New Sustainability Toolkit Resource: Defining Material Issues
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
To enhance the Animal Food Industry Sustainability Toolkit, the Institute for Feed Education and Research (IFEEDER) worked with Iowa State University (ISU) to define and document the value of key sustainability issues identified as important for the animal food industry – including representation through industry member examples. Students working with Kurt Rosentrater, Ph.D., ISU Professor, developed content included in the new resource in cooperation with IFEEDER and multiple animal food industry members.
Materiality Defined
When managing a sustainability program, business leaders are often tasked with deciding how and where their organizations can make an impact. This is where “materiality” comes into play.
Materiality is the threshold at which certain issues become relevant enough for a company to report on. For example, safety in the workplace is valued for the long-term well-being of employees and the trust it builds with investors and the community. Identifying and promoting worker safety as a material issue within a sustainability program means recognizing its importance to stakeholders, setting a benchmark for continuous improvement, and measuring and reporting progress toward the desired outcome.
Taking it a step further, material issues represent the organization’s most significant impacts on the economy, environment and people. While greenhouse gas emissions get the limelight, there are many other considerations that could be the focus of an organization’s sustainability program.
People, Planet & Governance Pillars
In its initial work to develop a sustainability road map, IFEEDER identified 16 issues material to the animal food industry and its stakeholders related to People, Planet and Governance. Those issues, listed in the chart below, can serve as the basis for material issues relevant to the animal food industry.
Click on each item listed below to explore material issues:
| People | Planet | Governance |
New Industry Resource
The new resource, launched summer of 2024, includes:
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A description of each of the aforementioned material issues.
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The potential value of the issue to the animal food industry.
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Industry examples identifying the value, action and benefit of an issue from an industry member’s perspective.
As you read through the resources, consider:
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How is each issue applicable to your organization?
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Which of your stakeholders might care about the issue and want to be informed about it?
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What actions do you already have underway toward improvement on the issue?
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How could you measure actions your organization has underway to assess the effort?
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Do you know your baseline starting point?
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Do you have a target you are striving toward?
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What is the ‘story’ you want to communicate to stakeholders about the topic?
Learn More
Read the latest posts on this resource on the IFEEDER Fodder blog. For more information, or to get involved in future sustainability-related topics, contact us.
We greatly appreciate the generous support from the following industry members.
