What best describes the process for selecting SASB metrics for material topics?

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The process starts by identifying the topics that are materially relevant for the industry, using the SASB Materiality Map (MMM). This map highlights sustainability topics most likely to affect financial performance, so beginning here focuses your disclosures on issues that truly matter to investors and the business.

Once those material topics are defined, you then select the most relevant accounting metrics that best reflect performance on each topic. This pairing ensures that each topic is measured with concrete, finance-reusable indicators that support comparability and decision-usefulness across companies.

Why this order matters: starting with material topics guarantees you don’t chase metrics for issues that aren’t financially material, and it keeps the reporting tightly aligned to what investors care about. Relying on external topics alone or picking metrics first can lead to misalignment or superficial disclosures. Limiting to qualitative disclosures misses the precision and comparability that SASB metrics provide.