Sustainability Material Topics and Materiality Analysis in the Chemical Industry

Triantafyllos Papafloratos (), Ioannis Markidis, Iordanis Kotzaivazoglou and Garyfallos Fragidis
Additional contact information
Triantafyllos Papafloratos: Department of Business Administration, International Hellenic University, 62124 Serres, Greece
Ioannis Markidis: Department of Business Administration, International Hellenic University, 62124 Serres, Greece
Iordanis Kotzaivazoglou: Department of Business Administration, International Hellenic University, 62124 Serres, Greece
Garyfallos Fragidis: Department of Business Administration, International Hellenic University, 62124 Serres, Greece

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 18, 1-23

Abstract: Chemicals are an essential ingredient for many industries. The chemical industry has a direct environmental and social impact and massive potential to contribute towards a more sustainable world. Environmental and social awareness and pressure from society are increasing, customers expect from companies to show increased corporate social responsibility (CSR), and there are increasing legal requirements for companies to disclose information on their social, economic, and environmental performance through CSR reporting. This paper explores the most material sustainability topics in the chemical industry. We reviewed 25 sustainability reports of some of the biggest companies in the chemical industry—in terms of annual sales. We studied the reports, created a database, and then analyzed the findings. We identified the topics that were most commonly reported as being material by the chemical industry. This enabled us to identify trends, differences, or similarities within the data. The industry’s main environmental impacts are pollution and energy consumption, which is directly related to carbon emissions. Other material issues include health and safety, and water and waste management. Overall, it became apparent that the chemical industry recognizes the importance that the materiality assessment plays, but the content and detail of the sustainability reports can be improved.

Keywords: sustainability; CSR reporting; materiality analysis; chemicals industry sustainability; materiality; sustainability material topics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/18/14014/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/18/14014/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:18:p:14014-:d:1244737

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().