Describe an impact before naming a topic
“Water” is a topic. “Seasonal abstraction reduces water available to downstream users” describes a potential impact. The second formulation gives a team something to investigate: the location, people affected, pathway, available evidence and time horizon.
GRI 3: Material Topics 2021 concerns the organization’s most significant impacts on the economy, environment and people, including human rights. Its guidance moves from understanding context to identifying, assessing and prioritizing impacts. The historical third-generation G3 Guidelines are a different publication.
Use an impact register
| Field | What to write |
|---|---|
| Activity and relationship | Where the impact arises, including relevant business relationships. |
| Affected people or environment | The group, ecosystem or location; avoid “everyone”. |
| Impact and status | Actual or potential; negative or positive; supported by a clear description. |
| Evidence and uncertainty | Source, date, gaps and conflicting accounts. |
| Decision and rationale | Why it is prioritized, who reviewed it and when to revisit it. |
Do not let a tidy score hide a difficult decision
A numerical score is a working aid, not an explanation. Keep the reasoning behind each assessment visible. If two impacts receive the same score, a reader should still be able to understand their different nature. Our tools intentionally do not produce an automatic “materiality certificate”.
For an illustrative workshop, compare a localized, well-documented impact with a poorly understood supply-chain concern. Do not treat the second as unimportant simply because the evidence is incomplete. Assign further investigation and record the uncertainty.
Close the loop
Record how stakeholder and expert input changed the assessment. Preserve disagreements rather than writing that everyone agreed. State the basis for the final selection, the approval route and the changes since the previous period.
Once a topic is selected, connect it to management actions, evidence and the relevant disclosures. A list of material topics without that connection leaves the reader unable to follow what the organization is doing about them.