What is double materiality?

Double materiality is the CSRD principle that a topic is material if it is financially material (it affects the company's value, cash flows, or risk) OR impact material (the company has a significant effect on people or the environment through that topic), or both. Either axis alone makes a topic reportable.

How is a topic classified as material?

A topic is material if its score on either axis meets or exceeds your materiality threshold. The tool labels topics as double-material (both axes), financially material only, impact material only, or immaterial when neither axis crosses the threshold.

What threshold should I use?

There is no fixed legal number; companies set a defensible threshold and document it. A common starting point is the midpoint of the scoring scale. The tool lets you set the threshold and re-classifies every topic instantly so you can test sensitivity.

Does impact materiality include the value chain?

Yes. Under ESRS, impact materiality assessment covers actual and potential impacts across the company's own operations and its upstream and downstream value chain, not just direct operations. Score each topic with the full value chain in view.

Is the scoring objective?

No tool makes materiality objective — scores come from your stakeholder engagement, evidence, and judgement. This builder structures and visualises those judgements so they are consistent, comparable across topics, and easy to document for assurance.

ESG Double Materiality Matrix Builder

The CSRD’s double materiality is the gate that decides which sustainability topics you must report on. This builder turns your two-axis scores — financial materiality and impact materiality — into a clear matrix that classifies every topic, so your reporting scope is defensible and easy to document.

How it works

Each topic is scored 0-10 on two independent axes and compared to a threshold:

financial materiality  = effect of the topic on company value / risk / cash flow
impact materiality      = the company's effect on people & environment via the topic
material if  (financial ≥ threshold)  OR  (impact ≥ threshold)

That gives four quadrants:

both ≥ threshold              → Double material (highest priority)
financial only ≥ threshold    → Financially material
impact only ≥ threshold       → Impact material
neither ≥ threshold           → Immaterial (out of scope)

Notes and tips

The “OR” is the heart of double materiality: a topic with low financial relevance but a serious societal or environmental impact is still material and reportable under ESRS — and vice versa. Assess impact materiality across your whole value chain, not just your own sites, since that is where many of the most significant impacts sit. There is no legally fixed threshold, so set one you can justify, document the rationale, and run a sensitivity check by nudging the threshold to see which borderline topics flip — that record is exactly what assurance providers will want to see.