deriving from the European Green Deal, such as Safe and Sustainable-by-Design, which present a strong focus on these topics, Clariant decided to select them as part of its 1+5 Sustainability Focus Areas scheme. For this reason, the material topics mentioned are moved in the materiality analysis on the business relevance scale compared to last year.