“Material issues are topics and indicators that reflect the organisation’s significant economic, environmental, and social impacts, or those that would substantively influence the assessments and decisions of stakeholders.” GRI G3 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, October 2006
SEGRO prioritises its Corporate Responsibility strategy to focus on the Company’s most material Corporate Responsibility impacts or those issues that could make a major difference to performance.
In 2006, we undertook an internal review to strengthen our corporate responsibility strategy by identifying the Company’s key material issues. These issues were plotted on a materiality matrix according to the level of business risk or opportunity and the level of control or influence that the Company could bring to bear upon them.
Subsequent prioritisation also took account of factors such as: direct financial implications, impact on SEGRO’s reputation, effect on operational performance, strategic opportunities to boost competitive position, as well as potential media reaction, and levels of customer satisfaction.
The materiality matrix is used to determine the scope of corporate responsibility reporting – both in printed reports and on the SEGRO website – and to promote internal and external understanding of the link between sustainable development and SEGRO’s business strategy. The findings feed into mainstream strategy development and guide us in identifying our Key Performance Indicators, our targets and the data requirements for measuring performance.
The matrix is reviewed regularly by the Corporate Responsibility Committee and SEGRO’s Board of Directors and will evolve in line with changes in our industry and the wider environment to ensure that SEGRO maintains a high level of compliance.
SEGRO’s Materiality Matrix
The issues identified by the internal review were prioritised as follows:
Our most material impact areas, listed in the top right hand sector of the matrix (red), are those that we focus on in our printed Corporate Responsibility Report. We have highlighted procurement and supply chain as a key issue, despite it not being listed in the same top right hand sector of the matrix, principally due to the fact that our outsourced construction activities represent potential environmental and social risks in our supply chain.
Information on some of our less material impacts continues to be available on this website. It is important to emphasise that whilst issues such as water management and job creation were identified as less material, we are still involved in the active management of these issues through our corporate responsibility activities and strategy.