Materiality and stakeholder management

Stakeholder participation in strategy

The Corporate Sustainability Department functions as an intermediary between Interzero Group and external stakeholders, ensuring that the interests of these external stakeholders are integrated into business processes. Internal stakeholders – the Advisory Board, Board of Directors and shareholders – are informed about current operational and strategic topics during regular management sessions. The division heads responsible for specific areas ensure that key strategic topics are communicated to the wider company and ultimately to the employees themselves. Regular meetings are also used to keep employee representatives (Works Council) at the Berlin and Eisenhüttenstadt sites informed about developments in day-to-day operations and strategic business.

The Group’s Sustainability Strategy is subject to a regular review, as are the company’s business units. This review incorporates all of the information available, such as customer and supplier feedback, competitor analyses, and analyses of public policy discussions. In implementing its Sustainability Strategy, Interzero conducts extensive negotiations with numerous stakeholders and enters into committed, long-term partnerships. Part of the strategy process is aimed at systemically improving information management to properly account for internal and external stakeholders. Interzero firmly believes that improvements can only be achieved if multiple stakeholders work together towards the same goals. This is the only way to further expand the proportion of sustainable products and services, and work together to shape a society fit for the future.

ESRS 2 – Impact, risk and opportunity management

ESRS 2 IRO-1 – Description of the process to identify and assess material impacts, risks and opportunities

At the end of 2022, Interzero also started conducting a materiality assessment based on the requirements of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). The results of this assessment were adopted and approved in the first quarter of 2023. In June 2024, the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) issued its materiality assessment guidance documents. Also in 2024, Interzero used these documents as a reference to repeat its double materiality assessment (DMA) and also adjusted the scope of reporting. The material topics arising from the DMA form the basis for this Sustainability Statement. The process is validated on an annual basis and adjusted to current ESRS requirements as necessary.

Procedure for assessing materiality

Interzero identified the material topics addressed in this Sustainability Statement during the DMA conducted in 2024. In accordance with the requirements of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), relevant impacts, risks and opportunities (IROs) were identified and assessed by and for Interzero. In early 2025, the results were validated and then approved and adopted by the Executive Management.

The starting-point for the DMA was formed by the ESRS topics listed in Annex A, ESRS 1 AR 16. The environmental analysis and shortlist that had been created as part of the previous materiality assessment in 2022 were also consulted for the DMA. 

As a next step, Interzero assessed the relevance of the individual topics for the company and reduced its long list to a medium list. For all topics identified as relevant, short definitions were devised in order to link these sustainability topics to specific aspects of Interzero’s business. 

The medium list was then used to define IROs for each relevant sustainability topic. Following this, the IROs were categorised according to the criteria specified by the ESRS (positive/negative, actual/potential, value chain assignment, time horizon, relevant entity assignment). 

Successive validation of the IRO inventory was completed by relevant stakeholders from the departments of Strategy, HR, Environment, Climate Management, Public Affairs, Compliance, Supply Chain, Purchasing and Legal, as well as product owners and the respective representatives of the affected national and international entities. This approach was able to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the IRO inventory as well as its correct classification. In their role as experts, the internal stakeholders and representatives of international shareholders acted as proxies for the external stakeholders, ensuring the latter’s perspective was also accounted for.

In the next step, the IROs from the inventory were assessed by the internal stakeholders in detail, according to their responsibilities. The scale used for assessment was modelled on the ESRS criteria:

• Assessment of impacts: As an initial step, the severity of the impacts was determined based on scale, scope and irreversibility. To this end, each of the three categories was assessed on a scale from 1 to 4. An overall average was then calculated. The severity of the impacts was then multiplied by the associated likelihood of occurrence – whether 25 per cent, 50 per cent, 75 per cent or 100 per cent.
   
• Assessment of financial risks and opportunities: To assess the financial effects, the stakeholders estimated the intensity of the effect on a scale from 1 to 4, and then multiplied this value by the associated likelihood of occurrence – whether 25 per cent, 50 per cent, 75 per cent or 100 per cent.

With potential assessment ratings ranging from 0.25 to 4 – both for impacts and for financial effects – the materiality threshold was set at a value of 2. For ratings between 1.5 and 2, a second review was initiated with the responsible internal stakeholders. The final result produced the material impacts, risks and opportunities for Interzero, which are now presented in this Sustainability Statement.

Taking the material impacts, risks and opportunities as a starting-point, the material sustainability topics were derived that form the overall scope of this report. The material topics identified were also assigned to the corresponding ESRS topical standards. As a final step, the disclosure requirements and data points pertinent to these material sustainability topics and relevant for reporting were then selected.

As part of its organisational restructuring, Interzero will be rolling out an early warning system for risks with regular reporting (planned: quarterly), whose results are intended to be used as input for future DMAs.

Relationship between material IROs and corporate strategy

In theory, the definition and implementation of the corporate strategy can have both positive and negative impacts on the environment and people. In practice, all strategic actions are taken to further Interzero’s primary objective of achieving a world without waste.

Environment

Interzero’s business activities have a demonstrably positive impact on the environment. According to calculations by the Global Footprint Network, Interzo helps to push back ‘Earth Overshoot Day’ by closing loops and using recycled materials, thereby conserving primary resources and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

As a result of its consulting services and its activities as a dual system, Interzero also makes sure that the waste streams generated by distributors are collected, sorted and processed in compliance with legal requirements. Interzero takes targeted action to minimise its negative impacts on the environment, including greenhouse gas emissions from logistics, the operation of energy-intensive facilities and soil pollution.

The degree of success to which opportunities can be utilised as part of a climate- and resource-friendly, closed-loop economy (cf. ESRS E1 and ESRS E5) also depends on external factors. Such factors include the prices for fossil fuels, applicable legislation and the general demand situation within the economy as a whole. This underlines the importance of ensuring the coordination of internal strategy and the interplay of the various business units and segments to strengthen the organisation’s resilience and remain as independent as possible from influential external factors.

Governance

Responsible corporate governance and sustainable business policy are fundamental key pillars of Interzero’s corporate strategy. Material topics within governance (ESRS G1) include corporate culture, whistleblowing and political engagement in particular. A corporate culture that promotes responsibility and respectfulness, for example, can have positive effects on competitiveness and employee integrity. Equally, Interzero’s engagements in numerous associations and initiatives make the most of opportunities to accelerate progress towards a sustainable circular economy.

Social

Last but not least, a skilled and motivated workforce is absolutely essential for Interzero’s success as a business. Accordingly, the company seeks to offer all of its employees good and fair working conditions. The company’s programmes in relation to job security, fair pay, a healthy work-life balance, gender equality, including equal pay, training and skills development, as well as social inclusion and diversity, have a positive effect on the social environment, on job satisfaction and on equal opportunities for all employees. For Interzero, the primary opportunities offered by this topic (ESRS S1) are employee retention because of good working conditions, strengthening its own reputation as an employer and being able to recruit new skilled employees in the future.

Resilience of the business model

At regular intervals, Interzero analyses its current growth and development projects, and reviews opportunities and risks in relation to the closed-loop economy. This ensures that any changes in the overall market environment or in regulatory requirements can be properly accounted for. The complex supply and value chains found in business models for waste management and recycling give rise to special kinds of risks that Interzero must counter with proactive strategies. The company holds true to its primary objective of applying its business models to make a positive contribution to the environment and achieve sustainable development.

Interzero uses an established method for risk assessment. The specification of risk categories is based on the Group’s business activities in the international waste management and recycling sector, and has been confirmed by long experience and industry expertise. Specific states of affairs have been identified that could present a risk for Interzero – such as the dependency on raw material prices described in the standard (ESRS E5) The risk assessment is not conducted at the level of premises and locations but uses organisational units, which can be structured geographically or by business segments. Following an estimate of the potential loss or damage as well as the likelihood of occurrence, the risks so identified are then allocated to the categories of low, medium and high. These are then used to derive actions that are intended to mitigate or avoid the risk.