Materiality

In line with our devolved business model, assessing and prioritising material environmental and social impacts, risks and opportunities starts with our businesses. This process builds on their business-level assessments of overall risk and opportunities, including ESG matters.

British Sugar engineers with the boilers for the animal feed dryers at its factory in Wissington, UK

While material topics may be different across the individual businesses, there will be some that aggregate up to being material at the Group level. We take a Group perspective to identify those topics, which includes considering where our businesses have an impact on the environment or society, what impacts us financially, and where we can have a positive impact. It also includes topics discussed through stakeholder engagement, including with investors.

Within our Group material topics we have a number of Group priorities, which evolve as programmes come to completion or issues emerge across our businesses and their value chains. Our Group priorities remained the same as last year and are:

human and labour rights in the Primark supply chain;
decarbonisation at British Sugar;
accommodation provided by our sugar businesses in Africa;
understanding our wider Scope 3 GHG emissions across our businesses; and
human and labour rights in the Twinings supply chain.

Our Group priorities will change as a result of the demerger. We are working to assess how our food businesses’ most material issues will impact what is material at the Group level in a standalone food company and we expect to have more to say on this in 2027 and 2028.

We will continue to focus on the material topics and priorities as we go through the demerger process. What will not change is our expectation that our businesses should set their own ESG priorities based on what is material for them. In addition, the topics presented in the table opposite have been identified as material for the Group. Most are material for some or all businesses, however the degree to which each topic is material for each business varies.

Our current grouping of material topics is detailed below:

our people;
people in our supply chains and surrounding communities;
carbon and climate;
water;
waste and packaging;
food safety and nutrition; and
agriculture and farming practices.

With divisions operating across the EU, we have continued to prepare for the upcoming disclosure requirements under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, including supporting businesses with their double materiality assessments where relevant.

Our material topics

Our business segments


	Retail		Grocery		Ingredients		Sugar		Agriculture

Our value chain


	Supply chains		Operations		Products


Group-level material topics	Impacts on the business segments	Impacts in the value chain	Why it is material
Health, safety and wellbeing			Our businesses’ priority is to safeguard the health, safety and wellbeing of employees, contractors and visitors to sites.
Diversity, equity and inclusion			Fostering inclusive cultures and providing tailored support makes the most of all employees’ unique backgrounds and characteristics.
Engagement and development			We support our people to develop skills and capabilities through training, and we create opportunities for professional and personal development.


Group-level material topics	Impacts on the business segments	Impacts in the value chain	Why it is material
Human and labour rights in our supply chains			The inherent risk of human rights and labour issues occurring across our businesses’ supply chains.
Supporting communities			Working with stakeholder communities where appropriate protects our licence to operate, supports job creation and builds public trust.


Group-level material topics	Impacts on the business segments	Impacts in the value chain	Why it is material
GHG emissions			Our businesses and supply chains operate in many areas impacted by climate change. Our success depends on managing and mitigating risks and making the most of opportunities.
Energy and renewables			Efficient energy use and switching to renewables in our businesses’ operations and supply chains are vital to reducing GHG emissions and costs and increasing energy security.


Group-level material topics	Impacts on the business segments	Impacts in the value chain	Why it is material
Water use			Our suppliers and our operations use water, and the communities and environment around them need it too. We recognise water as a very valuable, shared resource that is becoming increasingly scarce in some parts of the world.
Water treatment			Water treatment is essential for our businesses to minimise environmental impact, ensure legal compliance, and manage water risks at their production sites. It also enables some sites to reuse water and recover valuable co-products.


Group-level material topics	Impacts on the business segments	Impacts in the value chain	Why it is material
Waste and circularity			A shift towards a more circular economy, focusing on waste reduction and efficient material use, presents opportunities and challenges for our businesses.
Plastic and packaging			Packaging has an important role to play in ensuring the safety and quality of food products. Less plastic and using plastic which contains more recycled materials and is recyclable contributes to reducing waste and moving towards circularity.


Group-level material topics	Impacts on the business segments	Impacts in the value chain	Why it is material
Nutrition and health			Governments and consumers are increasingly focused on healthier lifestyles. We want to support consumers’ preferences and help governments to achieve their wider health goals.
Food safety			As a leading food manufacturer and retailer, it is vital that we manage the safety and quality of our products.


Group-level material topics	Impacts on the business segments	Impacts in the value chain	Why it is material
Responsible agriculture			Our businesses depend upon agricultural systems for most of the raw materials we use in our products.
Biodiversity and land use			Our products are made from agricultural commodities, which are dependent on biodiversity and healthy natural ecosystems.
Animal health and welfare			Some of our businesses have direct involvement with animals. Some also purchase ingredients derived from animals and sell products into the livestock industry.

Our impact on the Sustainable Development Goals

We understand the potential to contribute towards certain Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through the ESG programmes of some of our businesses. Click here for more information.

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