MATRIZES DE MATERIALIDADE EM RELATÓRIOS DE SUSTENTABILIDADE CORPORATIVOS: UMA PERSPECTIVA DA SEMIÓTICA TENSIVA E PLÁSTICA

MATERIALITY MATRICES IN CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY REPORTS: A TENSIVE AND PLASTIC SEMIOTICS PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Sustainability Reports (SR), prepared according to standardized guidelines in the corporate environment, use materiality matrices to identify and prioritize themes of greatest economic, environmental, and social impact. These matrices correlate values such as financial vs. socio-environmental, company vs. stakeholders, and severity vs. probability, revealing how companies assign meaning to elements perceived as risks. This study analyzes matrices from companies listed on the Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE B3) that employ cartesian graphs to communicate these themes, drawing on tensive semiotics (Zilberberg, 2011) and plastic semiotics (Greimas & Courtés, 1989; Dondero, 2010, 2025). It is argued that these visual devices function as instruments of corporate legitimation, manipulating unpredictable risks as programmable elements and desensitizing their disruptive character. Inspired by Latour (2004, 2020), the study unpacks how such representations rely on the modern separation between Nature and Politics, framing profound phenomena of the Anthropocene into graphical formats that presuppose control and predictability. The analysis considers eidetic, chromatic, and topological dimensions to demonstrate how visual choices carry meanings that guide interpretations of priorities and impacts. The paper argues that materiality matrices are complex semiotic devices that shape organizations’ perceptions of the issues they deem significant and of their impacts, thereby validating their sustainability narratives.