Double materiality process and outcomes

In 2023 and 2024, Royal Ahrend performed a materiality assessment based on double materiality, emphasizing both financial and impact materiality. In 2023, we engaged with stakeholders through workshops, interviews and a dialogue session facilitated by the Social Economic Council (SER). Internal stakeholders represented employees from various regions and departments. External stakeholders included suppliers, financial stakeholders, NGOs and unions representing affected stakeholders from a social and environmental perspective.

Customer views were added by assessing requests for proposals received during the year. In addition, insights from research about indoor air quality, work environments and requirements for building certificates were added to the assessment. Structural stakeholder engagement is described in the next chapter. Sustainability-related risks, impacts and opportunities are evaluated alongside other business risks, ensuring a balanced prioritisation approach. Scores are summed up to determine the importance of a material topic. We identified and prioritised financial and impact material topics related to Royal Ahrend’s business and corresponding impacts, risks and opportunities.

Material impacts, risks and opportunities

During a first materiality workshop, conducted in 2023 with colleagues from headquarters (both director and management level), we determined the relevant matters for our company. At a later stage 15 of these matters have been discussed with three internal stakeholder groups and a representative group of external affected stakeholders

Following our internal risk management approach, we have scored all impacts, risks and opportunities (IRO) resulting in eight matters that were considered material for Royal Ahrend (see table). In 2026, we will add additional information to our materiality assessment and update it to ensure that this reflects the external conditions and our organisational priorities. Any modifications will be reported in next year’s Integrated Report.

For the purposes of this sustainability statement, the medium-term horizon is defined as 3 years (2027), and the long-term horizon is defined as 6 years (2030), in alignment with our strategic planning and risk assessment frameworks. Climate targets have an additional long-term horizon set at 2040 and 2050.

Material matter	Definition	IRO description	IRO classification	Value chain
Responsible materials	Responsible material selection and use in products produced by Royal Ahrend	Demand for virgin materials poses risk on the environment and exhausts natural resources	Negative impact	Upstream, own operations
ESRS topic: Resource use and circular economy


		Substitute virgin materials by high quality recycled and other innovative materials, while assessing circular pathways for materials without pollutant exposure after recycling	Opportunity	Upstream, own operations
		Recycled and other innovative materials are more expensive than virgin alternatives and cause price increase for final products	Risk	Upstream, own operations, downstream
Circular products and systems	Create circular products and close the loop for furniture by extending product useful life	Reduce environmental impact by circular product design and scaling circular services model	Positive impact	Upstream, own operations, downstream
ESRS topic: Resource use and circular economy

		Growing demand for circular services to extend product lifetime	Opportunity	Upstream, own operations, downstream
		Scalability of Revived proposition is dependent on availability of take-back stock on the market	Risk	Upstream, own operations, downstream
Climate action	Navigate towards Net Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 2050	Scope 3 emissions are majority of all GHG emissions	Negative impact	Upstream, own operations, downstream
ESRS topic: Climate action


		Ability to influence upstream and downstream value chain in achieving climate targets	Opportunity	Upstream, downstream
Environmental integrity in supply chain	Organise environmental friendly business operations through supplier management to protect nature	Set minimum requirements for suppliers and commodities to ensure acceptable environmental standards and reduction of environmental burden	Positive impact	Upstream
ESRS topic: Governance

Responsible production	Organise responsible production practices in own operations and upstream supply chain	Greenhouse gas emissions will occur during production processes	Negative impact	Upstream, own operations
ESRS topic: Climate action & Governance
		Sustainability as driver to reduce production costs through process efficiency and automation	Opportunity	Own operations
		Global supply chain is complex and difficult to manage excessive supplier base	Risk	Upstream
Employee health and wellbeing	Organise healthy & ethical business operations for own employees	Safe and healthy work environment leads to reduction of accidents and illness rates	Impact	Own operations
ESRS topic: Own workforce

		Organise alternative worker representation in operating countries lacking union rights	Opportunity	Own operations
Customer health and wellbeing	Create office designs securing a healthy and sustainable workspace for customers and end-users	Ergonomic and adaptable furniture supports healthy working posture for office workers at their (hybrid) working environment	Positive impact	Downstream
ESRS topic: Customers & end-users

		Materials may be a pollutant source affecting indoor air quality and thereby the health of office workers	Negative impact	Downstream
		Enhance user health by incorporating proper ventilation, sound absorption and lighting in office pods	Positive impact	Downstream
		Research and adopt innovations to improve user health and wellbeing at work environments	Opportunity	Downstream
Social fairness in supply chain	Organise healthy & ethical business operations through supplier management to protect workers in the upstream value chain	Furniture manufacturing tasks are well-suited to employ and train persons with disabilities, since the sector offers a variety of roles that can be adapted to different skill levels, providing valuable opportunities for skill development and career growth.	Opportunity	Own operations
ESRS topic: Own workforce


		Gender distribution in own workforce, management, board and supervisory board	Opportunity	Own operations