Aiming for impact

Umicore strives to plan for the best possible future by remaining in a healthy and competitive position whilst addressing society’s most pressing challenges. We consider global economic, social and environmental megatrends through continuous dialogue with our main stakeholders. As a publicly listed company, we interact with many parties who have an interest in the way we conduct business. The relationship that we foster with these stakeholders has a direct influence on our success and our impact on society.

Stakeholder engagement at Umicore is based on a localized approach: all sites are required to identify their respective stakeholders and establish suitable ways of engaging with them. In many cases, such as the dialogue with customers and suppliers, stakeholder relationships are primarily managed by the business units themselves, in line with our decentralized approach to unit management. The management board receives feedback from stakeholders in several ways, ranging from direct feedback from visits to customers, suppliers, employees and investors, to information provided by the business units, departments or workers’ representatives during their regular briefings to senior management. Other forms of input include periodic employee survey results.

Materiality assessment

In 2020 as part of the lead-up to the Let’s Go For Zero sustainability strategy, we conducted a materiality assessment in cooperation with the external expert Sustainalize. The assessment identified which topics are important to our business and our stakeholders by applying the double materiality perspective. This allowed us to incorporate stakeholder expectations when developing our strategy. Umicore’s material topics include issues that have a financial impact on our business and issues that have an impact on people and the environment. We developed an overview of issues relevant to Umicore’s business environment. The long list of relevant topics is based on company-specific information such as Umicore’s risks and opportunities and on sector information such as sector-specific international sustainability frameworks. Umicore reviewed GRI (Global Reporting Initiative), IIRF (International Integrated Reporting Framework), SASB (Sustainability Accounting Standards Board), WBCSD (World Business Council for Sustainable Development), Stakeholder Capitalism metrics of the WEF (World Economic Forum), TCFD (Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures) as well as peer reviews and performance in sustainability rating benchmarks.

To determine priorities, we conducted internal and external dialogues with stakeholders. We first assessed our stakeholder groups concerning the stakeholders’ interest in and influence on Umicore. We then asked internal and external stakeholders to prioritize topics according to the influence the topics have on their decisions towards Umicore. Customer and supply representatives, employees around the world and across all functions from the shop floor to senior management, shareholders and fund providers were consulted through online surveys, workshops and interviews. The survey and interview results were complemented with desk research. Based on the ranking of topics in both the external and internal consultations, a preliminary materiality matrix was developed, showing the relative importance of topics from the viewpoint of Umicore. In an interactive internal session, we analyzed the maturity of the material topics. In addition, we assessed each material topic as to whether they are risk or opportunity driven. Risk-driven topics are those that would pose a significant business risk if Umicore did not address them – linked to our ‘license to operate’. Opportunity-driven topics are those that could create opportunities in the market – linked to our ‘license to grow’. Mapping the material topics as risk or opportunity driven and according to their maturity enabled us to visualize the topics in terms of urgency and strategic focus.

COVID-19 had an impact on the level of materiality of topics related to employee wellbeing and business resilience. In 2021, the matrix was updated to reflect stakeholder feedback on the increased level of materiality of two topics: water and waste. These topics have been incorporated in our strategic thinking.