The primary aim of this paper is to explore the practical application of the double materiality (DM) assessment process and to identify potential problems and challenges that may arise.
This research entails a single case study of one of the leading Polish construction companies. Using internal documentation, the study records, analyses and assesses the DM implementation in a company that was an early adopter of this concept.
The results indicate that the DM assessment was a complex project, covering specific stages and posing various challenges, such as establishing objective criteria for selecting materiality thresholds. Other issues include the need to weight various stakeholder opinions in the process and to appropriately determine the reporting boundaries. The problem of discretionary judgements in DM assessments was also observed.
This study provides practical insights for practitioners involved in the DM assessment process in sustainability reporting.
One of the novelties of this study is that it presents an authentic implementation of the DM concept, which was designed according to the European Sustainability Reporting Standards requirements.
