Stakeholder Engagement & Materiality
Engaging with the stakeholders in our value chain provides us with vital information on their views and enable us to identify material topics relevant to our business model and geographies. Such engagements help us to realign our practices with the latest industry trends and best practices while identifying the key environmental, social and governance risks and opportunities for our business. At GAIL, we recognize and value all the stakeholders in the value chain, as they have a significant influence on our business growth.
Stakeholder Engagement Process
We interact with several stakeholders throughout the year, since the nature of the business is large and complex. Defining primary stakeholders contribute to the quality and credibility of the materiality process. But, considering the extensive stakeholder network and interactions, achieving inclusivity can be a complex task. We identify those attributes of stakeholders that significantly impact our business’ ability to create corporate value to ease this process. It is initiated by defining those attributes and mapping our stakeholders in the value chain, who qualify such attributes. We have identified six parameters to identify, prioritize, and engage with our valuable stakeholders
We have, thus, identified some key stakeholder groups including public at large during the stakeholder engagement exercise carried out during the reporting period. The list is provided below:
Materiality Matrix
We continually engage with all our stakeholders to receive insights about the evolving nature of the environmental, social, and political scenarios that impact our business. Through such engagements, we have restructured our materiality matrix, which allows information to be accessible for each stakeholder group and strengthens the promise to our sustainability initiative. This materiality matrix provides an illustrative representation of the issues/opportunities by using a matrix diagram and is provided in the upcoming section. The outcome of the materiality assessment is utilized in defining the report content and the boundaries of the reports. In addition to this, the outcome of the materiality analysis was integrated into GAIL’s overall corporate strategy by developing the promising goals. Every year, the materiality framework is reviewed to analyze the material topics, examine sustainability strategy and to recalibrate the materiality matrix based on the materiality assessment and stakeholder feedback.
Materiality Assessment
We continually engage with all our stakeholders to receive insights about the evolving nature of the environmental, social, and political scenarios that impact our business. Through such engagements, we have restructured our materiality matrix, which allows information to be accessible for each stakeholder group and strengthens the promise to our sustainability initiative. This materiality matrix provides an illustrative representation of the issues/opportunities by using a matrix diagram and is provided in the upcoming section. The outcome of the materiality assessment is utilized in defining the report content and the boundaries of the reports. In addition to this, the outcome of the materiality analysis was integrated into GAIL’s overall corporate strategy by developing the promising goals. Every year, the materiality framework is reviewed to analyze the material topics, examine sustainability strategy and to recalibrate the materiality matrix based on the materiality assessment and stakeholder feedback.
Methodology
The materiality assessment consists of three stages such as the preparation phase, discussion and consultation phase, and analysis and matrix development phase. In FY 2019-20, we conducted a fresh materiality assessment and the stepwise process is provided next:
Preparation Phase
During the initial stage, over 50 “universal” topics relevant to the gas industry are listed and mapped alongside GAIL’s (internal and external) stakeholders.
Discussion and Consultation Phase
The selected universal topics are further reviewed and screened by multiple department heads that include, marketing, petrochemicals-marketing, international sourcing, contracts and procurement, sustainability, finance and accounts, domestic gas marketing, Regasified and Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG), and corporate strategy planning and advocacy, and Total Quality Management (TQM), corporate communications and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) among others. After the screening, 15 key focus areas were finalized. These material topics are selected based on the strategic importance to the business, importance to stakeholders and the social, economic, and environmental impact of each topic on the value chain.
Analysis and Matrix Development Phase
The final stage involves identifying the priorities of individual stakeholders based on the 15 key focus areas that were quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed.
