Affected Communities Taxonomy

1. Purpose

This section defines the Affected Communities Disclosure Intent (CDI) taxonomy for sustainability-related disclosures concerning communities that may be affected by an organisation's activities, operations, products, or value chain relationships.

The Affected Communities taxonomy captures the semantic meaning of commonly requested information regarding:

  • communities located near operations,
  • communities impacted by resource use,
  • communities affected by environmental or social externalities,
  • communities linked to value chain activities.

The taxonomy:

  • is framework-agnostic,
  • does not prescribe disclosure obligations,
  • does not assess social impact magnitude,
  • does not determine harm or legality,
  • is intended to be reused across frameworks via Canonical Mapping Packs (CMPs).

Affected Communities CDIs describe interaction, exposure, engagement, and governance, not judgement or impact evaluation.

2. Taxonomy Structure

Affected Communities disclosure intents are grouped into the following domains:

  1. Community Identification and Scope
  2. Nature of Interaction
  3. Community Impacts and Risks
  4. Engagement and Participation
  5. Grievance and Remediation
  6. Indigenous Peoples and Vulnerable Groups
  7. Governance and Reporting

Each disclosure intent:

  • has a unique identifier,
  • represents a single semantic concept,
  • may be narrative or quantitative,
  • may reference canonical data elements.

3. Affected Communities Disclosure Intents

3.1 Community Identification and Scope

CDI-COMM-01
Identification of affected communities

Identification or description of communities potentially affected by organisational activities.

CDI-COMM-02
Geographic location of affected communities

Geographic areas in which affected communities are located.

CDI-COMM-03
Characteristics of affected communities

Description of demographic, social, or economic characteristics of affected communities where disclosed.

CDI-COMM-04
Value chain-related community exposure

Communities affected through upstream or downstream value chain activities.

3.2 Nature of Interaction

CDI-COMM-05
Land use or land access interaction with communities

Organisational interaction with community land use or land access.

CDI-COMM-06
Resource use interaction with communities

Interaction between organisational resource use (e.g., water, minerals) and community access.

CDI-COMM-07
Environmental externalities affecting communities

Environmental releases or disturbances affecting nearby communities.

CDI-COMM-08
Economic interaction with communities

Economic contributions or dependencies involving local communities.

3.3 Community Impacts and Risks

CDI-COMM-09
Identification of community-related risks

Risks to communities arising from organisational activities.

CDI-COMM-10
Identification of community-related opportunities

Opportunities for positive outcomes for communities linked to organisational activities.

CDI-COMM-11
Changes in community interaction over time

Changes in the scale, scope, or nature of community interactions compared to prior periods.

3.4 Engagement and Participation

CDI-COMM-12
Community engagement processes

Processes used to engage with affected communities.

CDI-COMM-13
Frequency or format of community engagement

Frequency, mechanisms, or formats of engagement.

CDI-COMM-14
Community consultation prior to significant activities

Description of consultation processes prior to commencing significant operational activities.

3.5 Grievance and Remediation

CDI-COMM-15
Grievance mechanisms accessible to communities

Existence and description of grievance mechanisms available to affected communities.

CDI-COMM-16
Community complaints received

Number or nature of complaints received from affected communities where tracked.

CDI-COMM-17
Remediation processes for community impacts

Processes for addressing and remedying community-related concerns.

3.6 Indigenous Peoples and Vulnerable Groups

CDI-COMM-18
Identification of indigenous or vulnerable groups

Identification of indigenous peoples or other vulnerable groups affected by activities.

CDI-COMM-19
Free, prior, and informed consultation processes

Description of consultation practices involving indigenous peoples where applicable.

CDI-COMM-20
Cultural heritage considerations

Consideration of cultural heritage in operational planning or activities.

3.7 Governance and Reporting

CDI-COMM-21
Community-related policies or commitments

Existence and scope of policies addressing affected communities.

CDI-COMM-22
Organisational responsibility for community relations

Assignment of responsibility within the organisation for managing community-related matters.

CDI-COMM-23
Community reporting boundary

Organisational and operational boundaries applied to community-related disclosures.

CDI-COMM-24
Methodology and assumptions for community disclosures

Methodologies, estimation approaches, or assumptions used in preparing disclosures.

4. Taxonomy Characteristics

Affected Communities CDIs are distinct from Workforce and Value Chain Worker CDIs.

They describe organisational interaction and exposure, not impact severity.

They do not assert harm, compliance, or legality.

They support mapping to diverse frameworks without embedding regulatory logic.

Deprecated CDIs remain referenceable for historical disclosures.

5. Summary

The CDI v1 Affected Communities Taxonomy defines a stable semantic vocabulary for expressing disclosures concerning communities affected by organisational activities or value chain relationships.

By separating community interaction, engagement, and governance from compliance or impact evaluation, the taxonomy enables:

  • cross-framework reuse,
  • jurisdictional interoperability,
  • transparent modelling of social exposure,
  • future expansion without semantic drift.

Version: v1.0.0
Status: Frozen
Effective version: CDI v1

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