Five steps to develop a sustainability strategy: Step two
In the second part of Laura Da Silva's five-part guide to building an ESG strategy, she discusses stakeholder mapping and engagement.
Read part one, introducing the value of environmental, social and governance strategies, and the first lesson, covering how to develop an understanding of its value across the industry.
Stakeholder mapping and engagement
The next step is stakeholder mapping, asking the question of what people, groups or institutions does the business have most impact on or who has most impact on the business?
These can be either internal, for example employees and management, or external, for example local communities, customers and the government.
Ensuring thorough stakeholder engagement in creating a sustainability strategy cannot be underestimated. Not only do they help identify issues potentially unseen by the company and ensure competitiveness by identifying these issues quickly, but their input enables sustainable positive change in areas that need to be addressed.
Here, the task group should compile a list of the companies key stakeholders and rank them according to influence. There should also be a wider internal discussion identifying these stakeholders to ensure that all are covered.
A stakeholder repeatedly neglected by the gaming industry is the environment. By definition the environment is impacted by the actions of a company and, through factors such as climate change, essentially impacts a company's actions.
It is only in the last two years that the gaming industry has even accepted it has a strongly negative environmental impact, so addressing this and creating impactful policies still has a long way to go.
To help make the process easier, digitalrg.com provides a stakeholder mapping tool to its clients.
In part three, we will cover materiality assessments.
Participate in ICE365 and DigitalRG's industry ESG survey
In order to understand the key issues on which the industry needs to focus, click here to do a personalised materiality assessment. This will be used as part of the ICE365 Materiality Matrix, in collaboration with DigitalRG, to create the most accurate picture of the ESG elements the gambling industry will prioritise in the year ahead.