In 2022, we conducted a materiality assessment that identified topics for ESG (environment, social and governance) measurement and reporting. This assessment built on our prior years of sustainability reporting and our corporate responsibility strategic planning.
We examined these questions: What is the impact to our business, and what is important to our stakeholders? Our stakeholders include our employees and potential hires; owners, clients and partners; potential clients and partners; our suppliers; and our communities.
We approached our materiality assessment with the following assumptions:
- After almost a decade of corporate responsibility reporting, we had come to a consensus on the social and environmental topics important to our business. A materiality assessment would help uncover impact areas we had not yet explored.
- We could learn about what was important to our stakeholders by researching the material topics that rose to the top for clients and partners within our sector.
- Thornton Tomasetti is a private service company in a nonmanufacturing and nonextractive industry. Therefore, topics that are significant to large public companies may not be immediately significant to our firm.
We started the process by outlining the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) material topics and the legacy topics we had been measuring and chronicling through our annual sustainability reports. Since no GRI sector standard exists for engineering, we didn’t include any sector standard topics. Then we reviewed the GRI reports of client and partner firms in our industry and identified the material topics they value. After acquiring this information, we held dialogue sessions with our department leaders, executive committee and corporate responsibility steering committee. Co-CEO Peter DiMaggio approved the final list of significant topics for reporting.
Three tiers of material topics emerged from these sessions:
- Tier 1 topics are of highest materiality to Thornton Tomasetti and are recounted in this 2023 corporate responsibility report.
- Tier 2 topics are of importance to our stakeholders and to the engineering sector (for example, occupational health and safety) but currently are not outstanding risk factors or major impact areas for our firm. We may consider including some or all of these topics in future reporting.
- Tier 3 topics do not apply to our business model or sector (for example, freedom of association).
Our Tier 1 topics include economic performance, energy, emissions, employment, training and education, diversity and equal opportunity, and nondiscrimination. In addition to these topics listed by GRI, we include our company-specific legacy topics of community service and employee wellness.
When evaluating the impacts of these material areas, we considered both short- and long-term impacts and any areas of grievances. We recognize that our Tier 2 topics may not be immediately important, yet they could become more material to our business and sector in the long term. In selecting material topics, we considered that Thornton Tomasetti often provides a service to a multidisciplinary design team as a subcontractor to another firm and therefore may not have direct influence on suppliers to our projects.
We have selected nine material topics that are linked to our corporate responsibility goals:
Material Topic | Impacts | Policies or Commitments | Goals, Actions, Measurement & Engagement |
Economic Performance | 1. Enduring organization 2. Business vitality 3. Viable employment 4. Risk from climate-change impacts | 1. Core ideology, purpose and values | 1. Financial Vitality Progress Report 2. Annual Financial Report (internal) |
Energy | 1. Operating costs in leased spaces 2. Climate-change impacts, such as adverse weather events 3. Pollution impacts, such as poor air quality 4. Occupant comfort 5. Positive energy-use reductions from buildings through sustainable design | 1. Environmental policy and statement 2. Firm-wide goal for carbon-neutral operations by 2030 3. Industry commitments, such as AIA 2030 and SE 2050 4. Sustainable office fit-out policy | |
Emissions | 1. Impacts from climate change 2. Resilience of communities 3. Risk to business endurance 4. Positive impact on business vitality and innovation 5. Positive reductions of emissions through decarbonization projects and sustainable operations | 1. Environmental policy and statement 2. Carbon-neutral operations by 2030 goal 3. AIA 2030 and SE 2050 Commitments and other A/E industry programs 4. SBTi near-term targets commitment 5. US EPA Green Power Partner | |
Employment | 1. Employee recruitment 2. Employee satisfaction, retention and turnover costs 3. Diversity losses and gains 4. Insurance costs 5. Economic development in local communities | 1. Employee handbook and associated policies 2. Recruitment privacy policy 3. Modern slavery and human trafficking statement 4. Compliance policies | |
Training & Education | 1. Employee satisfaction, retention and turnover costs 2. Business vitality 3. Innovation 4. Diversity losses and gains 5. Economic development | 1. Employee handbook and associated policies 2. Firm-wide goal to accelerate leadership development and professional growth | |
Diversity & Equal Opportunity | 1. Social equity 2. Innovation 3. Business vitality 4. Inequities in the engineering sector 5. Employee recruitment and retention | 1. Employee handbook and associated policies 2. Equity, diversity & inclusion program 3. Equity, diversity and inclusion policy | |
Nondiscrimination | 1. Social equity 2. Legal risks 3. Inclusive workplace 4. Inequities in the engineering sector | 1. Thornton Tomasetti Gives Back program 2. Volunteer days benefit | |
Community Service | 1. Employee satisfaction and retention 2. Benefits to underserved populations 3. Business development | 1. Thornton Tomasetti Gives Back program 2. Volunteer days benefit | |
Employee Wellness | 1. Healthier employees 2. Insurance costs 3. Costs of sick leave 4. Employee retention | 1. Employee handbook and associated policies 2. Employee wellness program 3. Partnership with Cigna Insurance |