ABSTRACT
Material issues are the areas where your business has, or could potentially have, the biggest sustainability impacts on people and the planet. Many people fall into the trap of trying to think of every possible issue that could affect their business and trying to organise them in the ideal, most logical way. Sustainability programmes are large, multi-issue, cross-departmental and quite complicated. As a result, getting a handle on them and finding a concise way to communicate them is always a challenge. Looking at what standards are available and are commonly used or expected in an industry and beyond, can be a useful way to meet stakeholder expectations and demonstrate one's programme is well managed. Motivations related to reputation or recruitment and retention may be more difficult to unpick, may not be as straightforward as they seem and may have multiple causes.
