Materiality: important step in companies towards ESG practices in 2025

The company that proposes to be sustainable, aligning its performance with the ESG concept, has a long way to go. In this journey, a key step is the definition of its materiality.

Materiality can be understood as the definition of relevant themes for the organization, with regard to strategies and practices of environmental, social and governance sustainability. It is related to the main impacts that the organization promotes or is subject, and also to the opportunities linked to each of its risks.

Whether large corporations or small and medium-sized companies, it is essential to consider the particularities of organizations, even if they operate in the same industry.

The impact of the themes for business is not the only aspect to be considered by the lens of increasing materiality. Likewise, it is essential to shed light on what interests stakeholders, which are employees, suppliers, customers, consumers, all the aggregated parts, in short, in this process.

Each stakeholder has different affinities and understandings about what is most relevant in their daily lives. Depending on social, economic, environmental, political and even geographical conditions, an employee can list among other important issues labor practices, diversity or relationship with leaders. For the local community, the relevance of the business may be, for example, in the potential to generate jobs. From the employee's point of view, the greatest interest is sometimes the employer brand.

Faced with so many specific interests and needs, materiality allows us to understand the relevance and impact that the themes bring to the business, and contributes to the definition of action priorities, definition of goals and strategies and reporting of results to all its stakeholders.

This understanding provided by materiality necessarily needs to accurately interpret the biases revealed by each stakeholder.In this sense, we reinforce the importance of understanding “gentE” to develop appropriate, cohesive processes with real results.

With the perspective of reducing the risks associated with these biases, we present three points that should not be neglected in the journey.

The first is to establish a relationship of trust with each group of stakeholders, precisely so that there is genuine interest in providing correct and appropriate information for evaluation.

The second providence is about clarifying each of the material themes, aligning expectations, and providing understanding.

Not least, we highlight the need to understand the stakeholder groups and tailor communication with each of them. We cannot always use acronyms, English terms or technical references if our proposal is to ensure the understanding of stakeholders.

Sustainability and adoption of ESG practices not only differentiate a company in the market in 2025. Truly add an environmentally responsible performance and aligned with the social development that this year demands, always taking into account the current scenario and the context in which the company is inserted.