We are proud to share a 2016-2017 update to our first non-financial materiality assessment covering 2014-2015. Like other organizations using non-financial materiality assessments as a strategic tool, this process served as an opportunity to engage and learn from stakeholders within and beyond Nielsen—from employees to clients and investors and more—to better understand the full scope of opportunities ahead and how to align our business strategy with key environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations to create value.
Over a period of many months, we reviewed source documentation and engaged a variety of internal and external stakeholders covering a wide range of geographies and perspectives to understand how they view Nielsen, where they see our business heading, and what challenges and opportunities they anticipate ahead.
“With our diverse stakeholder groups at the forefront of this assessment, we remained focused on what’s next and on how we can continue to position Nielsen for a sustainable future,” said Crystal Barnes, vice president of Global Responsibility & Sustainability at Nielsen.
At Nielsen, we recognize that we can best care for the communities and markets where we live and work through responsible, sustainable business practices and our commitment to giving back. As a result, our Global Responsibility & Sustainability strategy includes all ESG issues that affect our business and operations, as well as internal and external stakeholders.
By linking ESG opportunities to our core business strategy, we’re able to uncover operational efficiencies, mitigate risk and maximize opportunities. In short, we see ESG considerations as an essential component of our long-term success. We shared this enduring commitment and long-term strategic approach in our Nielsen Global Responsibility Report, aligned with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G4 and published in May 2016, and more recently CEO Mitch Barns highlighted the value of our approach during his remarks at CECP’s first-ever Strategic Investor Initiative (SII).
Beyond seeking to better understand how stakeholders view Nielsen today, we also used stakeholder feedback from the assessment to identify potential risks and opportunities, both generally and in terms of our ESG goals, and any emerging issues that could affect Nielsen’s business success and stakeholder relationships in the future. Our final list of material issues also led us to identify tangible goals, which we’ve introduced in our updated assessment. In this context, we define “issues” as positive opportunities for continued growth.
We plan to continue using the feedback from the assessment and ongoing stakeholder engagement to ensure continued progress in these and other areas. You can learn more about our approach in the full 2016-2017 non-financial materiality assessment, our Nielsen Global Responsibility Report, and our Global Responsibility & Sustainability page on our website.
