Materiality analysis

Essity conducts a materiality analysis among its stakeholders every second year. The analysis provides insight into the subject areas that are significant to the company’s various stakeholders and forms the basis of the strategy and operations.

The most recent materiality analysis was conducted in 2017, when about 1,000 customers, consumers, suppliers, investors, media representatives, representatives of the community and employees responded to the online survey.

The selection of subject areas to be included in the materiality analysis was guided by such frameworks and governing documents as the Global Reporting Initiative, the UN Global Compact, Essity’s Code of Conduct and other subjects considered to be material based on Essity’s strategy. The survey covered a total of 21 areas.

The respondents were able to select the ten areas they considered to be most important for Essity. The order of priority the respondents assigned to the areas was weighed against Essity’s own assessment of how important the areas are to the company’s business strategy and were then placed in the materiality analysis as coordinates. The stakeholder groups’ results were weighted to provide a balanced view of the results. Essity’s own assessment was based on the evaluation of the top 100 senior executives.

Both stakeholders and Essity believe that business ethics, innovation, customer and consumer satisfaction, health and safety, and strong brands are the most material areas.

The diagram below shows how the 21 areas were ranked in the survey: the horizontal X axis shows the responses of all respondents except Essity’s senior executives, whose responses are shown on the Y axis. The areas are numbered according to how high they were ranked in the survey and next to the subject area, there is also a reference to where you can read more in this year’s Annual and Sustainability Report.

A comprehensive account of all 21 areas included in the survey can be found at www.essity.com/sustainability.

Essity’s materiality analysis