Within our stakeholder dialogue we have relied on materiality analyses since 2011 as a strategic instrument to identify key sustainability topics. This allows us to pinpoint where in our value chain our activities and products have the greatest impact on economy, society and the environment. For this purpose, topics and issues are identified that reflect global challenges with an impact on the long-term success of our company.
In 2017 we updated our third materiality matrix with regard to our company’s impacts on the economy, the environment and society to enable us to integrate their changing influences on our business activity as well as our stakeholders’ requirements. We began by gathering the viewpoints of colleagues from all company areas on the material topics and assessed these topics’ relevance. We then carried out an online survey of colleagues around the world as well as external stakeholders and checked the results of the workshops. All the results were integrated in the creation of our updated materiality matrix.
Our materiality matrix comprises 17 topics that our stakeholders and we view as material.