Streamlined Double Materiality: a Practical Approach for ESG Strategy Development

Double Materiality Assessments (DMA) don’t have to be complicated or just a checkbox for compliance. In fact,  it’s common for companies to voluntarily adopt a simplified DMA approach to quickly understand which Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) topics are the most relevant for their business. By streamlining the process, organisations can efficiently identify key sustainability risks and opportunities, helping them focus their ESG strategy where it matters most. A practical, structured approach can provide actionable insights without excessive time or resource investment. This makes it a valuable tool for both regulatory reporting and forward-thinking sustainability management.

• Quick and effective insights: A streamlined approach helps organisations focus on the most material ESG issues without getting lost in unnecessary complexity.
• Voluntary but valuable: Even when not required by regulation, double materiality assessments can enhance decision-making and setting strategic direction.
• Foundation for ESG Strategy: Identifying relevant risks and opportunities ensures sustainability initiatives are aligned with business priorities and stakeholder expectations.

If your organisation is looking to get a clear picture of your ESG priorities without overcomplicating things, a structured yet simplified approach can include the following steps:

1. Make a quick scan of your ESG context

• Review your existing ESG initiatives and company context
• Scan ESG topics reported by industry peers
• Conduct a short internal survey to rank ESG topic on relevance

2. Risks & Opportunities (R&O) identification

• Identify key sustainability-related risks and opportunities
• Score their financial impact to determine materiality on their occurrence and scale

3. Literature impact review

• Expand the quick scan with a desk-based review of relevant sustainability impacts for your sector

4. Conclusions, decisions and next steps

• Hold a workshop to define focus areas for ESG reporting
• Consider company-specific sustainability metrics
• Decide what matters
• Compile a summary report outlining key findings and next steps

A streamlined double materiality assessment helps organisations quickly identify their key ESG priorities, enabling them to focus on impactful sustainability actions. Ecomatters has a strong track record of completing materiality assessment, risk and impact identification, and guiding companies on this journey.

If you would like to discuss how you can streamline your double materiality assessment, please fill in our contact form or schedule a call with one of our experts.