Responsibility · Impact and materiality · Component
Value-chain boundary
How far upstream and downstream the impact assessment reaches, and which parts of the value chain were left out, with reasons.
The deliverable
What it is
Much of an organisation’s impact sits outside its own walls — in the supply chain that makes its inputs and in the use and disposal of what it sells. The boundary states how much of that the assessment covers.
Every boundary leaves something out. The discipline is to make the exclusions explicit and reasoned, so that a reader can tell a deliberate scope decision from an oversight.
One level in
What it is made of
Each element is a constituent part of the component. Follow one to see the attributes it carries.
Upstream reach
Which tiers of suppliers and which raw materials are covered, and how good the available data is at each tier.
3 attributes: Tiers covered · Data basis · Exclusions
LearnDownstream reach
Whether the use, maintenance and end-of-life of what the organisation sells are inside the assessment, and on what assumptions.
3 attributes: Stages covered · Use assumptions · Exclusions
Learn
Write down what was excluded and why. An unstated boundary will be read as the widest one the reader can imagine.
The other components in impact and materiality
Impact register
Every identified effect of the organisation’s activities on people and the environment, with who bears it and how severe it is.
LearnDouble materiality assessment
The scoring of each issue in two directions — outward impact and inward financial effect — against thresholds set in advance.
Learn