Topics of material importance

GF’s activities in 2020 focused on the measures defined in the Strategy 2020 and the Sustainability Targets 2020. In 2019, GF reevaluated the importance of topics identified as relevant for its operations in its previous materiality assessment. It did this because its five-year strategy cycle was drawing to a close and as part of the preparations for its next strategy cycle (2021-2025). The reevaluation resulted in a new materiality matrix, which the Executive Committee approved in early 2020. The revised overview of GF’s main material topics informed discussions at the Corporation throughout 2020 and defined the reference points for the Corporation’s Sustainability Framework for the next five years.

The reevaluation had several stages. GF conducted around 30 interviews with key internal and external stakeholders to help identify the material topics. The group of interviewees was diverse in terms of professional experience, origin, country of residence, age, and gender. GF also obtained input from key customers, suppliers, investors, its Executive Management, representatives from senior management, and employees from different regions.

In close collaboration with the divisional sustainability teams, the Corporate Sustainability Team then collated and summarized the feedback from the interviews. It also conducted a qualitative impact analysis along GF’s value chain to rank the topics’ relevance for sustainable development. These findings flowed into the resulting materiality matrix. The matrix was then again reviewed and fine-tuned with support from a third-party sustainability communications agency.

Details of each category in the matrix and the reasoning behind their position on the graph are described below (see graphic and tables below).

The review identified a number of topics in the previous materiality matrix (innovation, customer satisfaction, compliance, financial stability, and human rights) that are crucial for GF’s overall ability to operate and its business success. These topics were subsumed under GF’s existing material topics and re-designated as “aspects.” They are described and explained in the table below.