Defining your topic universe

The topic universe is the full list of topics your analysis starts from. Topic screening then narrows it to the topics most likely to be material.

Some topics will not be relevant in the same stage for each company’s value chain; for example, Animal welfare can be relevant for some sectors but not for others.

There are also industry-specific topics that are relevant only to that particular industry and are therefore excluded from other industries. Those topics are:

Access to health care & medicine > Health Care
Biotechnology & ethical considerations > Food & Beverage, Health Care, Resource Transformation
Drug resistance & pharmaceuticals in the environment > Health Care
Ethics of clinical trials > Health Care
Financial access, literacy & advice > Financials
Holistic & patient-centric approach to health > Health Care
Outer space management > Resource Transformation and Technology & Communications
Responsible investing & financing > Financials
Solvency & financial management > Financials