OCE-C.08.A - Stakeholder Engagement Process Disclosure
Does the company disclose its stakeholder engagement process?
About the data
The WBA Ocean Benchmark measures and ranks the world's most influential companies on their efforts to halt and reverse nature loss in marine ecosystems, tracking how companies manage their impacts on ocean biodiversity, marine habitats, and the communities and workers dependent on healthy seas. The 2026 edition is WBA's first Ocean Benchmark, assessing 125 companies across key sectors dependent on oceans, including seafood, maritime transport, offshore wind energy, shipbuilding, port operations, apparel, and chemicals. Companies are assessed on 47 indicators across four measurement areas: governance, ecosystems and biodiversity, social responsibility, and core social indicators. The benchmark builds on WBA's Nature Benchmark and the former Seafood Stewardship Index, and its methodology was developed with input from more than 50 stakeholders including ocean communities, companies, scientists and civil society, with human rights and social impacts kept at its core alongside nature-specific concerns. More information can be found here.
Methodology
Meeting the interests of all stakeholders is essential for a business’s long-term success.
Regular engagement with stakeholders enhances the company’s understanding of diverse and often
conflicting perspectives, fosters innovation and facilitates the development of robust and inclusive
strategies. Companies are expected to undertake meaningful stakeholder engagement, which should
yield clear outcomes or actions, as well as transparently acknowledge how stakeholder inputs are
used.
Research Guidance:
The company must disclose the channel and frequency it uses to engage with different societal stakeholder groups. Examples of eligible societal stakeholder groups includes:
NGOs and CSOs
governments
local communities
academic institutions
media
vulnerable groups
tenure rights holders
Stakeholder groups that do not count as societal includes
Employees
investors
suppliers
customers
shareholders
business partners
****
It is insufficient for the company to specify a list of channels if they do not indicate how these correspond to each stakeholder group.
Regular engagement with stakeholders enhances the company’s understanding of diverse and often
conflicting perspectives, fosters innovation and facilitates the development of robust and inclusive
strategies. Companies are expected to undertake meaningful stakeholder engagement, which should
yield clear outcomes or actions, as well as transparently acknowledge how stakeholder inputs are
used.
Research Guidance:
The company must disclose the channel and frequency it uses to engage with different societal stakeholder groups. Examples of eligible societal stakeholder groups includes:
NGOs and CSOs
governments
local communities
academic institutions
media
vulnerable groups
tenure rights holders
Stakeholder groups that do not count as societal includes
Employees
investors
suppliers
customers
shareholders
business partners
****
It is insufficient for the company to specify a list of channels if they do not indicate how these correspond to each stakeholder group.
License
Topics
Framework Mappings
Value Type
Category
Options
Yes
No
Assessment
Steward Assessed
Report Type
Aggregate Data Report