A media analysis is an integral part of the Double Materiality Assessment (DMA) process. It helps companies identify potential impacts, risks, and opportunities related to the Environmental, Social, and Governance metrics that form the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS).
By analyzing various sources such as news articles, peer reviews, scientific papers, and other relevant publications, companies can create a comprehensive list of topics that are material to their operations. Next to stakeholder engagement, the media analysis forms a central element of the research phase of the DMA. This guide provides a step-by-step approach to conducting an effective media analysis.
Step 1: Define objectives and scope
Objective setting: Define what you aim to achieve with the media analysis. Are you looking to identify the impacts your companies has on climate change (impact materiality) the risks & opportunities climate change has on your company (financial materiality), or both?
We recommend conducting a media analysis for both impact and financial materiality.
Scope determination: Specify the geographical scope (global, regional, or local) and the time frame (recent or over several years) for the media analysis. Consider all 10 ESRS topics for the media analysis, as well as entity-specific topics (these are topics that are specific to your company’s operations).
Step 2: Collect data
Source identification: Gather data from diverse sources:
Media reports: Look for recent news articles and reports from credible news outlets.
Google keywords including a combination of:
your company name
your sector
The ten ESRS topics
Peer analysis: Review industry reports and analyses that compare practices and standards among peers.
Consider direct and indirect peers and assess what they have published on ESG.
Use this to benchmark your own process and metrics against peers
Sector-specific benchmarks: Utilize benchmarks and indices that provide performance metrics specific to your sector.
Examples include:
Scope 1,2 and 3
ESG metrics like employee statistics
Disclosure on impacts, risks and opportunities
Sustainability trends and risks: Include publications on current and emerging sustainability trends.
Consider sustainability reports by leading think tanks, NGOs and research institutes
Scientific articles: Consult academic journals for research studies relevant to your industry and sustainability practices.
Google keywords including a combination of:
your company name
your sector
The ten ESRS topics
Use Google Scholar, which is free.
ResearchGate also publishes free papers.
Step 3: analyze data
Content analysis: Systematically examine the content to extract data about risks, impacts, and opportunities. Focus on frequency (how often topics appear) and sentiment (positive, negative, or neutral).
Thematic clustering: Connect the content to relevant ESRS sub-topics. This way you can easily connect the dots when creating your sustainability report.
It will also solidify the audit process, as you will have demonstrated that materiality of (sub)topics is based on external research.
Step 4: Develop a longlist
Prioritization criteria: Establish criteria to prioritize the issues based on their significance (as determined by the media analysis) and the level of stakeholder concern.
Drafting the longlist: List all identified and analyzed topics. This list should be comprehensive, capturing a wide range of material aspects from the media analysis.
Step 5: Validate and refine
Stakeholder engagement: Share the longlist with internal and external stakeholders for feedback. This may include employees, customers, investors, and industry experts.
Coolset also has stakeholder engagement templates that we can share with you.
Refinement: Based on the feedback, refine your list. Remove less relevant topics and highlight those with the most evidence and stakeholder concern.
Step 6: Document findings
Summarize your findings in a clear and concise manner. Highlight key impacts, potential risks, and opportunities per relevant ESRS topic. This documentation will inform your impact and financial materiality assessments.
See the example below on how to report relevant sources in the Coolset platform.
Conclusion
The media analysis is a critical step in the DMA process, providing a data-driven foundation for identifying and prioritizing material topics. By following this structured approach, companies can effectively use media insights to guide their sustainability strategies and reporting, aligning with the ESRS guidelines.