In 2009, Johnson & Johnson initiated a Sustainability Materiality* Assessment, which is used to determine the threshold and depth of the topics to be addressed in our sustainability report and on our website. The assessment, conducted by an internal team, sought to identify the topics that substantively influence the assessments and decisions of stakeholders regarding sustainability important to Johnson & Johnson.
Topics were selected by understanding the interests of the Company's stakeholders, a group that includes employees, the general population, customers, shareholders, nongovernmental organizations, governments, social responsibility investment researchers and neighbors. Interviews, web searches, media presence, our Credo survey, stakeholder engagement efforts, research reports, SRI surveys/inquiries, and other elements were consulted in this analysis. The topics selected were intentionally both narrow in some instances and broader in others – so as to allow for critical high visibility topics, such as climate change, to not be inappropriately minimized under a broader heading such as environmental footprint. On the other hand, to keep the assessment manageable, broad topics were not broken down into every conceivable discrete subject. Each topic was then evaluated for importance to Johnson & Johnson, as well as to our internal and external stakeholders.
Using this process, the following issues were identified as our most significant areas: quality and safety of products; global health; access & affordability of medicines; product development (clinical trials/ bioethics); environment; product eco-design; innovation; health care compliance; business ethics; human rights; external supply chain management; and emerging markets. Each is discussed in more detail in our 2010 Sustainability Report. While not addressed in as much depth, issues identified as of medium significance are also discussed in our 2010 report.
*The use of the term "materiality" in this context is not intended to construe that this assessment is related to matters or facts that could be deemed "material" to a reasonable investor referred to under U.S. securities laws or similar requirements of other jurisdictions.