Material topics

During years two and three, we perform a streamlined review to confirm that our material topics continue to be appropriate for our company – and make adjustments as needed.

FY21 was year two in this three-year cycle. However, given the historic changes occurring this year with a global pandemic, shutdowns and subsequent impacts on the economy and the well-being of our employees, followed by heightened awareness of racial and ethnic injustice as exemplified by the Black Lives Matter movement in the US and around the world, we undertook a deeper look to determine the material topics for our company and this report:

• We drew on a range of inputs to develop a view on what matters to our internal and external stakeholders, including interviews with senior management, Partners and employees.
• We utilized Datamaran Materiality, an automated analysis of stakeholder views powered by artificial intelligence technology. This provided a wider perspective on environmental, social and governance issues relevant to our business. We tailor the Datamaran analysis for our geographic reach, benchmarked companies, and topics relevant to our clients, operations and collaborations with others. Experienced ERM "super users" input information and accessed results from the system to maintain quality control.
• We expanded our understanding of ERM’s sustainability context through our involvement in various global organizations, including the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
• We considered the implications of drivers affecting society and our clients as well as the Sustainable Development Goals. Senior management reviewed the company’s key business issues.
• We reviewed our matrix of key issues. Internal sustainability experts and business leaders applied the Content Principles and assessed the potential environmental, social and economic impacts – beyond the impacts on our business.

We convened a panel of external stakeholders to provide independent feedback on our materiality assessment process and draft Sustainability Report, as part of our expanded external assurance.

The Executive Committee Sustainability Workgroup worked closely with our internal sustainability experts on the materiality assessment. Our full Executive Committee reviewed the results of our materiality assessment, and the CEO provided these to our Board of Directors.

• We reviewed the GRI Aspects and, where relevant, assigned indicators, which are outlined in our GRI Index.
• In order to drive performance improvement, we established key performance indicators and targets directly related to our material issues. We report on our performance against our annual targets and long-term goals in our annual Sustainability Report.

• Reasonably estimable economic, environmental, and social impacts;
• The interests and expectations of internal stakeholders;
• Broader economic, social, and environmental interests and topics raised by our external stakeholders;
• The main topics and future challenges for our sector, as identified by peers and competitors;
• Laws, regulations, international agreements, and voluntary agreements of strategic significance to our organization and our stakeholders;
• Key organizational values, policies, strategies, operational management systems, goals and targets;
• ERM’s core competencies and the manner in which they can contribute to sustainable development; and
• Consequences for ERM that are related to our impacts on the economy, the environment, and society. For each of the material topics, ERM defined the boundary of impact, and its relationship to the GRI Standards and ERM’s strategic business drivers (see below).