Material relevance matrix

The Y-axis shows the relevance of material topics for NS according to our external stakeholders. The X-axis shows the material topics which, according to NS, offer the best potential for NS to make a positive contribution to the economy, the environment and social aspects in the Netherlands.

We recalibrated our material themes in 2021. For the purpose of this exercise, the management team and the stakeholder and franchise management team indicated whether they had seen any shifts in relevance and impact as a result of developments over the past year. With a view to its broad role in Dutch society, NS attaches importance to all 17 material topics. We do however differentiate in terms of the extent to which we report on our performance on those 17 topics. We report on objectives and results for all high-relevance topics (1-12). As in previous years, for the five low-relevance topics (13-17) we provide, as a minimum, notes on our activities on the topic concerned. For a more extensive explanation of the material relevance matrix, see Notes to the material themes.