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OUR MATERIAL ISSUES AND RISKS

Issues, risks and materiality

The risks and opportunities associated with our social, environmental and ethical impacts are recorded on our CSR issue register, and assessed against financial and non-financial criteria, together with the likelihood of the risk materialising. We use these ‘issue ratings’, classified from low to critical, to define priorities and set targets. We also track environmental legislation to ensure we deliver compliance against our legal obligations. Responsibility for tracking and assessing CSR risks, opportunities and legislation lies with the CSR team, supported by our four steering groups (see page 4).

Following the strategic review of CSR across the Partnership, we are refreshing our approach to identifying, assessing and prioritising CSR risks and opportunities to help us to decide where to focus our future efforts. This will also realign the role our governance groups can play in assessing, mapping and ranking the issues that are most material to us, which will enable the business to have greater visibility of these issues and, in turn, will help to ensure better integration of CSR issues with broader business risk management processes.

This materiality exercise also involves regularly assessing the topics under discussion with key stakeholders, as well as the relationships we have with our customers; the influences shaping our supply chain; the demands of regulators; and the expectations of the wider world.

The process for this materiality exercise currently follows the recommendations of the external Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).

As we develop our approach, we will better incorporate a range of other inputs, such as external research and media coverage, and link it more closely with our stakeholder engagement processes.


(Materiality matrix diagram)


Our material issues

Our most material issues include:

• employing and retaining people of ability and integrity, who support our business principles of honesty, respect and encouragement
• engaging our Partners and customers as agents for change for sustainable living
• dealing fairly with our suppliers and selling responsibly sourced, quality products
• making a positive difference to the communities where we do business
• responding and adapting to climate change
• minimising the impact of our built operations
• reducing waste generated by our operations and increasing the proportion of waste that can be used as a resource.

An update on our position and progress in tackling these issues is included in this report, as well as on our corporate website (www.johnlewispartnership.co.uk). As indicated by our materiality matrix (see below), the level and location of reporting relates to an issue’s significance to both our business and our external stakeholders.


MORE INFORMATION

In this report:

Our stakeholder engagement
GRI index