In order to identify and assess potential economic, environmental, social and governance topics for METRO, we verified our topics that emerged from the comprehensive materiality analysis 2020/21 in the financial year 2021/22. The assessment of the issues was carried out by the members of the Sustainability Committee to ensure that current developments and regulatory requirements continue to be sufficiently reflected. The assessment covers three dimensions in accordance with the requirements of § 289c of the German Commercial Code (HGB) and the reporting standard of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI):
- What influence the issue has on METRO’s business, financial result or economic situation (according to German Commercial Code)
- What influence METRO’s business operations have on the issue in question (according to German Commercial Code and GRI)
- How relevant the issue is for the stakeholders affected by it (according to GRI)
The verification confirmed the materiality of the 11 material topics for METRO already identified in 2020/21.
y-axis: Impact of METRO’s business operation on the material topics along the value chain – for example in the event of non-compliance with certain laws or environmental or social standards and
Size of the circles in the graph: Relevance of issue for stakeholder affected by it – for example in relation to purchase or investment decisions.
Whilst the topics of Business Ethics and Transparency, Data Privacy and Security and Talent Attraction and Development are part of our key business practices, all other topics including those with the highest priority, namely Responsible Sourcing and Sustainable Assortment, Human Rights, Food Waste Management and Packaging and Plastic, are explicitly allocated in METRO’s sustainability approach and the corresponding ESG priorities (possibly also multiple times) as follows:
ESG priorities |
Material topics |
|---|---|
Climate and carbon |
Resource-Efficient Operations |
Ethics and trust |
Human Rights |
Equity, inclusion and well-being |
Employee Diversity and Inclusion |
With all 11 issues being material according to GRI and German Commercial Code requirements, the respective management approach for each of the 11 issues is described already in the non-financial statement of METRO’s Annual Report 2021/22 namely the chapters Actively Managing Sustainability, Environmental and Social Matters, Employee Interest, Business Ethics and Transparency and Customers. Therefore, they are not presented in depth here.
METRO and its affiliates will continue to conduct stakeholder surveys as a basis of their materiality analysis and we are available for dialogue via the options provided on our website and via our e-mail address CR@metro.de.