Defining our material issues

Petra defines a material topic as an environmental, social or governance (“ESG”) issue that could significantly impact the delivery of the Company’s strategy and future performance, and/or could have a material impact on individuals, groups or communities that are impacted by Petra’s operations. In the sustainability sphere, materiality encompasses a company’s impacts on the outside world and our definition therefore takes into account any issues which are deemed to have a significant economic, environmental or social impact on our stakeholders, as well as those which may significantly impact the Company.

While communication with our stakeholders and engagement about matters important to them is an ongoing part of our daily business, in FY 2020 a formal stakeholder engagement process was conducted to identify our material issues, alongside a Sustainability Strategy review.

This consisted of a survey that was conducted with both internal and external stakeholder groups, and could be completed either in hard copy or electronically. Internal stakeholder groups included the Board, the Executive Committee (“Exco”) and employees, while external stakeholder groups consisted of shareholders, noteholders and analysts, as well as key external stakeholders local to the Petra operations, including contractors, suppliers, local municipalities and NGOs. For a list of the Company’s key stakeholders, information on how we engage with them and examples of how we incorporate their concerns into our strategy, see the ‘Stakeholder engagement’ section of the Company’s 2022 Sustainability Report.

Petra identified its material topics in accordance with the GRI Standards process and guidelines. Following analysis of the results from the materiality survey, weighting was applied to the respective stakeholder groups with regards to specific material topics. The aggregated scores were therefore used to identify the issues most material to the Company, as confirmed by our internal and external stakeholders. In addition to the stakeholder views, consideration was also given to a combination of other internal and external factors, including broader societal expectations, the main topics prioritised by our sector, ongoing legal and regulatory developments relevant to Petra and key organisational values, goals and targets. The final list of material topics was then deliberated by the Exco before being presented to the Board for consideration and approval.

While a formal assessment was not carried out in FY 2022, the Group’s current material topics were reviewed together with any major changes in the internal and external environment. Our key stakeholder concerns and interests were considered in determining any new material topics or any amendments to existing topics. The impact and opportunity that the current and new material topics have regarding the Company’s sustainability were also considered. This review resulted in changes to the FY 2021 material topics.