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GRI Training Partner GRI 3 · Material Topics · Disclosure GRI 3-1

Process to determine material topics

GRI 3-1 · mandatory · narrative disclosure

Disclosure 3-1 requires an organization to describe the process it followed to determine its material topics. Under the GRI Standards, material topics are topics that represent the organization’s most significant impacts on the economy, environment, and people, including impacts on their human rights.

Rechtsstatus

GRI 3: Material Topics 2021 is effective for reports or other materials published on or after 1 January 2023.

Kern der Offenlegung

The disclosure is based on impact materiality. It does not determine topics according to their financial importance to the organization, their effect on enterprise value, or their popularity among stakeholders. A double-materiality assessment can support GRI reporting only where the impact-materiality component is assessed separately and GRI material topics are selected solely according to the significance of the organization’s impacts.

The organization must explain how it identified actual and potential, negative and positive impacts across its activities and business relationships. This includes negative impacts the organization causes or contributes to through its activities and impacts directly linked to its operations, products, or services through business relationships.

The organization should describe the methods, sources, and evidence used to identify impacts. These can include economic, environmental, social and human rights impact assessments, due diligence, grievance mechanisms, audits, incident records, stakeholder information, government sources, civil-society reports, trade-union information, research and expert input.

The organization should explain the scope of its impact identification, including short- and long-term impacts and any limitations or exclusions. Where a complex value chain prevents immediate assessment of every relationship, the organization can conduct an initial scoping exercise to identify areas where negative impacts are most likely and significant. This should not be treated as a permanent boundary based only on direct control or first-tier relationships.

The organization is required to use the applicable GRI Sector Standards when determining its material topics. It must consider each topic and impact described in the applicable Sector Standards. If a Sector Standard topic is determined not material, the organization must list it in the GRI content index and explain why. Where no Sector Standard applies, the organization should explain how it considered impacts commonly associated with its sectors, products, and geographic locations.

The organization must explain how it prioritised impacts for reporting based on their significance. The significance of an actual negative impact is determined by its severity. The significance of a potential negative impact is determined by severity and likelihood. Severity comprises scale, scope, and irremediable character. For potential negative human rights impacts, severity takes precedence over likelihood.

The significance of an actual positive impact is determined by its scale and scope. The significance of a potential positive impact is determined by scale, scope, and likelihood. Positive and negative impacts should be prioritised separately, and positive impacts must not be used to offset negative impacts.

The organization should arrange its impacts from most to least significant, define and document a threshold or cut-off, and group prioritised impacts into topics. The significance of impacts is the sole criterion for determining whether a topic is material under GRI. Reporting difficulty, lack of data, absence of an existing policy, or inability to formulate a target must not be used to exclude a significant topic.

The organization must specify the stakeholders and experts whose views informed the process. Stakeholder views can help identify and assess impacts, but stakeholder concern or voting results do not replace an assessment of impact significance. The organization can identify stakeholders and experts by category and does not need to name every individual participant.

The organization should test its selected material topics against the applicable GRI Sector Standards and with potential information users and experts. It should explain significant changes made following testing or internal approval. Governance review and approval of material topics should be cross-referenced to Disclosure 2-14.

Disclosure 3-1 reports the process used to determine material topics. The final list of material topics and changes compared with the previous reporting period are reported under Disclosure 3-2.

Reasons for omission are not permitted for Disclosure 3-1. An organization reporting in accordance with the GRI Standards must report all required information under this disclosure.

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  • Materiality process

    Sustainability reporting

    Describe the ongoing process, methods, sources, evidence, scope, limitations and use of applicable GRI Sector Standards.

    Nachweise Impact-identification methodology, due-diligence records, Sector Standard assessment, source register and process narrative.

    Achten Sie auf The published response for materiality process is incomplete or does not match the supporting records.

  • Impact identification method

    Sustainability reporting

    Explain how impacts on the economy, environment and people, including human rights, were identified across activities and business relationships.

    Nachweise Impact register, due-diligence and impact assessments, grievance and incident records, value-chain mapping and external-source review.

    Achten Sie auf The published response for impact identification method is incomplete or does not match the supporting records.

  • Impact ranking basis

    Sustainability reporting

    Explain the criteria used for each impact type, the ordering of impacts, the threshold or cut-off and the grouping of prioritised impacts into topics.

    Nachweise Impact-assessment matrix, severity and likelihood criteria, threshold paper, prioritisation workshop record and topic-grouping bridge.

    Achten Sie auf The published response for impact ranking basis is incomplete or does not match the supporting records.

  • Input sources

    Stakeholder Engagement / Sustainability reporting

    Specify the stakeholder and expert categories whose views informed impact identification, assessment and testing.

    Nachweise Stakeholder and expert register, engagement records, feedback analysis, testing record and documented treatment of conflicting views.

    Achten Sie auf The published response for input sources is incomplete or does not match the supporting records.

Bevor Sie beginnen

  • Identify impacts across the organisation's activities and business relationships, including directly linked impacts beyond the first tier; do not use control, financial significance or stakeholder popularity as the reporting boundary.
  • Use every applicable GRI Sector Standard. List Sector Standard topics determined not material separately in the GRI content index with an explanation.
  • Have the supporting records and the final response been reconciled?
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So bereiten Sie es vor

Identify impacts across the organisation's activities and business relationships, including directly linked impacts beyond the first tier; do not use control, financial significance or stakeholder popularity as the reporting boundary.
Collect and reconcile the records for: Materiality process; Impact identification method; Impact ranking basis; Input sources.
Use every applicable GRI Sector Standard. List Sector Standard topics determined not material separately in the GRI content index with an explanation.
Draft the response using the defined terms shown in the disclosure focus; do not substitute broader internal labels.
Review the final wording against every requirement and the supporting governance or data records before sign-off.

Daten anfordern

Request the disclosure evidence

Übersetzen Sie die Offenlegung in eine interne Geschäftsfrage — und passen Sie diese dann an die Sprache Ihrer Organisation an.

Provide the impact-identification methodology and source register, activities and business-relationship scope, applicable Sector Standard assessment, significance criteria, prioritisation and threshold evidence, stakeholder and expert input, testing record and process approval trail.

Use the organisation's own role and document names, but preserve the defined GRI terms and the scope described above.

Bessere Anfrage

Provide the impact-identification methodology and source register, activities and business-relationship scope, applicable Sector Standard assessment, significance criteria, prioritisation and threshold evidence, stakeholder and expert input, testing record and process approval trail.

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Methodenhinweis

Assess actual negative impacts by severity; potential negative impacts by severity and likelihood; actual positive impacts by scale and scope; and potential positive impacts by scale, scope and likelihood. Prioritise positive and negative impacts separately and do not offset them.

Kontexthinweis

Disclosure 3-1 reports the process. Report the final material-topic list and period-on-period changes under GRI 3-2 and cross-reference governance review and approval to GRI 2-14.

Eintrag im Inhaltsindex

Report every requirement of GRI 3-1. Reasons for omission are not permitted.

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Prüfen

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  • Materiality process is reported accurately and completely.

    Risiko The response omits, misclassifies or overstates materiality process.

    Zu prüfende Nachweise Impact-identification methodology, due-diligence records, Sector Standard assessment, source register and process narrative.

  • Impact identification method is reported accurately and completely.

    Risiko The response omits, misclassifies or overstates impact identification method.

    Zu prüfende Nachweise Impact register, due-diligence and impact assessments, grievance and incident records, value-chain mapping and external-source review.

  • Impact ranking basis is reported accurately and completely.

    Risiko The response omits, misclassifies or overstates impact ranking basis.

    Zu prüfende Nachweise Impact-assessment matrix, severity and likelihood criteria, threshold paper, prioritisation workshop record and topic-grouping bridge.

  • Input sources is reported accurately and completely.

    Risiko The response omits, misclassifies or overstates input sources.

    Zu prüfende Nachweise Stakeholder and expert register, engagement records, feedback analysis, testing record and documented treatment of conflicting views.

Vorzubereitendes Nachweispaket

Häufige Lücken in der Berichterstattung

  • Defining material topics by business importance, enterprise value or stakeholder popularity.
  • Using one generic scale-likelihood matrix for every impact type.
  • Limiting business relationships to controlled entities, key suppliers or the first tier.
  • Omitting applicable GRI Sector Standards or silently dropping their non-material topics.
  • Allowing reporting difficulty, data availability or management maturity to affect topic selection.
  • Treating stakeholder concern as a substitute for impact-significance assessment.

Echte Berichte

How 3 companies report it

Beispiele für vollständige und teilweise Berichtspraxis. Es handelt sich um evidenzbasierte Analysen, nicht um Vorlagen zum Abschreiben.

Echte veröffentlichte Berichte

Interconexión Eléctrica S.A. E.S.P.

Partial

Electric Utilities / IPP / Energy Traders · Colombia · 2024 · p.144 ↗

Interconexión Eléctrica S.A. E.S.P.'s 2024 report covers the process followed to determine material topics, as indicated on page 56, and identifies actual and potential, negative and positive impacts related to human rights and business guidelines on page 59. However, the report does not provide evidence on the prioritisation of impacts based on their significance or specify the stakeholders and experts whose views informed the materiality process. These gaps suggest that while the company addresses some aspects of materiality, key elements of the disclosure remain unreported.

PharmaEssentia Corporation

Exact

Pharmaceuticals / Biotech / Life Sciences · Taiwan · 2024 · p.18 ↗

PharmaEssentia Corporation’s 2024 Sustainability Report covers the process followed to determine material topics, highlighting the consideration of stakeholder perspectives and the level of impact on organizational operations (p.17). The report also identifies actual and potential human rights impacts from corporate activities (p.17). However, it does not provide clear information on the prioritisation of impacts based on their significance or specify which stakeholders and experts informed the process.

GeelongPort

Partial

Water Transportation — Ports and Services · Australia · 2025 · p.84 ↗

GeelongPort’s Sustainability Report 2025 covers the process followed to determine material topics, indicating that impacts on eight sustainability topics were ranked by stakeholder importance, with details on prioritisation based on significance provided on page 17. The report identifies actual and potential negative impacts, including those on local communities, as noted on page 88. However, the report does not provide clear information on the stakeholders and experts whose views informed the materiality process.
FeldInterconexión Eléctrica S.A. E.S.P.PharmaEssentia CorporationGeelongPort
Materiality processNicht gefundenNicht gefundenNicht gefunden
Impact identification methodNicht gefundenNicht gefundenNicht gefunden
Impact ranking basisNicht gefundenNicht gefundenNicht gefunden
Input sourcesNicht gefundenNicht gefundenNicht gefunden

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