Our material topics

Materiality assessments help companies to identify and prioritize the issues that matter most to their business and stakeholders. Our material topics have been identified based on their relevance to the business in terms of impacts and for our stakeholders. For transparency purposes, we disclose the process of identifying, reviewing, and restructuring our material topics.

2015: Beckers’ first materiality assessment

Since we started reporting according to GRI guidelines in 2012, we have mapped out the sustainability topics most relevant to our business. The selection process started in 2013. This involved looking at our previous sustainability reporting, reporting benchmarks and GRI’s list of aspects. With the help of sustainability experts, we then established a comprehensive list of 42 aspects. The next step was to prioritize the list based on each aspect’s strategic importance to Beckers. On a scale of one to five (where five is deemed ‘very important’), we ranked 26 aspects as either a four or a five.

Using these 26 aspects, we then surveyed and interviewed our key stakeholders. See alsoeastStakeholder engagement. We chose these groups according to our understanding of their importance to Beckers, and their interest in and knowledge of sustainability. Customers, employees and suppliers represented 75 percent of the chosen stakeholders. As part of the survey, we asked a number of open questions to get an objective understanding of our stakeholders’ perception of our current work and reporting. Based on the results from the stakeholders, we found that 15 aspects were material to Beckers Group, being most important to both stakeholders and our company: Compliance With Laws and Regulations, Transparency, Anti-corruption, Emissions, Effluents and Waste, Environmental Impacts of Supply Chain, Energy Efficiency, Environmental Impacts of Products and Services, Materials, Customer Health and Safety, Product and Service Labeling, Training and Education, Occupational Health and Safety, Local Presence, and Anti-competitive Behavior.

2016: Review of material topics

In 2016, Beckers decided to shift to the new GRI Standards. For that reason, we reviewed the materiality of selected sustainability issues by checking them against external trends, the results of our 2015 stakeholder dialogue, other ongoing stakeholder dialogues and our internal development. This development road led us to eight material topics, which are well established in sustainability principles and that we aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Product Stewardship and Materials, Energy, Emissions, Effluents and Waste, Employment, Occupational Health and Safety, Training and Education, and Local Communities.

2020: Organizing material topics into Beckers’ Sustainability Streams

In 2019, we held an extensive two-day multinational stakeholder workshop with the sole focus on sustainability. The feedback we received from our stakeholders confirmed that sustainability is a priority for customers and suppliers alike. Many saw the need for a profound system change in the industry and called for thought leaders cooperate more closely. Together we must move away from fossil-based raw materials toward greener chemistry and from linear business models to more circular thinking. Our stakeholders agree with us that there is a need for bold, long-term vision and goals, and that we need to work with partners along the value chain.

Based on this extensive stakeholder dialogue, we reviewed our material topics and developed the 2030 Sustainability Strategy, which was implemented in 2020 and 2021. Its goals are guided by our material topics and now arranged in the three streams – Products, People and Operations with Impact. Within each stream we have set ambitious annual and long-term targets that are constantly monitored and reported on. In our GRI report 2020, we reported on all previously identified GRI Standards plus some additional ones to reflect the changing sustainability landscape. An update of our material topics is planned for 2022.