What is the role of interviews in stakeholder engagement?

Stakeholder interviews have become an essential tool for companies to improve their sustainability reporting by integrating insights from the actors that are directly affected by or who can influence the company’s activities at different stages. Hence, it’s a critical aspect for a company’s compliance to EU regulations and standards such as the CSRD and the ESRS. 

Incorporating these inputs into practice, particularly in the context of double materiality assessments (DMA), helps companies both foresee and manage upcoming material impacts, risks and opportunities. Moreover, it captures the needs, interests, and expectations of stakeholders, building future-proof businesses for long-term value creation and resilience. 

This article addresses the best practices linked to incorporating stakeholder insights into double materiality assessments to achieve comprehensive sustainability reporting and compliance. We’ll provide a step-by-step guide on how to identify different types of stakeholders and engage them through stakeholder interviews

Why are stakeholder interviews essential for CSRD and double materiality?

The European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) lays down what it means to engage stakeholders, and how to do so. Older frameworks like NFRD focused primarily on environmental or financial disclosures in isolation. This has changed. Now, stakeholder interviews constitute a crucial part of DMAs. Although indirectly related, they contribute to dialogue between companies and stakeholders. This is exactly what is needed to achieve the comprehensive approach behind ESRS. Without these inputs, sustainability assessments are incomplete.

This is how stakeholders engagement is an essential pillar to meet with sustainability reporting standards:

• Disclosure requirement (ESRS 1, IRO-1): At the core of the ESRS there is a strong consultation mechanism. This requires companies to identify, understand and describe their impacts, risks, and opportunities, in collaboration with their stakeholders. Companies have to provide quality information to meet the needs of stakeholders, such as investors and creditors, regulators, NGOs, or communities. 
  

• Disclosure requirement (ESRS 2, SBM-2): Communication is another pillar for ESRS. The standards make a specific mention to the changes in the business model based on stakeholder views, or which could potentially affect their interests. Moreover, it requires that a company’s management bodies disclose their awareness on the impacts of their activities on sustainability. 
  

• Disclosure requirement (ESRS 2, MDR-P): For companies to take action, for instance developing policy and targets on sustainability matters, it is not enough to disclose in terms of scope of action. Companies have to study their value chain, geographically and timely. That demands knowing their stakeholders and how they are affected by their operations.
  

• Disclosure requirement (ESRS 2, MDR-T): Once action is taken, progressive track on stakeholder engagement is required for each material sustainability matter. Companies need to disclose if stakeholders have been involved in the process and how.

The 5 levels of stakeholder engagement

Knowledge on the disclosure requirements highlighted above allow you to effectively engage with your stakeholders for the future interviewing process. These are the 5 levels to follow:

Level 1: Inform your stakeholders

Letting the relevant stakeholders know an input will be required beforehand improves transparency and enables trust within the organization. This foundation is crucial for DMAs and CSRD processes. 

In relation to ESRS 2, SBM-2, this involves disclosing:

1. Who their key stakeholders are
2. Whether and how they engage with them
3. Why they engage (the purpose of engagement)
4. How the engagement is structured
5. What comes out of that engagement, and how those insights are considered in business decisions
6. Whether company leadership is informed about these views

You can inform your stakeholders about these by sending an email or setting up a meeting.

• Tip: Informing does not necessarily involve active dialogue with stakeholders. However, it is an essential first step to lay the groundwork for deeper engagement in future stakeholder relationships. 

Level 2: Consult your stakeholders

Once stakeholders are well informed of the activities and projects the company is involved in, consulting is the next sensible step to take. Sustainability managers can reach out to their stakeholders to actively seek inputs. In the context of DMA, the consultation process often involves interviews where stakeholders might share their perspectives on sustainability impacts and risks. These interviews allow for legal compliance under IRO-1, ensuring that DMAs are informed by real stakeholder concerns.

• Tip: Consultation processes do not require that the company implements every input retrieved from stakeholders into actual practice. However, it is a critical step to uncover potential limitations, and most importantly to show that stakeholder input is highly valued.

Level 3: Involve your stakeholders

After gathering information from stakeholders, the company might have found that some of the input should be integrated. This is where communication turns two-way. The involvement stage gives stakeholders proactive engagement and the ability to shape the projects that the company is involved in.Interviews and surveys are go-to methods at this stage as well. 

• Tip: To actively maintain the co-shape decision-making for next stages, think about hosting workshops to discuss issues more in-depth. Advisory panels and groundtables for ongoing discussions, as well as summary reports and roadmaps to keep track of stakeholder contributions in future negotiations.

Level 4: Collaborate with your stakeholders

Taking it a step further, stakeholder involvement in the projects eventually translates into meaningful collaboration. Decision-making processes take part of this stage, and stakeholders are considered as an integral pillar of the company.

• Tip: A crucial step of collaboration is shaping governance structures with your stakeholders. Based on ESSR disclosure requirements, try to formalize roles within stakeholder committees to ensure they are actively contributing to the development of the sustainability agenda. Apart from only hosting panel reviews, make them active participants, fostering sharing their local expertise on the discussed matters.

Level 5: Empower your stakeholders

Empowering stakeholders constitutes the final step of their engagement. It materializes into stakeholder-led outcomes. At this stage, stakeholders have achieved the highest degree of authority, dialogue, and proactiveness within the company and its projects. Empowerment allows for a holistic approach to double materiality assessment and ESG integration in CSRD projects.

• Tip: Empowering your stakeholders is not only a static stage but a direct and ongoing process of stakeholder engagement. It builds meaningful relationships and eventually creates sustainability governance.

Planning your stakeholder interviews

The stakeholder pool for your company might be too broad; or you just do not know where to start. In that case, the best path to follow is to map your stakeholders. This will allow you to have a clear overview, classify them, and understand how they best contribute to the purposes of your sustainability strategy and DMA processes. 

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Who to involve? Internal vs. external stakeholders

The first step for stakeholder mapping is understanding who your stakeholders are. Looking back to the ESRS requirements for stakeholder engagement, mapping demands identifying both the nature of the impact (how stakeholders are affected) and the position of the impact (where these stakeholders are positioned within the company).

Regarding the nature of the impact, stakeholders can be classified as direct and indirect:

• Direct stakeholders are those who are affected by the company first hand. This  also means that they have more influence on the company’s operations. As a result, their interest in a company’s projects is bigger. 
• Indirect stakeholders are not directly involved or impacted by the company’s operations. They play a role, but it is not as immediate. 

As for the position of the impact, there is a difference between internal and external stakeholders:

• A company’s internal stakeholders include employees, managers, investors and shareholders.
• A company’s external stakeholders usually account for customers, local communities, suppliers, NGO’s, and regulators such as government institutions.

How to involve them? Prioritizing stakeholders

Once different types of stakeholders have been identified, you have to prioritize them. Prioritizing means determining which stakeholders should receive the most attention and resources based on their influence, interest, knowledge, ESG maturity, size, and relationship with the company. A practical way to do this is to score each stakeholder on a scale from 1 to 5 for each criterion, with 1 being the lowest and 5 the highest. The cumulative score helps rank stakeholders, though some exceptions may apply.

1. Influence 

Influential stakeholders have the power to shape and control the company’s decisions on specific matters. To evaluate influence, consider:

• Can this stakeholder affect our policies, strategy, or business model? (1-2 points if not)
• Do they hold regulatory, financial, or reputational power? (3-4 points if yes)
• If they raised a concern, how urgently would we need to act? (5 points if urgent)

For instance, regulators typically score high (5) in sustainability contexts due to their legislative power.

2. Interest

Interest illustrates the level of concern of stakeholders in the company’s project. To assess interest, consider:

• How vocal is this stakeholder about ESG topics? (1-2 points if not)
• Have they previously asked for ESG disclosures or raised sustainability concerns? (3 points if partially engaged)
• Would they be affected by the company's management of climate or social risks? (5 points if highly affected)

NGOs often rank high (5) due to their strong advocacy for sustainability.

3. Knowledge

Some stakeholders might have more expertise than others in DMA and CSRD projects. To evaluate, ask:

• Do they have deep ESG expertise? (Low score if not experts)
• Are they familiar with regulatory frameworks or industry benchmarks? (2-3 points for moderate knowledge)
• Can they help refine materiality assessments? (4-5 points if yes)

Experts like scientists and ESG professionals usually score highest.

4. ESG maturity

Illustrates the development level of stakeholder groups in integrating ESG to their activities and objectives. To assess ESG maturity:

• Does this stakeholder publish a sustainability report? (1-2 points if not)
• Do they set ESG targets or engage in ESG-related partnerships?  (3 points for moderate involvement)
• Do they expect sustainability performance from their suppliers or partners?  (5 points if yes)

Stakeholders with long-standing reporting frameworks will obtain the highest score.

5. Size

Stakeholder size is defined by looking at several factors, such as geographic scope or number of employees. Typically:

• Is this a local, national, or global stakeholder? (Lower score for local, higher for global)
• How large is their organization? (Intermediate score for mid-sized institutions)
• Would involving them significantly expand DMA coverage? (5 points for international stakeholders)

6. Relationship

The strength of your relationship with a stakeholder can influence prioritization. Consider:

• Do we work closely with them? (Lower score for minimal contact; higher for regular interaction and partnerships)
• Do they understand our business context? (Intermediate score if they have some familiarity; higher if they demonstrate clear understanding)
• Are they likely to collaborate or provide honest feedback? (Score 5 for high trust and active participation in mutual projects)

Key customers and strategic partners usually score high here.

Conducting stakeholder interviews effectively: A step-by-step guide 

Your company is now ready to start with stakeholder interviews. Here is a timeline frame to help with the process:

Step 1 - Set the ground for the interviews

Prepare in advance for your interviews with the selected stakeholders. This step is crucial because it would ensure the quality, effectiveness, and potential success of the interviews, and the translation of the obtained insights into your company’s Double Materiality Assessment.

Tip: To effectively prepare for the interview, define the interview goals, questions, and the team to conduct them.  

Before starting the interview with your stakeholders, make sure to ask yourself these questions, and communicate them to the interviewees.

• What is the purpose of the interview? How does the interview connect to CSRD and DMA? 

• Why are the insights of that particular stakeholder valuable for the company and its projects?

• How do you expect to use the stakeholder’s perspective into the projects?

• For which stakeholders does this project prioritize meeting their needs, interests, and expectations? 

• Which stakeholder's interests converge most closely with the project objectives?

Step 2 - Reach out to your stakeholders 

Communication is key. When reaching out, be clear about the purpose of the interviews, as well as the context of the project of CSRD and DMA. Stakeholders must know what it is required from them, so that they feel comfortable to share their insights. Transparency enhances trust and ensures active communication and genuine participation from stakeholders.

Tip: Sharing a timeline of the interview process is a valuable move to build this reliance. Think about setting and agenda to align expectations.

• What is the expected duration of the interview?

Step 3 - Engage with your stakeholders 

The next step is to purposely engage with your stakeholders. This is the stage where the actual interviews start taking place. At this level, the steps followed before start to gain meaning. Especially setting up a clear agenda and ensuring transparency and trust. To effectively engage with stakeholders, active listening is crucial to understand their workflow and processes, and how they affect your company’s operations and vice versa. 

Tip: Use follow-up questions to develop the idea and paint a detailed picture. This will show your interviewees you are actively involved and listening, improving their engagement. 

Interview scripts and questions

Now you are ready to start with the interview questions.

For Double Materiality Assessment, distinguishing between types of risk and types of impact is particularly relevant. 

Impact questions include:

1. Which sustainability topics do you think the company should focus on in the future?

2. What environmental problems are most urgent in your region or industry?

3. What environmental challenges do you face in your supply chain?

4. How does the company affect local communities or ecosystems?

5. How can we optimize our resource use to support a circular economy?

6. What partnerships or collaborations should we pursue to enhance our waste reduction and recycling efforts?

7. Are there social or governance issues that are important to your organization or stakeholder group?

8. How can we enhance health and safety measures, gender equality, and equal treatment and opportunities in the workplace?

Risks questions include:

1. Which risks or opportunities will have the biggest impact on the company’s financial performance over the next 5-10 years?

2. Which sustainability-related risks (e.g., climate change, regulatory changes) could hurt the company financially?

3. What challenges and opportunities do you see for our company in adapting to climate change?

4. Are there any sustainability trends that could offer new opportunities for the company?

5. How can our energy management practices support our climate change mitigation efforts?

6. How can we enhance social dialogue between management and employees?

4. Follow up the progress with your stakeholders

Staying connected with your network of stakeholders is pivotal for CSRD processes. Here is what your company should do to ensure ongoing engagement after stakeholder interviews:

• Programme upcoming meetings to ensure continuous dialogue on sustainability matters and  make sure that your stakeholders stay involved over time.

• Share updates with stakeholders so that they are informed about how their input contributes to the actual projects. This would strengthen your relationship, which is useful in case you want to reach out again next year to update the DMA. 

• Foster feedback, inviting stakeholders to review and assess how their insights tailored the outcomes. This reflects that their contributions remain relevant, increasing the level of responsiveness, adaptability and transparency of your company. 

Compliance checklist for stakeholder interviews

Complying with minimum requirements is as important as preparing stakeholder interviews.

Make sure the following steps are completed to ensure your process meets regulatory and ethical standards:

1. Check compliance for General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Confirm that your company aligns with data protection practices. To make sure, handle stakeholder personal data in accordance with GDPR. 

2. Review and agree to Terms and Conditions 

Ensure that personal data is securely handled. To ensure appropriate use of privacy and confidentiality, collect, store, and use their information only for the interview and engagement purposes. Send terms and conditions documents to your stakeholders to make sure they review and agree to them. 

3. Collect email addresses and contact information for effective communication with your stakeholders 

To follow up with the conversation with your stakeholders and receive feedback, gather email addresses and contact details.

Common pitfalls to avoid

To efficiently engage with stakeholders through interviews, optimize the process so that the insights are captured accurately. Here are four common pitfalls that can undermine your stakeholder engagement process, and what to do instead:

Over-generalizing feedback

The diversity of your stakeholders pools is highly valuable. Treating feedback too broadly can lead to vague conclusions. In DMAs, detail matters. Instead, seek for segmented feedback for each type of stakeholder, capture specific concerns tied to particular impacts, and use matrices to analyze complex responses. 

Neglecting the use of tools for recording the insights

Stakeholder interviews are likely to be complex. To make sure all the information is stored correctly, record, transcribe, and synthesize the inputs. Using artificial intelligence can be helpful. Keep your notes organized for traceability and audit-readiness.

Treating interviews as formalities

Interviews should be a genuine opportunity for dialogue and insight, not just a formality. Provide stakeholders with open communication. In practice, make clear how their input will influence decisions and be reflected in disclosures, and be prepared to actively listen and explore stakeholder inputs.

Transforming stakeholder interviews into sustainability compliance

Stakeholder interviews have proven to be more than a compliance exercise. They are critical tools to navigate the complexities of Double Materiality Assessments and EU standards. When done right, stakeholder interviews unlock valuable insights for the company’s operations, allowing them to shape sustainability strategies and build long-standing stakeholder engagement. 

What’s next? 

If you want to find out how you can seamlessly engage your stakeholders, collect data and generate audit-ready reports all in one platform, reach out to our sustainability solutions team.