BUSINESS: 381 PRACTICES
Polyeco is the first and sole integrated and fully licensed waste management and valorization industry in Greece.
Read more: www.polyeco.gr
Within the framework of the implementation of its 1st Sustainability Report (ESG Report), POLYECO conducted a Double Materiality Assessment.
The main objective of this initiative is to develop a systematic engagement with company’s stakeholders. Through this structured process, the company analyzed both the internal and external environments in relation to stakeholders, aiming to identify and prioritize the significant material concerning the three pillars of Sustainability, Environment-Society-Governance.
The steps at each stage of the Double Materiality Analysis are presented below:
Detailed steps and objectives:
Step 1: Analysis, reassessment and adjustment of material issues from previous years according.
Step 2: Identification of existing and potential impacts of our activities, as well as labor relations, through constructive dialogue with stakeholders and continuous assessments of our activities. The impacts on all issues related to the Company’s external environment were investigated, including human rights, with particular emphasis on vulnerable social groups, as well as critical environmental and economic issues.
Step 3: Determination of the magnitude of the impacts of the company’s activities, based on their severity and duration. This was achieved through qualitative dialogue with Polyeco’s personnel and external stakeholders, using two different assessment questionnaires. Quantitative and qualitative criteria were used to determine the magnitude of each impact.
Step 4: As the final step in the impact assessment process, the company ranked its impacts according to their significance. It should be noted that at this stage, Polyeco sought to create a clear link between its actions and sustainability issues. In this directions, impacts, stakeholder needs, GRI international standards, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) and national regulatory requirements were considered. This process identified 24 material issues for internal environment assessment and 27 for external environment assessment. These issues were prioritized based on their impact on sustainability issues. The assessment was conducted in collaboration with the Company’s stakeholders (76 internal and 49 external stakeholders), who determined their ranking. In the final stage of the process, the material issues were reassessed internally, resulting in 16 material issues that defined the Company’s Sustainable Development Strategy, specifically its strategic pillars, commitments, related actions and measures, indicators, and targets through a strategic action plan.
Total Stakeholders / Social Partners of the Company
For 2023, a comprehensive mapping (internal process) of social partners was completed, involving evaluation and prioritization, in order to identify the main social partners. The company then engaged with these key social partners to evaluate substantive issues. From this process, the social partners were categorized into the following groups:
Social Partners Groups - Internal/ External Environment
Excluding the internal environment, more than 800 social partners were identified, completing a detailed mapping process with high accuracy.
The Consultation with stakeholders lasted approximately 3 months, conducted through an electronic platform, using a standardized ranking system for 3 thematic axes: Environment, Society, Governance, accepting responses over a period of three weeks.
The implementation of Double Materiality Analysis required the following key steps:
The different groups of social partners, as described above, are recorded and prioritized based on specific criteria, according to the international standard AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement – 2015.
For evaluation, we used 5 main criteria: 1. Dependence, 2. Responsibility, 3. Tension, 4. Influence, and 5. Perspective, which in turn were ranked on a numerical or qualitative
The results of the internal exercise, where the groups are classified into 3 main categories, are as follows:
Social Partners Groups - Category
The thematic consultation with stakeholders was carried out in 2023, using two questionnaires: one for external evaluation (external environment) and one for internal evaluation (employees & management). These were developed using the electronic platform SmartSurvey in a ranking format for three thematic axes: Environment (E), Society (S), and Governance (G). Responses were collected over a period of three (3) weeks.
Methodologically, the materiality analysis followed the double materiality approach to align with the new Directive on Corporate Social Responsibility. Double materiality not only assesses the environmental, social, or governance risks faced by a company, but also measures their impact globally. Specifically, a coordinated effort was made to analyze the positive (+) and negative (-) aspects of each proposed issue. Consequently, determining whether an issue is "material" was based on an "informed" decision that weighed both the positive and negative impacts. It is understood that selecting an issue as material has broad implications for the economy, the environment, human rights, and other factors, both internally and externally. Special emphasis was placed on conveying the positive or negative impact in "simple terms and examples" to avoid presenting complex and highly technical criteria.
The significant response of the stakeholders in the consultation was crucial in identifying substantive issues through the assessment, and it guided the company in integrating them, as much as possible, into its existing Sustainable Development Strategy.
The substantive issues identified per pillar, along with their alignment with GRI indicators, are as follows:
Environment (Ε)
Society (S)
Governance (G)
The Analysis was conducted at National Level, mapping and evaluating all social partners. Its objective is to dynamically develop within our facilities and activity points, both within our internal operations and within the external environment.
Double Materiality Analysis was conducted with the support of the company's Management, whose strategic goal is the systematic outreach to society, ensuring smooth cooperation with local communities, particularly in areas where the company operates. All departments and divisions of the company actively participated, adopting a shared vision towards 2030.
Technical and scientific support for the project was provided by the consultancy firm "Sustainable Development Consultants[1]".
[1] https://sdconsultants.gr/
To consider this initiative successful, the participation of the various stakeholder groups and their responsiveness to the questionnaires distributed were essential.
In the internal assessment, 64% of respondents participated, which accounts for a satisfactory percentage for this initial effort in internal communication. Of this percentage, 86.8% was technical staff, which indicates their strong interest and desire to highlight corporate issues they deemed significant, both for themselves and for the company's sustainability.
In the external assessment, 54% of stakeholders who received the questionnaire responded. The breakdown of participants was 44.9% customers, 46.9% suppliers and partners, 4.1% from the local and broader community category, and 4.1% from governmental and institutional bodies.
The interaction of Polyeco with its Stakehonders is a fundamental element of its Sustainable Development strategy. They contribute to further understanding the impacts of its activities and to its consistent efforts to meet their expectations, building mutual relationships based on trust.
The benefits that have emerged from this consultation include:
