Founded in 1997, the GRI is the longest established, independent, international organisation that helps businesses and other organisations take responsibility for their impacts, by providing them with the global common language to communicate those impacts. The initiative provides the world’s most widely used standards for sustainability reporting – the GRI Standards. The Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB) has sole responsibility for setting the globally accepted standards for sustainability reporting for GRI. Since July 2021, the GRI and the European Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) have been working together to co-construct the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), which will set mandatory disclosure requirements under the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) for some 50,000 companies. However, currently the standards may be thought of as a standalone framework, typically adopted by organisations on a voluntary basis. The most recent versions of the standards are applicable as of 30 June 2022.
GRI 1-3 introduce the purpose and system of the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards and explain key concepts for sustainability reporting.
GRI 11-13 cover sector specific guidance.
GRI 201- 207 concern market, economic, anti-corruption and tax issues.
GRI 301-308 concern environmental reporting standards. Specifically, they contain disclosures for organisations to report information about their impacts in the following areas:
- Materials (GRI 301)
- Energy (GRI 302)
- Water and effluents (GRI 303)
- Biodiversity (GRI 304)
- Emissions (GRI 305)
- Waste (GRI 306)
- Supplier environmental assessment (GRI 308)
GRI 401-418 contains disclosures for organizations to report information about their social impacts, and how they manage these impacts in the following areas:
- Employment (GRI 401)
- Labour/management relations (GRI 402)
- Occupational health and safety (GRI 403)
- Training and education (GRI 404)
- Diversity and equal opportunities (GRI 405)
- Non-discrimination (GRI 406)
- Freedom of association and collective bargaining (GRI 407)
- Child labour (GRI 408)
- Forced or compulsory labour (GRI 409)
- Security practices (GRI 410)
- Rights of indigenous people (GRI 411)
- Local communities (GRI 413)
- Supplier social assessment (GRI 414)
- Public policy (GRI 415)
- Customer issues (GRI 416-418)