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Double Materiality Assessment

This guide is being updated

We are rewriting this guide alongside the current DMA release. Every page describes the product as it works today, and parts of it change from week to week. If what you see in the platform does not match what you read here, tell us through the in-app chat and we correct it.

A Double Materiality Assessment (DMA) shows you which sustainability topics are material for your company. A material topic is one that matters to your business, so you report on it and act on it. To find these topics, the DMA looks at them from two sides:

  • Impact materiality: how your company affects people and the environment, through your own operations and value chain.
  • Financial materiality: how sustainability topics create risks and opportunities for your company's financial position.

Each topic gets a score on both sides. If either score reaches the threshold, the topic is material.

Your material topics then guide what comes next:

  • which ESRS or VSME disclosures you report on
  • where you focus policies, actions, and targets
  • what you share with investors, customers and auditors

What you get​

  • A materiality matrix showing the materiality of all topics, at topic and subtopic level.
  • An IRO register with, for every IRO: description, drivers, rationale, sources, ESRS labels, stakeholder question and scores.
  • A Word DMA report that describes the methodology, the stakeholder engagement, and the results, ready for your auditor and reusable as input for your sustainability report. Karomia generates it for you once data collection closes.
  • An Excel data export with every answer and every calculation step, for anyone who wants to check the numbers.
tip

Use the question mark in the platform to reach the Karomia team. It is the fastest way to get an answer while you work.

The DMA process, step by step​

Here is the full route in Karomia, from setting up your assessment to your final results. Each step has its own page in this guide.

In total, expect roughly six to eight weeks, plus the time your assurance provider needs. The platform work itself takes hours. Most of the time goes to waiting for stakeholders' answers and for your governance body and auditor.

  1. Set up your assessmentUpload your documents, then:
    AStart fresh
    BImport a previous DMA
    From a previous Karomia DMA or an Excel template. Made outside Karomia? We fill in the Karomia Excel and upload it. Recurring IROs are labelled, changes shown on the matrix.
    OptionalWe do this for you
    Validate your value chainFor more accurate AI IROs.
    1–10 hours
    Set up your assessment
  2. IRO analysis
    AI analysisTop‑down + bottom‑upEvery IRO generated and scored by AIFrom your documents, sector and public sources.1–3 days
    Review and select the IROs for this DMAFocus on the grey zone: IROs the AI can’t call clearly.
    1–7 days
    IRO analysis
    To go deeper
    IRO list locked
  3. Stakeholder engagement
    Plan who to ask and howSurvey, interview or focus group.
    Stakeholder inputBottom‑upReal people score the selected IROsWeighted by expertise and method.
    2–10 weeks
    Stakeholder engagement
    To go deeper
    Data collection closed
  4. Materiality results
    One matrix, always the most accurate oneCompare and analyse. Year-on-year comparison is shown through Refresh.
    Settle undecided topicsWith Karomia support, by e-mail.
    Instant
    Materiality results
    To go deeper
  5. DMA report and audit
    Happy with the results? We generate the report.We do this for you
    A Word report and an auditable Excel.
    2–12 hours+ Your auditor
    DMA report and audit
    To go deeper
    Signed off

Who does what​

  • You (sustainability manager, often with a consultant): own the choices. Which IROs to keep, who to engage, how to weight them, what is material in the end.
  • Your stakeholders: score the questions you send them.
  • Your governance body (board, ESG steering committee): signs off the final results. Keep the pre-read and the minutes. They are part of your audit trail.
  • Karomia: generates and sources the IROs, runs the calculations, produces the value chain map and the DMA report, and supports you at every step through the in-app chat. Two deliverables reach you from us rather than from the platform: the value chain map, if you ask for it, and the Word report.

Before you start​

  • Gather your documents. A previous materiality assessment, even a single materiality one, is the single most useful upload.
  • Block time for the IRO review. It is the step where your knowledge of the business adds the most value.
  • If your DMA will be audited, plan a checkpoint with your auditor after the IRO selection and before you engage stakeholders. It makes the final audit a lot smoother. See How to prepare for the audit for what they will ask.