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Dubai, UAE | 22 October 2026

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are essential drivers of economic growth, innovation and employment. However, succeeding in an increasingly competitive and unpredictable business environment requires more than identifying new customers. Businesses must also strengthen their capabilities, adapt to change and build the resilience needed for long-term success.

Recognising these priorities, Dubai Chambers Partners for Growth, taking place on 10 November 2026, will bring together leading organisations, industry experts and business leaders to explore practical opportunities for SME development.

The event reflects the important role Chambers of Commerce can play in connecting businesses with the knowledge, resources and relationships that help them grow and thrive.

Connecting SMEs with Practical Growth Opportunities

Under the theme Connect. Discover. Grow., the event will feature panel discussions and networking opportunities addressing key areas of business development:

• Business financing: Exploring financial solutions that can support investment and expansion.
• Digital transformation and AI: Understanding how technology can strengthen capabilities and improve business performance.
• Operational efficiency: Identifying ways to streamline operations and improve productivity.
• E-commerce: Exploring opportunities to reach new customers through digital channels.
• International expansion: Connecting with potential partners and discovering opportunities in new markets.

By bringing these themes together, Partners for Growth aims to help SMEs identify practical solutions, establish valuable connections and pursue new opportunities.

Why Business Resilience Matters for Growth

For SMEs, business resilience is not simply about surviving disruption. It is also about developing the capacity to adapt, compete and take advantage of changing circumstances.

Access to finance can strengthen a company’s ability to invest and respond to challenges. Digital technologies can improve operational efficiency and market access. Stronger business networks can create alternatives when established markets, customers or supply chains are disrupted.

These capabilities are interconnected.

A business seeking international expansion, for example, may need to strengthen its internal processes, understand new market requirements, diversify its relationships and develop the flexibility to respond to unexpected developments.

By bringing together expertise across these areas, initiatives such as Partners for Growth can help businesses recognise the connections between competitiveness, resilience and sustainable growth.

The Role of Chambers of Commerce in Building Resilient Businesses

Chambers of Commerce have an important role to play in helping SMEs address challenges that may be difficult to tackle individually.

Through knowledge-sharing, business networks, training opportunities and access to expertise, Chambers can help their members strengthen capabilities and make better-informed decisions.

Dubai Chambers has demonstrated this commitment through a range of initiatives supporting private sector competitiveness and resilience.

In March 2026, Dubai Chamber of Commerce reported organising 35 meetings with Business Groups and Business Councils to understand sector needs, strengthen collaboration and support business resilience.

In May 2026, Dubai Chambers also organised a seminar attended by 226 private sector representatives, focusing on institutional excellence, adaptability and ways to strengthen business performance amid changing global conditions.

These initiatives demonstrate how Chambers can go beyond traditional business networking to help companies prepare for change, strengthen performance and identify opportunities.

The forthcoming Partners for Growth event provides another opportunity to advance this wider agenda by connecting SMEs with relevant expertise and potential partners.

From Business Connections to Long-Term Value

The value of initiatives such as Partners for Growth extends beyond the event itself.

When businesses gain access to new ideas, practical knowledge and relevant relationships, they are better positioned to strengthen operations, identify emerging risks and pursue opportunities.

For SMEs, these connections can be particularly valuable because they provide access to expertise and networks that individual businesses may not otherwise possess.

Supporting business resilience is therefore not only about preparing for uncertainty. It is also about creating the conditions in which businesses can innovate, expand and contribute to sustainable economic development.

Event Details and Registration

Event: Dubai Chambers Partners for Growth

Date: Tuesday, 10 November 2026

Time: 9:30 am – 3:30 pm (Gulf Standard Time)

Venue: Dubai Chambers, 1st Floor Auditorium, Baniyas Road, Riggat Al Buteen, Dubai, UAE

Event hosts: Mansur Dzaurov, Mohammad AlMheiri and Fatma Alhashemi

Registration: https://luma.com/krxujkkv

SMEs and business leaders interested in strengthening competitiveness, exploring new opportunities and developing valuable partnerships are encouraged to review the event information and register.

About the SustainCase Chamber Resilience Collection

The SustainCase Chamber Resilience Collection highlights initiatives by Chambers of Commerce around the world that help businesses strengthen competitiveness, adaptability and long-term resilience.

Through examples of practical programmes, events, partnerships and member support, the collection recognises the contribution Chambers make to building stronger businesses and more resilient economies.

Chambers of Commerce are invited to share relevant initiatives and success stories for consideration for inclusion in the collection.

Sources:

• Dubai Chambers (2026) Dubai Chamber of Commerce organises 35 meetings with Business Groups and Councils to support private sector resilience. 12 March.
• Dubai Chambers (2026) Dubai Chambers hosts workshop on institutional excellence and adaptability for 226 business representatives. 6 May.
• Dubai Chambers (2026) Dubai Chambers Partners for Growth. Event announcement. Available at: https://luma.com/krxujkkv (Accessed: 22 October 2026).

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The post The Businesses That See Opportunity Where Others See Risk appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

Across the world, large companies are working to reduce environmental impacts, improve working conditions, use resources more efficiently and strengthen their supply chains.

But they cannot achieve all this on their own.

They depend on thousands of suppliers, service providers and business partners, each contributing to their wider sustainability performance.

For businesses that recognise this, an interesting opportunity emerges.

Instead of viewing sustainability as another requirement imposed by customers, what if you approached it as an opportunity to become a more valuable business partner?

Your Customer’s Challenges Could Become Your Opportunities

Imagine you operate a logistics company delivering thousands of parcels for an international retailer.

Your customer has made commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across its operations and value chain.

You could regard this as an additional burden. Perhaps the customer will eventually request emissions data, introduce new procurement criteria or ask about your environmental performance.

Alternatively, you could take the initiative.

You might explore more efficient delivery routes, introduce lower emission vehicles where commercially viable, improve vehicle utilisation or develop systems to measure and communicate your environmental performance.

These improvements could lower operating costs while also helping your customer achieve its objectives.

Now consider the commercial possibilities.

When your customer reviews its logistics arrangements, which supplier might be better positioned to demonstrate additional value?

One that simply delivers parcels, or one that delivers parcels competitively while also helping the customer achieve its sustainability objectives?

The difference is not just environmental performance. It is the ability to understand what matters to your customer and respond with solutions.

Sustainability Can Create Value Across Different Industries

The opportunity is not limited to logistics.

Consider these illustrative examples:

These are not guaranteed results. The commercial benefits will depend on the business, the investment required and customer priorities.

Nevertheless, they demonstrate an important principle.

Sustainability becomes commercially relevant when it helps businesses solve real problems, improve performance and deliver something customers value.

Large Companies Are Looking Beyond Their Own Operations

Why does this create opportunities for suppliers?

Because a company’s sustainability impacts, dependencies, risks and opportunities frequently extend beyond its premises.

A retailer may operate energy efficient buildings but still depend on the environmental performance of manufacturers, logistics providers and packaging suppliers.

A construction company may improve its own operations while much of the environmental impact associated with its projects arises from materials purchased.

A food manufacturer may reduce waste within its factories but remain dependent on agricultural practices, water availability and the treatment of workers throughout its supply chain.

The Global Reporting Initiative’s GRI 3: Material Topics 2021 recognises the importance of identifying impacts connected with an organisation’s activities and business relationships, including those throughout its value chain (GRI, 2021).

Similarly, IFRS S1 recognises that sustainability related risks and opportunities can arise from a company’s dependencies, impacts and relationships throughout its value chain (IFRS Foundation, 2023).

These frameworks approach materiality from different perspectives, but both reinforce the importance of looking beyond an organisation’s immediate operations.

This creates a potentially valuable position for suppliers.

A business that understands its own sustainability performance can help its customers better understand and improve theirs.

Indeed, CDP’s 2026 analysis of sustainable supply chains highlights how businesses are incorporating environmental information into procurement and supplier engagement to support more resilient and sustainable operations (CDP, 2026).

From Being a Supplier to Becoming a Preferred Business Partner

Price, quality, reliability and delivery will always matter.

Sustainability does not replace these fundamentals.

However, where customers are working towards specific environmental or social objectives, a supplier that understands and supports those objectives may offer additional value.

Consider two manufacturers producing comparable components at competitive prices.

Both meet the customer’s technical specifications and delivery requirements.

One provides the components.

The other can additionally demonstrate responsible sourcing, lower material waste, credible environmental data and opportunities to improve resource efficiency.

The second manufacturer may offer the customer something beyond the product itself.

It offers information, insight and opportunities for improvement.

Over time, these capabilities could strengthen the commercial relationship, encourage collaboration and support longer term agreements.

The objective should not simply be to become a supplier that meets sustainability requirements.

It should be to become a supplier whose capabilities help customers succeed.

How Can Your Business Identify These Opportunities?

The starting point does not need to be expensive or complicated.

Consider five practical steps.

1. Understand your customers’ priorities

Visit the sustainability sections of your customers’ websites. Read their sustainability reports and identify their main commitments.

Are they concentrating on energy, emissions, water, waste, responsible sourcing, employee wellbeing or other significant impacts?

2. Examine your contribution to their value chain

Consider where your products, services and business activities influence these priorities.

For example, could you help reduce packaging, improve energy efficiency, enhance traceability or support more responsible working practices?

3. Identify opportunities that also benefit your business

Look for improvements that can increase efficiency, reduce costs, strengthen quality or create new revenue opportunities.

The strongest opportunities may be those where customer needs and your commercial interests overlap.

4. Gather credible information

Measure what matters. Establish a baseline, identify areas for improvement and maintain evidence supporting your claims.

Credible information is more valuable than broad statements about being environmentally friendly or socially responsible.

5. Start a conversation

Rather than waiting for your customer to send another sustainability questionnaire, ask a different question:

“We have been looking at your sustainability priorities. Could we work together on improvements that benefit both our businesses?”

That conversation could reveal opportunities that would otherwise remain undiscovered.

The Role of Sustainability Reporting

This is where sustainability reporting can provide considerably more value than simply producing a document.

The process of preparing a meaningful sustainability report encourages businesses to examine their activities, relationships and impacts systematically.

Applying the GRI Standards helps organisations identify and report on their most significant impacts on the economy, environment and people, including impacts on human rights.

When this understanding is complemented by an assessment of sustainability related financial risks and opportunities, management gains a broader perspective.

It can begin connecting three important questions:

• What significant impacts does our business have on people, the environment and the economy?
• How might our sustainability related risks, dependencies and opportunities affect our own business?
• Where can improvements create value for our customers and other stakeholders?

This broader understanding can help businesses identify opportunities that might otherwise remain hidden within routine operations.

The report then becomes more than a communication exercise.

It becomes an outcome of a process that helps management understand the business, make better decisions and identify opportunities for improvement.

A Different Way to Think About Business Resilience

Resilience is often associated with preparing for disruption, maintaining business continuity and recovering from unexpected events.

These are important capabilities.

But resilience can also have a positive dimension.

Businesses can become more resilient by developing new capabilities, strengthening relationships, improving efficiency and finding additional sources of value.

A supplier that helps customers meet their evolving needs may be better positioned to maintain strong relationships and explore new markets.

A manufacturer that uses materials more efficiently may improve both environmental performance and profitability.

A business that understands its wider value chain may recognise opportunities for collaboration and innovation.

In each case, sustainability can contribute to stronger commercial foundations.

The Opportunity May Already Be in Front of You

Your next business opportunity may not require entering a new country, developing an entirely new product or finding a new customer.

It may begin with understanding an existing customer’s needs more deeply.

What are their sustainability priorities?

What challenges are they trying to overcome?

And how could your business help them succeed?

The most valuable question may not be what your customers expect from you today, but what you could help them achieve tomorrow.

That is where sustainability, business opportunity and resilience come together.

Turn Sustainability Knowledge into Business Value

FBRH Consultants’ GRI Certified Training Programmes equip professionals with the knowledge and practical tools to prepare a first class sustainability report using the GRI Standards.

Our approach incorporates enhanced materiality assessment, examining significant sustainability impacts alongside relevant risks, opportunities and value chain relationships.

Participants develop a practical, step by step Plan of Action that can support better sustainability reporting and more informed business decisions.

Explore FBRH’s GRI Certified Training Programmes

Simon Pitsillides
Simon Pitsillides is a board adviser specialising in sustainability governance, corporate reporting, strategy and stakeholder value creation. He supports boards and senior executives in strengthening governance, enhancing decision-making and integrating sustainability into long-term business strategy.
Simon is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM), a Fellow of the Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals (FISEP), a Chartered Marketer, and holds an MBA in Marketing. He is also a GRI and ISEP Certified Trainer.
As Founder of FBRH Consultants and publisher of SustainCase, Simon combines strategic, commercial and governance expertise with extensive international experience in sustainability reporting, assurance readiness and value creation. He has worked with multinational organisations, financial institutions and public sector bodies across Europe, the Middle East and beyond.
Simon is recognised for helping boards move beyond compliance by using decision-useful sustainability information to strengthen strategy, manage risk, build stakeholder confidence and create long-term value for business, stakeholders and the planet. 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-pitsillides

References

CDP (2026) Sustainable Supply Chains: How Disclosure Data Drives Progress and Accelerates Action. 18 March. Available at: https://www.cdp.net/en/insights/sustainable-supply-chains (Accessed: 13 October 2026).

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) (2021) GRI 3: Material Topics 2021. Amsterdam: Global Reporting Initiative. Available at: https://www.globalreporting.org/publications/documents/english/gri-3-material-topics-2021/ (Accessed: 13 October 2026).

IFRS Foundation (2023) IFRS S1 General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information. London: IFRS Foundation. Available at: https://www.ifrs.org/issued-standards/ifrs-sustainability-standards-navigator/ifrs-s1-general-requirements.html/ (Accessed: 13 October 2026).

IFRS Foundation (2024) Sustainability-related risks and opportunities and the disclosure of material information. London: IFRS Foundation. Available at: https://www.ifrs.org/news-and-events/news/2024/11/ifrs-foundation-publishes-guide-companies-sustainability-risks-opportunities/ (Accessed: 13 October 2026).

The post Could Your Next Big Opportunity Come From Your Customers? appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

How is listening linked to resilience and sustainability?

An employee raises concerns about unsafe working conditions. A supplier reports growing water shortages. A community complains about pollution near your operations.

Each concern points to something that deserves attention. It may reveal harm that is already happening, an impact that could become more serious, or a dependency your business has underestimated.

Listening gives you an opportunity to investigate and respond while you still have options. That is where stakeholder engagement connects sustainability with resilience.

The connection starts with people and the environment

Sustainability involves understanding and addressing a business’s impacts on the economy, the environment and people, including their human rights. Under the GRI Standards, material topics represent an organisation’s most significant impacts (GRI, 2021a). globalreporting.org

Resilience concerns a business’s ability to prepare for disruption, adapt and continue operating.

The two can be closely connected. Unsafe working conditions can harm employees and undermine operational continuity. Pollution can damage ecosystems and relationships with communities. Water scarcity can affect people locally while exposing a business’s dependence on a constrained resource.

The harm matters even before it creates a financial problem for the business. Understanding that harm can also reveal where the business needs to change its decisions, practices or relationships.

Imagine the warning arriving in three different places

Consider this hypothetical example.

A manufacturer’s procurement team hears that a supplier is struggling with water availability. The supplier also acknowledges concerns about its wastewater management.

Meanwhile, local residents raise complaints about discharges near the supplier’s site. Within the manufacturer, production staff notice increasingly inconsistent deliveries.

Procurement sees a supply issue. Sustainability sees an environmental concern. Production sees a scheduling problem.

If nobody connects the information, each team may deal with its own immediate difficulty while the underlying problem continues.

A shared review could prompt questions that change the response:

• What is happening to local water resources and the people who depend on them?
• Is the supplier causing or contributing to pollution?
• How is the manufacturer connected to these impacts through its business relationship?
• What prevention, mitigation or remediation is needed?
• What would happen to production if the supplier could no longer operate?

The answers could lead to engagement with the supplier, environmental investigation, changes to purchasing practices and contingency planning.

Finding another supplier might protect deliveries, but it would not, by itself, resolve harm connected to the existing relationship.

Stakeholder engagement brings missing information into view

Employees, supplier workers, customers and communities can experience impacts that management does not see directly.

An incident figure may tell you how many injuries were recorded. Conversations with workers may reveal whether near misses go unreported or whether people feel safe raising concerns.

A supplier questionnaire may describe environmental procedures. Community engagement may reveal questions about how those procedures work in practice.

GRI 2 treats stakeholder engagement as part of an organisation’s ongoing activities. GRI 3 explains how engagement with relevant stakeholders and experts informs the identification and assessment of impacts (GRI, 2021b; GRI, 2021c). globalreporting.org

The practical implication is straightforward: do not wait for the next reporting cycle to listen.

Feedback needs to reach the people who can investigate it, assess its significance and take action.

The loudest concern is not always the most significant

Businesses need to avoid equating visibility with importance.

A powerful customer may receive an immediate response. A temporary worker or a small community may struggle to get heard, even when the potential harm is severe.

GRI 3 recognises barriers to engagement, including language differences and power imbalances. Actual negative impacts are assessed by severity; potential negative impacts by severity and likelihood. For potential negative human rights impacts, severity takes precedence over likelihood (GRI, 2021c). globalreporting.org

For a business, this means looking beyond the volume of complaints.

Who might be affected but unable to speak freely? Whose experience is missing? Does a single concern point to serious harm that needs prompt investigation?

Turn listening into action

A practical response can begin with five steps.

1. Choose one important activity or business relationship.

Start with a supplier, site, product or process where impacts or dependencies deserve closer attention.

2. Identify who experiences the impacts.

Include people affected by the activity, alongside those who influence commercial decisions. Consider whether workers, communities or other groups need accessible or confidential ways to raise concerns.

3. Bring the signals together.

Review relevant complaints, incident reports, employee feedback, supplier discussions and operational information. Record uncertainty and distinguish allegations from verified findings.

4. Assign responsibility and agree when to escalate.

Name the person responsible for reviewing the concern and the action required. A credible indication of serious harm should prompt timely investigation; it should not have to become a recurring pattern first.

5. Check whether the response worked.

Track whether harm has stopped or reduced, whether affected people consider the response effective, and whether the business has addressed the underlying cause. Where appropriate, explain to those who raised the concern what action followed.

These steps help turn engagement into decisions that can be reviewed and improved.

What should this mean for your sustainability report?

A report becomes more useful when it explains the connection between an impact, the action taken and the evidence of progress.

For example, a business could explain that worker feedback revealed a safety concern, what investigation established, how responsibilities were assigned and how the effectiveness of corrective action was checked.

GRI Disclosure 3-3 addresses how an organisation manages its material topics, including actions, tracking effectiveness and how stakeholder engagement informs those actions (GRI, 2021c). globalreporting.org

Reporting can therefore provide an opportunity to examine whether the management response is working. The underlying listening and action must continue throughout the year.

Three questions for your next management meeting

1. What have employees, suppliers or communities told us that we have not yet properly investigated?
2. Which concerns could reveal significant harm, an important dependency or both?
3. Who is responsible for acting, and how will we know the response has worked?

You do not need to predict every disruption. You do need a way to recognise information that deserves attention.

Your next warning may already be sitting in an inbox, a staff meeting or a supplier conversation. Who is listening, and what happens next?

Build the skills to connect impacts with decisions

FBRH’s Learn How to Prepare a 1st Class GRI Sustainability Report course helps participants apply materiality best practice and use enhanced materiality to connect significant impacts, sustainability related risks and opportunities, and business decisions.

Participants develop a practical plan for preparing a GRI Standards report, helping them move from identifying what matters to assigning responsibilities, gathering evidence and reviewing progress. fbrh.co.uk

Simon Pitsillides
Simon Pitsillides is a board adviser specialising in sustainability governance, corporate reporting, strategy and stakeholder value creation. He supports boards and senior executives in strengthening governance, enhancing decision-making and integrating sustainability into long-term business strategy.
Simon is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM), a Fellow of the Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals (FISEP), a Chartered Marketer, and holds an MBA in Marketing. He is also a GRI and ISEP Certified Trainer.
As Founder of FBRH Consultants and publisher of SustainCase, Simon combines strategic, commercial and governance expertise with extensive international experience in sustainability reporting, assurance readiness and value creation. He has worked with multinational organisations, financial institutions and public sector bodies across Europe, the Middle East and beyond.
Simon is recognised for helping boards move beyond compliance by using decision-useful sustainability information to strengthen strategy, manage risk, build stakeholder confidence and create long-term value for business, stakeholders and the planet. 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-pitsillides

References

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) (2021a) GRI 1: Foundation 2021. Available at: GRI website (Accessed: 5 October 2026).

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) (2021b) GRI 2: General Disclosures 2021. Available at: GRI website (Accessed: 5 October 2026).

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) (2021c) GRI 3: Material Topics 2021. Available at: GRI website (Accessed: 5 October 2026).

The post The Warning Was There. Who Was Listening? appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

Imagine arriving at work tomorrow morning and receiving a message from one of your most important suppliers.

They cannot deliver.

Not today. Not next week. Perhaps not for the next three months.

What happens to your business?

Can you continue operating normally? Can another supplier step in? How quickly? At what cost? Would the replacement meet your quality requirements and the expectations of your customers?

Or would you suddenly discover that a business you considered resilient was actually dependent on one organisation over which you had very little control?

This is why resilience begins with visibility.

The business you depend on may be outside your business

Most organisations understand their own operations reasonably well.

They know their employees, facilities, equipment, customers, costs and immediate operational risks.

But businesses do not operate in isolation.

They depend on suppliers, logistics providers, technology platforms, energy providers, financial institutions, contractors and many other organisations to function.

A disruption somewhere within that network can rapidly become your disruption.

The World Economic Forum has repeatedly highlighted the interconnected nature of global risks, while research into supply chain resilience has demonstrated the importance of visibility, flexibility and the ability to respond to disruption (World Economic Forum, 2026; Christopher and Peck, 2004).

The question, therefore, is not simply:

How resilient is our business?

It is also:

How resilient are the organisations our business depends upon?

Try a simple 90 day test

Choose one supplier that your organisation considers critical.

Now imagine that supplier cannot deliver anything for the next 90 days.

Ask yourself seven questions.

1. What stops?

Which products, services or activities depend upon this supplier?

2. How quickly would we feel the impact?

Would operations be affected tomorrow, next week or several months from now?

3. Do we have an alternative?

Having another supplier listed in a database is not necessarily the same as having a viable alternative.

4. How quickly could we switch?

Would the alternative require testing, certification, new contracts, different logistics arrangements or customer approval?

5. What would switching cost?

A cheaper supplier can become extraordinarily expensive when disruption occurs.

6. Would the alternative meet our customers’ requirements?

Quality, environmental performance, labour practices, traceability, emissions and other sustainability requirements may increasingly form part of customer expectations.

7. What could have warned us earlier?

This may be the most important question of all.

Look for the signals before the disruption

Suppliers rarely operate in a vacuum.

They face changing regulation, energy costs, labour shortages, extreme weather, water availability, transportation constraints, geopolitical events, technological disruption and changing customer expectations.

Consider a supplier whose operations depend heavily upon fossil fuel based transport.

Its deliveries may be perfectly reliable today.

But what happens as transport regulation changes, customers demand lower emissions, fuel economics change and competitors invest in cleaner fleets?

The immediate question is not whether that supplier is sustainable enough.

The commercial question is:

Does the supplier understand what is changing and have a credible plan to respond?

The same logic applies elsewhere.

A manufacturer dependent upon water may face increasing restrictions or scarcity.

A food producer may depend upon agricultural commodities exposed to climate impacts.

A technology company may rely upon a small number of critical data or cloud providers.

A retailer may depend upon logistics businesses facing new emissions requirements.

A construction company may depend upon materials affected by changing environmental regulation.

Waste, biodiversity impacts, human rights, resource availability, emissions and other sustainability issues can become commercial issues remarkably quickly when regulators, customers, investors or communities act.

What appears to be a sustainability issue today can become tomorrow’s supply problem, cost increase or lost customer.

Sustainability information can become an early warning system

This is where sustainability reporting becomes much more interesting.

Its value is not limited to producing a report.

The process requires organisations to examine their impacts, relationships and dependencies systematically.

Who do we depend upon?

Where are our significant impacts?

What is changing around us?

Which relationships could expose us to risk?

What information should management be watching?

These questions can reveal vulnerabilities that conventional operational analysis may overlook.

The GRI Standards, for example, require organisations to consider their impacts across activities and business relationships rather than simply looking within their own operational boundaries (Global Reporting Initiative, 2021).

This broader perspective can help management see the business differently.

From supplier management to supplier visibility

The objective is not to interrogate every supplier with hundreds of questions.

That would create bureaucracy rather than resilience.

Start with the relationships that matter most.

Identify the suppliers whose failure would materially affect your ability to operate.

Then understand the dependencies.

Ask what could realistically disrupt them.

Look for indicators that conditions are changing.

Discuss their plans.

And consider your alternatives before you need them.

A small organisation may be able to do this on a single sheet of paper.

The sophistication of the system matters far less than the quality of the questions.

The cheapest supplier may not be the cheapest supplier

Procurement decisions have traditionally concentrated heavily on price, quality and delivery.

Those remain important.

But resilience introduces another dimension.

Imagine Supplier A costs 3 per cent less than Supplier B.

On paper, Supplier A wins.

But Supplier A depends upon one facility, has no alternative energy supply, relies upon one transport provider and has done little to understand regulatory changes affecting its operations.

Supplier B costs slightly more but has alternative production arrangements, multiple logistics options and management actively monitoring emerging risks.

Which supplier actually represents the lower cost?

The answer may only become obvious when something goes wrong.

By then, the decision has already been made.

Resilient businesses ask questions early

The objective of resilience is not to predict every disruption.

That is impossible.

It is to understand enough about the organisation and the system around it to recognise vulnerabilities, see emerging change and create options.

That requires looking beyond the walls of the organisation.

Your own operations may be efficient.

Your facilities may be secure.

Your emissions may be falling.

Your people may be prepared.

But if a critical organisation upon which you depend cannot adapt to what is coming, part of your resilience sits in someone else’s hands.

So choose your most important supplier and ask one question:

What happens if they stop tomorrow?

If the answer is difficult to give, you have just discovered something worth understanding today.

From reporting to better decisions

Our GRI Certified training programmes go beyond learning how to complete disclosures.

Participants learn how to examine impacts across the value chain and use enhanced materiality thinking to understand the relationships between impacts, risks, opportunities and organisational dependencies.

Because good sustainability reporting should do more than explain what happened.

It should help organisations understand what matters next.

Simon Pitsillides
Simon Pitsillides is a board adviser specialising in sustainability governance, corporate reporting, strategy and stakeholder value creation. He supports boards and senior executives in strengthening governance, enhancing decision-making and integrating sustainability into long-term business strategy.
Simon is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM), a Fellow of the Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals (FISEP), a Chartered Marketer, and holds an MBA in Marketing. He is also a GRI and ISEP Certified Trainer.
As Founder of FBRH Consultants and publisher of SustainCase, Simon combines strategic, commercial and governance expertise with extensive international experience in sustainability reporting, assurance readiness and value creation. He has worked with multinational organisations, financial institutions and public sector bodies across Europe, the Middle East and beyond.
Simon is recognised for helping boards move beyond compliance by using decision-useful sustainability information to strengthen strategy, manage risk, build stakeholder confidence and create long-term value for business, stakeholders and the planet. 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-pitsillides

References

Christopher, M. and Peck, H. (2004) ‘Building the resilient supply chain’, The International Journal of Logistics Management, 15(2), pp. 1 to 14.

Global Reporting Initiative (2021) GRI 1: Foundation 2021. Amsterdam: Global Reporting Initiative.

Global Reporting Initiative (2021) GRI 3: Material Topics 2021. Amsterdam: Global Reporting Initiative.

World Economic Forum (2026) Global Risks Report 2026. Geneva: World Economic Forum.

The post What Happens If Your Most Important Supplier Stops Tomorrow? appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

Large companies are not merely collecting sustainability data. They are building resilient value chains.

A supplier may offer the right product, at the right price, and deliver it reliably today. But will it still be able to do so when regulations change, resources become more expensive, technology advances or public expectations move?

That is the question increasingly occupying large companies.

When customers ask suppliers about emissions, waste, working conditions, water consumption or supply-chain practices, it can appear that they are simply collecting sustainability data. In reality, many are trying to answer a much more important commercial question:

Can we continue to depend on this supplier tomorrow?

A large company is only as resilient as the network on which it depends. If a critical supplier cannot anticipate change, the resulting disruption does not remain within that supplier’s premises. It travels through the value chain: affecting costs, production, delivery, customer satisfaction and reputation.

A practical example: the e-commerce company and its delivery provider

Consider an e-commerce company that depends on an external delivery provider.

The provider has performed reliably for years. Its prices are competitive, its drivers know the routes and its vehicles deliver thousands of parcels every day. Judged only on current performance, it appears to be an excellent supplier.

However, most of its fleet consists of older petrol or diesel vehicles. The company does not measure its emissions, monitor transport policy or have a plan for progressively replacing its vehicles.

This creates several foreseeable risks.

More cities may introduce or strengthen low-emission zones. Fuel and operating costs may increase. Customers may demand lower-carbon delivery options. Larger competitors may invest in cleaner vehicles and offer better emissions information. The delivery provider may eventually face additional charges or lose economical access to important urban areas.

London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone already requires vehicles operating across all London boroughs to meet specified emissions standards or incur a daily charge (Transport for London, n.d.). This demonstrates how an environmental impact can become a direct operational and financial issue.

The e-commerce company therefore has good reason to look beyond the provider’s performance today. It needs to know whether the supplier:

• understands how transport policy is changing;
• knows the emissions profile and age of its fleet;
• has identified which routes or customers are most exposed;
• has considered cleaner vehicles and alternative delivery models;
• has established a realistic transition plan; and
• can provide evidence that action is being taken.

The customer is not requesting this information merely to complete a spreadsheet. It is trying to determine whether an essential part of its delivery network could become more expensive, less reliable or even temporarily unavailable.

The risk moves through the value chain

Large organisations do not control every activity on which their success depends.

They rely on transport providers, manufacturers, technology companies, facilities contractors, labour providers and many other businesses. Each relationship creates dependencies. Each supplier can strengthen the customer’s resilience, or become a point of weakness.

The OECD’s due-diligence guidance encourages organisations to identify and address adverse impacts associated with their operations, supply chains and other business relationships (OECD, 2018). This is important because impacts rarely remain confined to the organisation that causes them.

A supplier’s excessive emissions can become a customer’s distribution problem. Poor labour practices can interrupt production and damage the reputation of the organisation purchasing the goods. Water dependency can threaten continuity during drought. Weak cybersecurity can expose customer information. Excessive packaging can create compliance costs and undermine a retailer’s environmental commitments.

This is why major customers increasingly need visibility beyond their immediate operations.

Waste today can become a restriction tomorrow

Emissions are only one example. Waste, plastics, hazardous substances, water pollution, unsafe products, biodiversity damage, human-rights abuses and dangerous working conditions can all attract public concern and regulatory intervention.

A packaging supplier, for example, may currently produce an inexpensive form of single-use packaging that is lawful and widely used. But if the material generates excessive waste, is difficult to recycle or contains substances of concern, regulators may impose design requirements, producer-responsibility costs, restrictions or bans. The EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation introduces measures covering waste prevention, recyclability, recycled content and restrictions on certain packaging formats (European Commission, n.d.).

The commercial lesson is broader than packaging:

A practice does not need to be illegal today to become a serious business risk tomorrow.

Where an impact on people or the environment becomes sufficiently visible or severe, governments can act faster than a supplier’s normal investment cycle. A business that has not monitored the issue may suddenly need to replace materials, modify products, change equipment, find new sources or absorb additional costs.

That disruption can then reach every major customer that relies on it.

A resilient supplier therefore asks:

• What significant impacts are associated with our activities and products?
• Which of these impacts are receiving growing regulatory or public attention?
• What would happen if the present practice were restricted, taxed or prohibited?
• How quickly could we adapt?
• What practical action should begin now?

This is what it means to “see” ahead.

Resilient suppliers do more than react

A resilient supplier cannot predict every future event. It can, however, establish the capability to recognise change early and respond intelligently.

Such a supplier:

• understands its most significant impacts on the economy, environment and people;
• monitors regulatory, technological and market developments;
• knows which resources, locations and business relationships it depends upon;
• considers how impacts could become operational or commercial risks;
• assigns simple internal responsibilities;
• establishes actions, targets and indicators where appropriate; and
• maintains credible information that can be shared with customers.

The practical distinction is important.

One supplier waits until a major customer sends a questionnaire and then searches hurriedly for answers. Another already understands its impacts, knows where the evidence is held and can explain what it is doing.

Which one appears more dependable?

Sustainability reporting as a management capability

This is where sustainability reporting becomes commercially useful.

The GRI Standards help organisations understand and report their impacts on the economy, environment and people, including human rights. GRI also explains that reporting can generate information that helps organisations identify and reduce risks, recognise opportunities and take action (Global Reporting Initiative, n.d.).

The real value, therefore, is not simply the finished report. It is the organisational capability developed through the reporting process:

• asking the right questions;
• identifying significant impacts;
• examining the value chain;
• assigning responsibility;
• collecting reliable information;
• deciding what action is necessary; and
• monitoring whether that action is working.

For a smaller business, this does not need to begin as an enormous project. The first step is to understand what the relevant questions are and establish a manageable structure for answering them.

The supplier customers will want to retain

Price, quality and delivery will always matter. But they describe whether a supplier can perform under present conditions.

Resilience addresses a different question: whether it can continue performing as conditions change.

Large companies are therefore not necessarily looking for suppliers that already have perfect sustainability performance. They are looking for suppliers that understand their impacts, recognise emerging pressures and can demonstrate a credible capacity to adapt.

The strongest message a supplier can send is not:

“Nothing will affect us.”

It is:

“We understand where change may affect us, and we are already preparing.”

That is more than sustainability disclosure. It is evidence of foresight, competence and future dependability.

And that is why large companies are not simply collecting data.

They are building resilient value chains.

Simon Pitsillides
Simon Pitsillides is a board adviser specialising in sustainability governance, corporate reporting, strategy and stakeholder value creation. He supports boards and senior executives in strengthening governance, enhancing decision-making and integrating sustainability into long-term business strategy.
Simon is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM), a Fellow of the Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals (FISEP), a Chartered Marketer, and holds an MBA in Marketing. He is also a GRI and ISEP Certified Trainer.
As Founder of FBRH Consultants and publisher of SustainCase, Simon combines strategic, commercial and governance expertise with extensive international experience in sustainability reporting, assurance readiness and value creation. He has worked with multinational organisations, financial institutions and public sector bodies across Europe, the Middle East and beyond.
Simon is recognised for helping boards move beyond compliance by using decision-useful sustainability information to strengthen strategy, manage risk, build stakeholder confidence and create long-term value for business, stakeholders and the planet. 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-pitsillides

References

European Commission (n.d.) Packaging waste. Available at: https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/waste-and-recycling/packaging-waste_en (Accessed: 21 September 2026).

Global Reporting Initiative (n.d.) How to use the GRI Standards. Available at: https://www.globalreporting.org/how-to-use-the-gri-standards/ (Accessed: 21 September 2026).

OECD (2018) OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct. Paris: OECD Publishing. Available at: https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/oecd-due-diligence-guidance-for-responsible-business-conduct_15f5f4b3-en.html (Accessed: 21 September 2026).

Transport for London (n.d.) Ultra Low Emission Zone. Available at: https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/ultra-low-emission-zone (Accessed: 21 September 2026).

The post Can Your Customer Depend on You Tomorrow? appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

Approximately 4 minute read

Imagine an ecommerce company that takes sustainability seriously.

Its premises are powered entirely by renewable electricity.

Its own company vehicles are electric.

It has improved energy efficiency, reduced waste and significantly lowered emissions from its direct operations.

From inside the organisational boundary, things may look very good.

But now look outside.

Every day, tens of thousands of packages may leave its warehouses and travel through a network of logistics companies, distribution centres, delivery vans, trucks and subcontractors before reaching customers.

Those vehicles may not belong to the ecommerce company.

The drivers may not work for it.

The distribution centres may not be under its control.

But the ecommerce business depends on all of them.

And that creates an important question.

What happens if your business is ready for the future, but the businesses you depend on are not?

Your business does not operate in isolation

Traditional management naturally focuses on what happens inside the organisation.

That makes sense.

Management can directly influence its own employees, buildings, equipment, vehicles and operating processes.

But modern businesses operate through networks.

Suppliers provide materials.

Technology companies provide platforms.

Banks provide finance.

Utilities provide energy.

Logistics companies move products.

Contractors provide services.

Customers determine demand.

Communities provide labour, infrastructure and social legitimacy.

Natural systems provide water, energy, land and raw materials.

This means a business can have excellent internal controls while remaining exposed to weaknesses elsewhere in its value chain.

GRI 3 reflects this reality.

When determining material topics, organisations are expected to understand their activities and business relationships, including entities in the value chain and even entities beyond the first tier where relevant. They are then expected to identify actual and potential impacts across those activities and business relationships (Global Reporting Initiative, 2021).

The boundary of the company is therefore not necessarily the boundary of what matters.

Consider the ecommerce company again

Suppose our ecommerce company has achieved very low emissions from its own operations.

That is valuable progress.

But perhaps 30,000 parcels leave its distribution centres every day.

Those parcels still have to move.

Imagine that most deliveries depend on several logistics partners operating large fleets of vans and trucks.

Now consider the transition taking place in European road transport.

Current European Union rules set progressively tighter carbon dioxide standards for new cars and vans, including a 100 per cent reduction target from 2035 under the legislation currently in force. In December 2025, the European Commission proposed greater flexibility, including a 90 per cent tailpipe reduction target from 2035 with mechanisms to compensate for the remaining emissions. The proposal continued to be negotiated during 2026 (European Commission, 2026; Council of the European Union, 2026).

The precise regulatory pathway may evolve.

The direction is much clearer.

Transport fleets are moving towards considerably lower emissions and greater electrification.

That creates a business question for the ecommerce company.

Are our logistics partners ready?

A logistics partner’s transition risk can become your business risk

Suppose one of the ecommerce company’s major logistics providers operates thousands of conventional delivery vehicles.

Replacing those vehicles requires capital.

Charging infrastructure may be required.

Routes may need redesigning.

Vehicle availability and residual values may change.

Energy requirements may change.

Operating economics may change.

New technologies may require new skills.

Regulation may continue to evolve.

The logistics company has to manage that transition.

But the ecommerce company needs to understand it too.

Why?

Because if the logistics provider’s costs increase significantly, some of those costs may eventually reach the ecommerce company.

If the provider has difficulty financing fleet replacement, capacity could become constrained.

If some operators adapt faster than others, service quality or pricing could change.

If customers increasingly expect lower emission delivery, the ecommerce company’s choice of logistics provider may affect its own market proposition.

A sustainability issue within a business relationship has become a strategic issue for the company.

That is how value chains work.

Impact, risk and opportunity can be different sides of the same issue

The example also illustrates why double materiality is useful.

One perspective considers impacts.

The movement of thousands of parcels creates emissions and other environmental effects.

The second perspective considers how the same sustainability matter may affect the company financially.

Changing regulation, fuel costs, technology, fleet investment and customer expectations may create risks.

But they may also create opportunities.

An ecommerce company that identifies the transition early might work with logistics providers that are better prepared.

It might negotiate longer term arrangements.

It might offer customers lower emission delivery choices.

It might redesign packaging to reduce volume and weight.

It might consolidate deliveries.

It might reconsider distribution locations.

It might collaborate with logistics partners on technology.

It might simply start asking better questions during procurement.

The important point is that the company has time to choose.

And as we argued previously in this series:

Resilient businesses build options.

This is where enhanced materiality becomes valuable

FBRH uses the term enhanced materiality for a practical approach that builds on GRI impact materiality and the financial perspective of double materiality.

The process starts with understanding the organisation and its value chain.

It identifies actual and potential impacts.

It considers related risks, opportunities and dependencies.

It gathers evidence.

It incorporates relevant stakeholder input.

It uses expert input where appropriate.

It considers potential financial effects.

It applies professional judgement.

And critically, it presents the resulting information in a form that senior decision makers can use.

The purpose is therefore not simply to decide what should appear in a sustainability report.

The purpose is to answer a more useful question:

What does management need to understand in order to make better decisions?

Looking beyond tier 1 matters

This becomes even more important as value chains become longer and more complex.

The OECD’s Responsible Business Outlook 2026 highlights the difficulty companies face when trying to understand risks beyond their direct suppliers.

The OECD notes that supply chain disruption risk tends to increase further into the supply chain. It cites research indicating that disruption risk can be 21 per cent higher at tier 2 than tier 1 and up to 38 per cent higher by tier 3 (OECD, 2026).

That should concern senior decision makers.

Your direct supplier may appear robust.

But who supplies your supplier?

Where do critical components originate?

Which ports, transport routes or infrastructure do they depend on?

Where does energy come from?

Where are important materials sourced?

Which subcontractors actually perform the work?

The further an organisation looks into the value chain, the less visibility it may have.

Yet significant impacts and dependencies do not disappear because management cannot see them.

The risk you cannot see can still stop you

This principle applies far beyond ecommerce.

A food manufacturer may run an efficient factory but depend on agricultural products exposed to water scarcity.

A technology company may have relatively limited direct environmental impacts but depend on data centres, electricity, minerals and complex hardware supply chains.

A bank may operate energy efficient offices while financing activities with significant environmental and social impacts.

A retailer may have excellent employment practices within its own stores while sourcing products through suppliers it barely understands.

A professional services company may have limited direct emissions but depend heavily on a small number of people with specialist knowledge.

In each case, focusing only on direct operations can create a false sense of security.

Materiality should reveal dependencies

This is one reason materiality should not simply become a list of sustainability topics.

A useful materiality assessment should help management see relationships.

What does the business depend upon?

Where could significant impacts occur?

Which relationships create concentration?

What could change?

Where could disruption originate?

Which matters could affect financial performance?

Where might opportunities emerge?

Which stakeholders understand issues management cannot see?

Where is expert judgement needed?

These questions transform materiality from a reporting exercise into a management tool.

Better visibility creates better decisions

Return once more to our ecommerce company.

If management discovers in 2034 that its critical logistics partners are poorly prepared for transport transition, its options may be limited.

If it understands the exposure years earlier, it has choices.

It can engage existing providers.

It can assess alternatives.

It can alter procurement criteria.

It can diversify logistics relationships.

It can redesign delivery models.

It can investigate new technologies.

It can collaborate.

It can monitor progress.

That is resilience.

Not predicting precisely what regulation, technology or transport costs will look like years into the future.

But understanding the dependency sufficiently well to maintain options.

Sustainability information becomes decision useful

This brings us back to the purpose of sustainability information.

Its greatest value does not necessarily come from publishing more information.

Its value comes from improving understanding.

The process should move:

from disclosure

↓

to decisions

↓

to actions

↓

to value creation

Enhanced materiality contributes to that process because it helps connect sustainability information with business reality.

A significant impact may reveal a dependency.

A dependency may create a risk.

A risk may require a decision.

A decision may create an opportunity.

And management needs to see those connections.

Senior decision makers need the whole picture

This does not mean senior management needs hundreds of sustainability indicators.

The opposite may be true.

Senior decision makers need the most significant information presented clearly enough to answer:

What matters?

Why does it matter?

Where in the value chain does it occur?

What could it mean for the business and stakeholders?

What options do we have?

What decision is required?

That is where sustainability information becomes strategically useful.

Your organisational boundary is not your risk boundary

An organisation can improve everything within its direct control and still remain vulnerable.

The ecommerce company can electrify every company vehicle.

It can power every building with renewable energy.

It can minimise its operational emissions.

All of those achievements matter.

But the parcels still have to reach the customer.

And if the organisation does not understand the businesses, infrastructure, resources and relationships that make that possible, it does not fully understand its own resilience.

Your organisational boundary may define where your company ends.

It does not define where your impacts, dependencies, risks and opportunities begin.

That is why proper value chain analysis matters.

And that is why enhanced materiality should ultimately be about better decisions, not simply better reporting.

Building the capability

FBRH’s GRI Certified courses teach participants how to apply the GRI Standards in practice and how to undertake enhanced materiality.

Our approach builds on double materiality but goes further as a practical decision making methodology. It connects value chain analysis, impacts, risks, opportunities, dependencies, evidence, stakeholder and expert input, potential financial effects and professional judgement with the information senior decision makers need to act.

The objective is not simply to determine what should be reported.

It is to help organisations generate decision useful sustainability information that can contribute to resilience and lasting value for the business, stakeholders and the planet.

Simon Pitsillides
Simon Pitsillides is a board adviser specialising in sustainability governance, corporate reporting, strategy and stakeholder value creation. He supports boards and senior executives in strengthening governance, enhancing decision-making and integrating sustainability into long-term business strategy.
Simon is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM), a Fellow of the Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals (FISEP), a Chartered Marketer, and holds an MBA in Marketing. He is also a GRI and ISEP Certified Trainer.
As Founder of FBRH Consultants and publisher of SustainCase, Simon combines strategic, commercial and governance expertise with extensive international experience in sustainability reporting, assurance readiness and value creation. He has worked with multinational organisations, financial institutions and public sector bodies across Europe, the Middle East and beyond.
Simon is recognised for helping boards move beyond compliance by using decision-useful sustainability information to strengthen strategy, manage risk, build stakeholder confidence and create long-term value for business, stakeholders and the planet. 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-pitsillides

References

Council of the European Union (2026) Environment Council, 25 June 2026: CO2 emission standards for cars and vans. Brussels: Council of the European Union.

EFRAG (2024) EFRAG IG 1: Materiality Assessment Implementation Guidance. Brussels: European Financial Reporting Advisory Group.

European Commission (2026) Cars and vans: CO2 emission performance standards. Brussels: European Commission. Accessed 14 September 2026.

Global Reporting Initiative (2021) GRI 3: Material Topics 2021. Amsterdam: Global Reporting Initiative.

OECD (2026) OECD Responsible Business Outlook 2026. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co operation and Development.

The post Your Biggest Risk May Sit Outside Your Business appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

In Week 36 we asked how businesses determine which options matter.

Enhanced materiality provides part of the answer by helping senior decision makers understand significant impacts, risks, opportunities and dependencies across the value chain.

But identifying what matters is not the destination.

It is the beginning.

A beautifully constructed materiality assessment sitting inside a sustainability report will not make an organisation more resilient.

A materiality matrix will not strengthen a supply chain.

A risk description will not retain critical employees.

An assessment of water dependency will not reduce water consumption.

Identifying a human rights impact will not correct it.

Recognising a market opportunity will not capture it.

Information creates value when it changes decisions and action.

That is the next step in building business resilience.

Materiality must lead somewhere

GRI 3 provides an important clue.

The Standard does not stop when an organisation identifies its material topics.

Disclosure 3 3 requires organisations to explain how each material topic is managed, including policies and commitments, actions taken, processes for tracking effectiveness, goals, targets and indicators, progress, lessons learned and the role of stakeholder engagement (Global Reporting Initiative, 2021).

That progression matters.

It takes us from:

What matters?

to

What are we doing about it?

The OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct follows a similar logic.

Organisations are expected to identify and assess adverse impacts, take action to cease, prevent or mitigate them, track implementation and results, communicate what they are doing and provide or cooperate in remediation where appropriate (OECD, 2018).

Again, the emphasis is not simply on knowing.

It is on acting and learning.

Enhanced materiality should support decisions

FBRH trains professionals to undertake enhanced materiality.

The approach begins with the impact perspective of the GRI Standards and adds the financial perspective associated with double materiality.

It looks across the value chain to understand:

how the organisation affects the economy, environment and people

and

how sustainability related matters can create risks, opportunities and financial effects for the organisation.

EFRAG recognises these connections explicitly.

Its materiality guidance explains that material risks and opportunities can arise from impacts, dependencies and other factors, and that these matters can interact with strategy, investment and management decisions (EFRAG, 2024).

This is precisely why enhanced materiality has value beyond sustainability reporting.

It creates a structured information base for senior decision makers.

But the process becomes strategically useful only when management asks:

What decision should this information influence?

From material topic to management decision

Imagine that enhanced materiality identifies water scarcity as significant.

The reporting question might be:

What should we disclose about water?

The management questions are broader.

Where is the organisation most dependent on water?

Which facilities or suppliers are most exposed?

Could scarcity interrupt production?

What are the implications for communities?

Could costs rise?

Are alternative sources available?

Could processes use less water?

Should investment priorities change?

What indicators would provide early warning?

Who is responsible for responding?

The same principle applies to human capital.

Suppose the assessment identifies dependence on a small number of employees with critical expertise.

The reporting question may concern training, retention or employee turnover.

The resilience questions are different.

What happens if those people leave?

Who else understands the process?

Can knowledge be transferred?

Should succession plans be developed?

Does the organisation need additional capability?

Can technology reduce the dependency?

Again, information begins the conversation.

Decisions create the response.

Every material matter should create a management conversation

One way of ensuring that enhanced materiality contributes to resilience is to connect each significant matter with a clear management discussion.

For every important impact, risk, opportunity or dependency, senior decision makers should be able to ask:

What is happening?

↓

Why does it matter?

↓

Who or what is affected?

↓

What could this mean for the organisation and its stakeholders?

↓

What decision is required?

↓

Who owns that decision?

↓

What action will be taken?

↓

How will we know whether the action worked?

↓

What have we learned?

This converts materiality from a reporting process into a management process.

The value chain makes action more complicated

Not every material matter can be solved inside the organisation.

Many of the most important sustainability impacts and business dependencies exist within the value chain.

The OECD notes that significant environmental and social impacts often occur within supply and value chains rather than solely within an organisation’s own operations (OECD, 2026).

That means action may require collaboration.

A supplier may need support.

Procurement criteria may need changing.

Contracts may need reviewing.

Products may need redesigning.

New suppliers may need developing.

Customers may need engaging.

Industry bodies may need coordinating collective action.

Communities may need to be consulted.

Expert knowledge may be required.

The appropriate response depends on the nature of the matter and the organisation’s relationship with it.

This is another reason why simplistic sustainability checklists are inadequate.

Professional judgement matters.

Prioritisation must continue after materiality

A materiality assessment establishes priorities.

But management still needs to prioritise actions.

Consider an organisation that identifies ten significant sustainability matters.

It may identify dozens of possible responses.

Management cannot implement everything immediately.

The next question becomes:

Where can action create the greatest value?

That value can take several forms.

Reducing a significant negative impact.

Avoiding disruption.

Protecting people.

Improving operational efficiency.

Strengthening a supplier relationship.

Reducing cost.

Increasing access to markets.

Developing new products.

Building stakeholder trust.

Protecting natural resources on which the organisation depends.

Improving access to finance.

Creating greater strategic flexibility.

The objective is not to reduce every decision to a financial calculation.

Nor is it to ignore financial consequences.

Enhanced materiality allows decision makers to consider both.

That is why we describe the intended outcome as creating lasting value:

for the business

for stakeholders

and for the planet.

Actions need owners

There is another common problem.

Everyone agrees that a topic is important.

Nobody owns it.

If a material issue has no clear organisational responsibility, action can easily disappear between sustainability, finance, operations, procurement, human resources, risk and senior management.

Business resilience requires ownership.

Some matters may require board oversight.

Others belong with executive management.

Others may sit with procurement, operations, human resources or another business function.

Many will cross functional boundaries.

The important point is that material sustainability information should reach the people capable of acting on it.

A sustainability team cannot create organisational resilience alone.

Measure whether the action worked

Action without measurement creates another problem.

The organisation may be busy without knowing whether it is making progress.

GRI 3 specifically requires organisations to report how they track the effectiveness of actions taken to manage material topics, including goals, targets, indicators, progress and lessons learned (Global Reporting Initiative, 2021).

This creates a powerful management cycle:

identify

↓

prioritise

↓

decide

↓

act

↓

measure

↓

learn

↓

adapt

That final stage is particularly important for resilience.

Conditions change.

An action that worked yesterday may not work tomorrow.

A supplier improves.

A new regulation appears.

Technology changes.

A risk becomes less important.

Another becomes more significant.

A new opportunity emerges.

The organisation therefore needs to learn and adapt.

ISO 22316 describes organisational resilience as the ability to absorb and adapt in a changing environment while continuing to fulfil organisational objectives (ISO, 2017).

Adaptation requires feedback.

From reporting cycle to learning cycle

This changes how we can think about sustainability reporting.

The traditional model can appear linear:

collect data

↓

write report

↓

publish report

↓

repeat next year

A resilience based approach should be circular.

understand

↓

identify

↓

prioritise

↓

decide

↓

act

↓

measure

↓

learn

↓

understand again

The report is an important output.

But organisational learning may be an even more valuable one.

Capability determines whether this works

None of this happens automatically.

People need the capability to conduct a robust materiality assessment.

They need to understand the organisation and its value chain.

They need to identify impacts, risks, opportunities and dependencies.

They need to gather and evaluate evidence.

They need to understand stakeholder perspectives.

They need to know when expert input is required.

They need to assess significance and financial effects.

They need to apply professional judgement.

And critically, they need to communicate the results in a form that senior decision makers can use.

This is why FBRH training focuses on implementation rather than simply understanding disclosure requirements.

Through the GRI Reporting Programme: From Understanding to Implementation, participants learn how to apply the GRI Standards and undertake enhanced materiality across the value chain.

The objective is to develop internal capability.

Not simply to produce a report.

But to generate information that supports better decisions.

Training, action and assurance have different roles

There is also an important distinction between training and assurance.

Training develops capability.

It helps organisations develop the people, knowledge and processes required to generate and use sustainability information.

Management takes decisions and action.

The organisation remains responsible for determining its strategy, priorities and responses.

Independent assurance strengthens confidence.

Assurance evaluates sustainability information against suitable criteria and appropriate evidence.

These roles should remain distinct.

FBRH does not disguise organisation specific consulting as training.

Our training provides methods, frameworks, templates and exercises that organisations can apply using their own judgement.

Independent assurance is conducted separately and subject to appropriate ethical and independence requirements.

Why assurance becomes more relevant

As sustainability information moves closer to strategic decisions, its reliability becomes increasingly important.

Senior decision makers may be using that information to allocate resources.

Customers may use it to select suppliers.

Banks may consider it when evaluating clients.

Stakeholders may use it to assess organisational performance.

Boards may use it when overseeing risks and opportunities.

The question therefore becomes:

Can we rely on this information?

ISSA 5000 has been developed as a global baseline for sustainability assurance engagements.

The IAASB’s June 2026 guidance on materiality under ISSA 5000 specifically addresses the information needs of intended users, qualitative and quantitative sustainability information, double materiality where applicable and materiality throughout an assurance engagement in support of decision useful sustainability reporting (IAASB, 2026).

This reinforces the connection between materiality, information quality and decisions.

Assurance does not tell management what decision to make.

But it can strengthen confidence in the sustainability information on which decisions and disclosures may depend.

The pathway from information to resilience

The broader progression therefore becomes:

Understand the organisation and its value chain

↓

Build internal capability

↓

Conduct enhanced materiality

↓

Identify what matters

↓

Provide decision useful information

↓

Make informed decisions

↓

Take action

↓

Measure results

↓

Learn and adapt

↓

Strengthen confidence through assurance where appropriate

↓

Build greater resilience

This is not sustainability reporting sitting beside business strategy.

It is sustainability information contributing to better business strategy.

Knowing is not enough

Knowing that a supplier represents a critical dependency does not create an alternative.

Knowing that employees lack an important future skill does not develop that capability.

Knowing that water scarcity threatens operations does not reduce the exposure.

Knowing that a product creates an impact does not redesign the product.

Knowing that a market opportunity exists does not capture it.

Knowing matters.

But knowing is only valuable if it influences what comes next.

Information must support decisions.

Decisions must lead to action.

Action must be measured.

Results must create learning.

Learning must improve the next decision.

That is how sustainability information contributes to resilience.

And that is how enhanced materiality can move:

from disclosure

↓

to decisions

↓

to actions

↓

to value creation

For the business, stakeholders and the planet.

Simon Pitsillides
Simon Pitsillides is a board adviser specialising in sustainability governance, corporate reporting, strategy and stakeholder value creation. He supports boards and senior executives in strengthening governance, enhancing decision-making and integrating sustainability into long-term business strategy.
Simon is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM), a Fellow of the Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals (FISEP), a Chartered Marketer, and holds an MBA in Marketing. He is also a GRI and ISEP Certified Trainer.
As Founder of FBRH Consultants and publisher of SustainCase, Simon combines strategic, commercial and governance expertise with extensive international experience in sustainability reporting, assurance readiness and value creation. He has worked with multinational organisations, financial institutions and public sector bodies across Europe, the Middle East and beyond.
Simon is recognised for helping boards move beyond compliance by using decision-useful sustainability information to strengthen strategy, manage risk, build stakeholder confidence and create long-term value for business, stakeholders and the planet. 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-pitsillides

References

EFRAG (2024) EFRAG IG 1: Materiality Assessment Implementation Guidance. Brussels: European Financial Reporting Advisory Group.

Global Reporting Initiative (2021) GRI 3: Material Topics 2021. Amsterdam: Global Reporting Initiative.

International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (2026) ISSA 5000 Frequently Asked Questions: The Application of Materiality. New York: IAASB, 25 June.

International Organization for Standardization (2017) ISO 22316:2017 Security and resilience: Organizational resilience: Principles and attributes. Geneva: ISO.

OECD (2018) OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct. Paris: OECD Publishing.

OECD (2026) Due Diligence for Responsible Business Conduct. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co operation and Development. Accessed 20 August 2026.

The post Knowing What Matters Is Not Enough. Resilience Requires Action. appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

It builds options.

But that raises an important question.

Which options should a business build?

No organisation has unlimited money, time, people or management attention.

It cannot prepare equally for every possible disruption, invest in every opportunity or address every sustainability matter with the same intensity.

Choices have to be made.

And good choices start with understanding what matters.

This is where materiality can become much more than a sustainability reporting requirement.

When applied properly, materiality can help senior decision makers understand the organisation, its value chain, its impacts, dependencies, risks and opportunities.

It can help determine where action is most important.

And that makes materiality a potentially powerful business resilience tool.

The problem is not a shortage of information

Businesses today have access to extraordinary amounts of information.

The challenge is deciding which information deserves attention.

Geopolitical developments.

Artificial intelligence.

Cybersecurity.

Climate related risks.

Energy.

Water.

Human rights.

Supply chains.

Employee capability.

Changing customer expectations.

Regulation.

Access to capital.

Reputation.

New markets.

The list can become overwhelming.

The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2026 describes a global environment in which geopolitical and geoeconomic risks dominate the immediate outlook, while technological risks continue to grow in importance over longer time horizons (World Economic Forum, 2026).

Trying to respond equally to everything is not strategy.

Leaders have to prioritise.

That requires a disciplined way of answering a deceptively simple question:

What matters most?

Materiality should help answer that question

Within sustainability reporting, materiality is often associated with deciding what should appear in a report.

That is important.

But it is only part of its potential value.

GRI 3 requires organisations reporting in accordance with the GRI Standards to identify and assess actual and potential impacts on the economy, environment and people across their activities and business relationships.

GRI also requires organisations to understand their context and recognises that relevant business relationships can extend through the value chain, including beyond first tier suppliers (Global Reporting Initiative, 2021).

This creates an important foundation.

The organisation begins by looking beyond its immediate boundaries.

It considers where activities take place.

Who is involved.

Who may be affected.

Which resources the business depends upon.

Where significant impacts occur.

And how those circumstances may change.

But we can go further.

From materiality to enhanced materiality

FBRH trains professionals to conduct what we describe as enhanced materiality.

Enhanced materiality builds on the impact perspective of the GRI Standards and incorporates the financial perspective associated with double materiality.

The organisation therefore considers both:

How the organisation affects the economy, environment and people

and

How sustainability related matters can create risks, opportunities and financial effects for the organisation.

EFRAG describes these as the two dimensions of double materiality.

Impact materiality considers significant actual and potential impacts on people and the environment.

Financial materiality considers sustainability related risks and opportunities that could create material financial effects for the organisation.

Importantly, EFRAG recognises that the two perspectives are often interconnected and that material risks and opportunities can arise from impacts and dependencies (EFRAG, 2024).

The entire value chain matters.

That is critical.

A business may have excellent control over its own operations while remaining heavily exposed to something happening upstream or downstream.

Raw materials may become unavailable.

A supplier may create a human rights exposure.

Water scarcity may affect production.

A customer’s expectations may change.

New regulation may alter market access.

Technology may make an existing product less competitive.

Climate related events may affect logistics.

Employees with critical skills may become difficult to recruit.

These matters may begin outside the traditional boundaries of financial reporting.

Their consequences may eventually reach the heart of the business.

Enhanced materiality is about decisions

This is why we believe the most useful question is not:

What do we need to put in the sustainability report?

It is:

What do senior decision makers need to understand in order to make better decisions?

That changes the purpose of the exercise.

Enhanced materiality can provide a structured process:

Understand the organisation and its value chain

↓

Identify actual and potential impacts

↓

Identify related risks, opportunities and dependencies

↓

Gather evidence

↓

Engage relevant stakeholders

↓

Seek appropriate expert input

↓

Assess significance and potential financial effects

↓

Apply professional judgement

↓

Prioritise what matters

↓

Inform decisions and action

↓

Monitor changes and outcomes

This is not simply data collection.

It is a decision making process.

The value chain changes what leaders can see

Looking across the value chain is particularly important for resilience.

Consider a manufacturer.

Its immediate operations may appear stable.

But further upstream it may depend on a raw material sourced predominantly from one country.

A transport route may pass through a region exposed to geopolitical disruption.

A supplier may depend heavily on water resources that are becoming increasingly stressed.

A critical component may come from only one manufacturer.

Further downstream, customer preferences or regulation may be changing.

None of these automatically means that management should change supplier, relocate production or abandon a market.

But they are information that senior decision makers may need.

Understanding the value chain can reveal vulnerabilities before those vulnerabilities become crises.

And it can reveal opportunities before competitors recognise them.

Impact, risk and opportunity are connected

Traditional approaches can sometimes place sustainability impacts in one box and business risks in another.

Reality is rarely so tidy.

Consider workforce conditions.

Poor working conditions create impacts on people.

They may also contribute to absenteeism, recruitment difficulties, employee turnover, operational disruption and reputational damage.

Consider water.

The organisation may affect local water availability.

At the same time, water scarcity may affect production capacity and operating costs.

Consider climate.

A business contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.

At the same time, transition policies, energy costs, physical climate risks and changing market expectations may affect its financial performance.

EFRAG’s double materiality guidance recognises these interconnections. Impacts and dependencies can generate risks and opportunities, while management decisions taken in response to impacts can themselves affect business prospects (EFRAG, 2024).

Enhanced materiality therefore encourages decision makers to see the system rather than isolated sustainability topics.

Better information creates better choices

This connects directly with business resilience.

A business cannot build useful options if it does not understand its exposures.

Imagine discovering during a disruption that your critical supplier has no realistic substitute.

Or that important organisational knowledge exists only in the head of one employee.

Or that a new regulation threatens access to a significant market.

Or that your largest customer is changing procurement requirements and you cannot provide the sustainability information being requested.

The problem is not simply the disruption.

The problem is discovering the dependency too late.

Enhanced materiality can help businesses ask these questions earlier.

That creates time.

And time creates options.

Materiality is not a once a year exercise

GRI explicitly recognises that impacts can change as activities, business relationships and the operating context evolve and therefore expects organisations to identify and assess impacts on an ongoing basis (Global Reporting Initiative, 2021).

This point deserves greater attention.

Materiality should not become an exercise conducted for the sustainability report and then placed on a shelf until the following year.

Businesses change.

Markets change.

Value chains change.

Technology changes.

Stakeholders change.

Risks change.

Opportunities change.

A materiality assessment should therefore contribute to an organisation’s wider capacity to notice change.

ISO 22316 describes organisational resilience as the ability to absorb and adapt in a changing environment while continuing to fulfil organisational objectives. It also emphasises awareness of changing contexts, strong leadership and the ability to anticipate and respond to change (ISO, 2017).

That is precisely why decision useful materiality information matters.

From disclosure to value creation

The sustainability reporting process becomes strategically useful when information moves:

from disclosure

↓

to decisions

↓

to actions

↓

to value creation

A sustainability report is therefore not necessarily the end product.

The more important product may be better organisational understanding.

Senior decision makers can use that understanding to decide:

Where should we strengthen our supply chain?

Where are we excessively dependent?

Which impacts require urgent action?

Which sustainability risks deserve management attention?

Where are new commercial opportunities emerging?

Which capabilities should we develop?

Which stakeholders need to be involved?

Where should capital be allocated?

Where do we need better evidence?

Where should we build alternatives?

These are business questions.

Building the capability to conduct enhanced materiality

Good materiality assessments require more than completing a template.

People need to understand the standards.

They need to understand the business.

They need to know how to identify impacts across the value chain.

They need to distinguish impacts from risks and opportunities.

They need to gather appropriate evidence.

They need to understand stakeholders.

They need to recognise when expert input is needed.

And they need to apply professional judgement.

That capability has to be built.

FBRH’s GRI Reporting Programme: From Understanding to Implementation is designed around this principle.

Participants learn how to use the GRI Standards in a practical organisational context and how to conduct enhanced materiality across the value chain.

The objective is not simply to teach people how to produce disclosures.

It is to help them generate information that can support governance, strategy and better decisions.

The progression is:

Understand

↓

Learn

↓

Start

↓

Grow

↓

Assure

Understand the organisation, its value chain and its sustainability context.

Build internal capability.

Start generating decision useful information.

Improve governance, evidence and processes as capability develops.

Then, where appropriate, strengthen confidence through independent assurance.

The growing role of assurance

As sustainability information becomes more important to decisions, questions naturally arise about its reliability.

Where did the information come from?

What evidence supports it?

Were appropriate criteria applied?

Can important judgements be explained?

Are controls in place?

Can stakeholders have confidence in what is being reported?

This is where independent sustainability assurance has an important but separate role.

ISSA 5000 establishes a global baseline for sustainability assurance engagements and becomes effective for periods beginning on or after 15 December 2026, with early application permitted.

Significantly, the IAASB published additional materiality guidance in June 2026 addressing qualitative and quantitative sustainability information, double materiality where applicable and the role of materiality in supporting decision useful sustainability reporting (IAASB, 2026).

That reinforces an important point.

Materiality is central not only to deciding what matters.

It is also central to the credibility of sustainability information.

FBRH provides independent sustainability assurance, including assurance of GRI Standards based sustainability reporting, subject to appropriate engagement acceptance and independence requirements.

Training and assurance therefore serve different purposes.

Training develops capability.

Assurance strengthens confidence.

Better decisions for business, stakeholders and the planet

Enhanced materiality should not force businesses to choose between commercial value and sustainability value.

Its purpose is to help decision makers understand the connections.

A decision may affect employees, communities, suppliers or the environment.

Those impacts may also create dependencies, risks or opportunities for the organisation.

Understanding both sides of the relationship enables better judgement.

This is the principle behind the FBRH approach.

Generate information that helps senior decision makers take better informed action to create lasting value:

for the business

for stakeholders

and for the planet.

Resilience starts with knowing what matters

Resilience does not mean preparing equally for everything.

That would be impossible.

It means understanding what matters sufficiently well to make informed choices before circumstances remove those choices.

Week 35 asked businesses to build options.

Week 36 adds the next piece.

Before you can build the right options, you need to know what matters.

Enhanced materiality helps organisations identify their significant impacts, risks, opportunities and dependencies across the value chain.

That information supports better decisions.

Better decisions create better actions.

And better actions help create more resilient businesses.

Simon Pitsillides
Simon Pitsillides is a board adviser specialising in sustainability governance, corporate reporting, strategy and stakeholder value creation. He supports boards and senior executives in strengthening governance, enhancing decision-making and integrating sustainability into long-term business strategy.
Simon is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM), a Fellow of the Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals (FISEP), a Chartered Marketer, and holds an MBA in Marketing. He is also a GRI and ISEP Certified Trainer.
As Founder of FBRH Consultants and publisher of SustainCase, Simon combines strategic, commercial and governance expertise with extensive international experience in sustainability reporting, assurance readiness and value creation. He has worked with multinational organisations, financial institutions and public sector bodies across Europe, the Middle East and beyond.
Simon is recognised for helping boards move beyond compliance by using decision-useful sustainability information to strengthen strategy, manage risk, build stakeholder confidence and create long-term value for business, stakeholders and the planet. 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-pitsillides

References

EFRAG (2024) EFRAG IG 1: Materiality Assessment Implementation Guidance. Brussels: European Financial Reporting Advisory Group, 31 May.

Global Reporting Initiative (2021) GRI 3: Material Topics 2021. Amsterdam: Global Reporting Initiative.

International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (2026) ISSA 5000 Frequently Asked Questions: The Application of Materiality. New York: IAASB, 25 June.

International Organization for Standardization (2017) ISO 22316:2017 Security and resilience: Organizational resilience: Principles and attributes. Geneva: ISO.

World Economic Forum (2026) Global Risks Report 2026. Geneva: World Economic Forum.

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