An employee next to a paper roll at the Munksund paper mill.

Materiality assessment

The materiality assessment shows the areas where SCA’s operations and sustainability initiatives have the greatest impact on the economy, environment and people, including human rights. According to the materiality assessment performed in 2023, SCA is considered to have the greatest impact in the following areas: occupational health and safety, climate benefit, and biodiversity.

SCA’s materiality assessment provides an overview of the priorities of the stakeholder groups, market developments and the company’s priorities. It is based on several different elements: stakeholder dialogues, targeted surveys, summaries of market trends and the company’s and management’s strategic priorities.

The materiality analysis forms the basis for SCA’s strategic direction and priorities within the framework of the Group’s sustainability work. Each year, we conduct a review of the materiality assessment and perform a more comprehensive assessment every two years.

The stakeholder analysis includes external stakeholders such as investors, capital market participants, rating institutes, customers, suppliers, NGOs, authorities and politicians as well as the company’s internal strategic priorities. SCA’s contributions and challenges linked to the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals were included in the analysis.

Aligned with stakeholder expectations 

The materiality assessment ensures that SCA’s sustainability priorities are aligned with stakeholder expectations and determines which sustainability topics should be included in the sustainability report and reporting in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI Standards 2021).  

The 2023 Sustainability Report is based on the materiality assessment from 2022. The materiality assessment performed in 2022 concluded that SCA is considered to have the greatest impact in the following areas: occupational health and safety, climate benefit, and biodiversity. The prioritization was retained after the review in 2023.

In 2023, an overall materiality assessment was undertaken to begin the process of adjusting to the requirements in the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). This analysis will be considered in more detail during 2024.

Chart illustrating materiality assessment 2023 Materiality assessment 2023 External perspective Internal perspective 13 14 12 10 9 7 4 15 11 5 8 6 1 2 3 Greater Lesser Greater Lesser 1) Material topics are number 12 occupational health and safety, 13 climate benefit, and 14 biodiversity as described above. 2) Climate benefit encompasses energy consumption and COemissions. 2 Impact area (positive/negative) Economy, environment, people 1. Water consumption. 2. Corruption. 3. Human rights. 4. Waste. 5. Local community development. 6. Development and innovation. 7. Emissions to air and water (excl. CO). 2 8. Diversity (of people). 9. Rights of indigenous peoples. 10. Ethics and value-based culture. 11. Resource use. 12. Occupational health and safety . 1) 13. Climate benefit . 1,2) 14. Biodiversity . 1) 15. Renewable products.

Prioritized areas

According to the materiality assessment performed in 2023, SCA is considered to have the greatest impact in the following areas: Occupational health and safety, climate benefit, and biodiversity.

Occupational health and safety

Climate benefit

Biodiversity