Input from key stakeholders and a comprehensive materiality assessment helps us set ESG strategy, commitments, and maximize impact. Ongoing analysis helps us align our business to the changing social and environmental landscape.
An important input to our strategy and reporting is an ESG materiality assessment. The assessment helps us understand ESG topics that are most important to our stakeholders and continuously assess our strategy and commitments. We conduct a full assessment every two years. In years that we do not conduct a full assessment, we conduct an internal assessment refresh. This helps us validate priorities relative to business risks and opportunities.
In fiscal 2021, we completed a full ESG materiality assessment.1 This assessment included using big data and input from a broader set of stakeholders to understand priority ESG topics. The analysis consisted of three phases: 1) benchmarking, analysis of global trends, and identification of ESG topics and definitions; 2) interviews with key stakeholders; and 3) in-depth analysis and summary of findings. Stakeholders included investors, employees, Cisco executives, customers, and thought leaders.
We identified 18 ESG topics that are important to our stakeholders and, of these, four emerged as the highest:
In fiscal 2022, we completed an interim ESG materiality assessment to ensure that our most recent full assessment reflects our stakeholders' priority topics, changes within our business and strategy, and the global landscape. The analysis affirmed that our top four topics remain high priorities.
In addition to our formal ESG materiality assessment, Cisco business teams regularly gather input from stakeholders.
1 ESG materiality, as referred to in this website and in our ESG reporting, and our ESG materiality assessment process are different from "materiality" in the context of Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") disclosure obligations. Issues deemed material for purposes of our ESG reporting and for purposes of determining our ESG strategy may not be considered material for SEC reporting purposes, nor does inclusion of information in our ESG reporting indicate that the topic or information is material to Cisco's business or operating results.
We have been a strategic partner of the World Economic Forum (WEF) since 2002. Our engagement with WEF provides us with world leader insights, influences our strategy, and enables us to learn from others and share best practices. Other partnerships and memberships include Business for Social Responsibility (BSR); the Conference Board's Sustainability Council II on Innovation and Growth; the CEF (formerly the Corporate Eco Forum); and the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA). We also participate in a range of initiatives and organizations for the environment, including advancing a circular economy, and the supply chain.
