Global Reporting Initiative

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is an independent international standards organization focused on sustainability reporting. It develops a structured framework through which companies, governments, nonprofit organizations and other institutions can explain their effects on the economy, environment and society. GRI reporting commonly addresses subjects such as greenhouse-gas emissions, energy and water use, biodiversity, waste, labor conditions, occupational health and safety, human rights, diversity, community impacts, anti-corruption controls and supply-chain responsibility. The initiative began in 1997 through cooperation between the United States-based nonprofit Ceres and the Tellus Institute. Its early development was associated with Ceres president Bob Massie and Tellus Institute leader Allen L. White, alongside a wider network of environmental, social-investment and fair-trade advocates. The project initially aimed to extend corporate accountability beyond conventional financial reporting by creating information that stakeholders could compare across organizations. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) soon became an important institutional supporter, and GRI later established its headquarters in Amsterdam as an independent nonprofit organization and a UNEP collaborating centre. GRI published an exposure draft of its first reporting guidelines in 1999 and released the first full guidelines in 2000. A second generation followed in 2002, receiving international visibility at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. Over time, the framework expanded from an initial emphasis on environmental disclosure to a broader sustainability system covering economic, environmental and social performance. Its development model has relied on a global, multistakeholder network involving businesses, civil-society organizations, investors, labor representatives, public institutions, academics and reporting practitioners. The current GRI Standards are organized into three connected layers. Universal Standards apply to every organization and establish the basic principles and disclosures for reporting. Sector Standards address significant impacts associated with particular industries, including sectors such as oil and gas, coal, and agriculture, aquaculture and fishing. Topic Standards cover specific issues, including climate-related matters, energy, waste, biodiversity, occupational health and safety, and diversity and equal opportunity. The standards are developed and maintained by the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB), an independent standard-setting body within the GRI system. Revised Universal Standards were published in 2021 and became applicable to reporting beginning in January 2023. Under the revised system, organizations may state that they report “in accordance” with the GRI Standards when they meet the more comprehensive requirements, or that they report “with reference” to GRI when using selected disclosures without meeting all requirements. GRI also operates a standards-report registration process. Responsibility for the accuracy, completeness and assurance of a report remains with the reporting organization and its stakeholders; GRI does not itself certify every registered report. GRI Standards are voluntary in many jurisdictions, although legislation and market expectations increasingly encourage or require sustainability disclosure. European Union non-financial reporting policy and the later Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive have increased demand for structured sustainability information and have encouraged interoperability between GRI and European sustainability reporting requirements. GRI has also worked with international institutions and standards bodies, including UNEP, the United Nations Global Compact, the OECD and EFRAG. The organization is widely recognized as one of the most influential sustainability-reporting frameworks. A KPMG survey reported that in 2022 GRI Standards were used by 78 percent of the world’s 250 largest companies by revenue and 68 percent of surveyed leading companies across 58 countries. At the same time, the framework faces continuing questions about voluntary compliance, selective disclosure, inconsistent assurance and the risk that sustainability reports may be used for greenwashing. GRI’s role is therefore primarily to provide a common reporting architecture and stakeholder-oriented disclosure language, rather than to audit or guarantee the sustainability performance of reporting organizations.

The Global Reporting Initiative emerged in 1997 from cooperation between Ceres, an organization associated with corporate environmental responsibility, and the Tellus Institute. The initiative was conceived during a period when investors, civil-society organizations and other stakeholders were seeking information about corporate environmental conduct that could not be found in conventional financial statements. Bob Massie of Ceres and Allen L. White of Tellus were among the principal early figures, while other contributors from environmental, social-investment and fair-trade networks helped shape the project’s initial direction. GRI’s first objective was to create a consistent way for organizations to disclose environmental impacts. The project quickly developed into a broader sustainability-reporting initiative. An exposure draft was issued in 1999, followed by the first complete Sustainability Reporting Guidelines in June 2000. The guidelines were developed through consultation with a growing multistakeholder network rather than by a single professional association or government regulator. This process allowed companies, public bodies, labor and civil-society representatives, investors and technical experts to comment on the meaning and usefulness of proposed disclosures. The initiative gained support from the United Nations Environment Programme and was formally inaugurated as an independent organization at the United Nations headquarters in New York in April 2002. Around the same period, GRI selected Amsterdam as its base and became a Dutch nonprofit organization as well as a UNEP collaborating centre. Dutch institutions and sustainability specialists played a role in encouraging the organization’s European presence. GRI also developed cooperation with the United Nations Global Compact and other international initiatives. A second version of the reporting guidelines was released at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. The summit provided an important international platform for GRI and helped establish sustainability reporting as a subject of global policy and corporate-governance discussion. In subsequent years, GRI revised and expanded its guidance, moving beyond environmental indicators to include economic and social performance. The resulting framework addressed issues such as labor practices, human rights, community effects, corruption, product responsibility and supply-chain impacts. The institutional structure that supported the permanent organization included a board, stakeholder representation, technical advice, organizational participants and a secretariat. GRI’s wider network became central to its legitimacy and evolution. Rather than treating sustainability reporting as a narrow communications exercise, the initiative framed it as an accountability mechanism intended to give stakeholders access to information that was more standardized, comparable and consistent. The framework later became known as the GRI Standards. Its modular design consists of Universal Standards for all organizations, Sector Standards for industries with distinctive impact profiles, and Topic Standards for specific sustainability issues. The Global Sustainability Standards Board was established as the body responsible for developing and maintaining the standards. This structure allows the system to be updated as expectations, scientific knowledge, regulation and sector-specific risks change. GRI’s influence expanded as companies began publishing sustainability, corporate-responsibility and ESG reports. Its approach was also referenced in public-policy initiatives. European Union non-financial reporting rules encouraged the use of recognized frameworks, including GRI, and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive later broadened the scope of required sustainability information in Europe. GRI subsequently worked with EFRAG and other institutions on interoperability between GRI Standards and European sustainability reporting standards. The organization has also had to address practical limitations. Reporting under GRI is often voluntary outside jurisdictions with disclosure requirements, and organizations may choose which information to emphasize. The quality of data, the training of reporting staff, the use of external assurance and the risk of selective disclosure remain recurring concerns. In 2020, GRI decided to discontinue its public sustainability disclosure database, which had accumulated tens of thousands of reports, while retaining a system for organizations to register their use of GRI Standards. The revised Universal Standards published in 2021 became effective for reporting in January 2023. They placed greater emphasis on an organization’s impacts and formalized two reporting claims: reporting in accordance with the GRI Standards and reporting with reference to them. GRI remains an active Amsterdam-based international standards organization whose framework is used by thousands of organizations worldwide. Its continuing role is to provide a common language for sustainability impact disclosure, while assurance, enforcement and actual performance remain responsibilities of reporting organizations, stakeholders and applicable regulators.

• 2023

  Revised standards become applicable

  [2]GRI Standardsglobalreporting.org

  The revised Universal Standards took effect for reporting beginning in January 2023.

• 2021

  Revised Universal Standards published

  [2]GRI Standardsglobalreporting.org

  GRI published revised Universal Standards, alongside the continuing development of sector and topic-specific requirements.

• 2002

  Second guideline generation launched

  [1]Global Reporting Initiativeen.wikipedia.org

  A second version was presented at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, increasing the initiative’s international profile.

• 2002

  Independent Amsterdam-based organization established

  [1]Global Reporting Initiativeen.wikipedia.org

  GRI was inaugurated as an independent organization and established its headquarters in Amsterdam while maintaining collaboration with UNEP.

• 2000

  First full Sustainability Reporting Guidelines released

  [1]Global Reporting Initiativeen.wikipedia.org

  GRI published its first complete reporting guidelines, establishing a systematic approach to non-financial disclosure.

• 1999

  First reporting-guidelines exposure draft

  [1]Global Reporting Initiativeen.wikipedia.org

  GRI circulated an early draft of its sustainability reporting guidelines for review and stakeholder feedback.

• 1997

  Initiative founded

  [1]Global Reporting Initiativeen.wikipedia.org

  Ceres and the Tellus Institute established the initiative to improve public reporting of corporate environmental and broader sustainability impacts.

An independent, multistakeholder sustainability-reporting standards organization that helps institutions disclose their economic, environmental and social impacts in a structured and comparable way.

• Sustainability reporting standards · 2021

  GRI Universal Standards

  The Universal Standards establish the foundation for GRI reporting and apply across organization types and industries. They define core reporting principles, explain how organizations identify and manage impacts, and provide disclosures concerning the organization, its material impacts and the way it uses the GRI system. The revised version published in 2021 became applicable from January 2023.

• Sector-specific reporting standards

  GRI Sector Standards

  Sector Standards identify likely material impacts and relevant disclosures for particular industries. They are intended to make reporting more focused and comparable by reflecting the distinctive environmental, economic and social effects of sectors such as oil and gas, coal, and agriculture, aquaculture and fishing. The sector model allows GRI to supplement general requirements with industry-specific expectations.

• Topic-specific reporting standards

  GRI Topic Standards

  Topic Standards provide disclosures for individual sustainability subjects. Examples include energy, waste, biodiversity, occupational health and safety, and diversity and equal opportunity. Organizations use relevant Topic Standards alongside the Universal Standards and, where applicable, Sector Standards to describe impacts, policies, management approaches and performance data.

• Registration and reporting service · 2021

  GRI Standards Report Registration System

  The registration system allows organizations to notify GRI that they have used the GRI Standards in published reporting or related materials. Registration does not substitute for independent assurance or guarantee the accuracy of disclosures. Under the 2021 framework, notification is part of the process for organizations making a GRI reporting claim.

• 2023

  Support interoperability with European sustainability reportingStrategy

  Background

  The European Union expanded mandatory sustainability disclosure through the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the development of European Sustainability Reporting Standards.

  Action taken

  GRI participated in cooperation and interoperability work with EFRAG and related European standard-setting efforts.

  Aftermath

  The work helped organizations and policymakers consider how GRI’s global impact-reporting approach could be used alongside European reporting requirements.

  Source

• 2021

  Publish revised Universal StandardsGeneration change

  Background

  Sustainability reporting expectations were changing because of increased regulatory attention, investor interest and demands for clearer impact-based disclosure.

  Action taken

  GRI published revised Universal Standards and clarified how the Universal, Sector and Topic Standards fit together.

  Aftermath

  The revised standards became applicable to reporting from January 2023 and introduced clearer distinctions between reporting in accordance with GRI and reporting with reference to GRI.

  Source

• 2020

  Discontinue the public sustainability disclosure databaseStrategy

  Background

  GRI had maintained a public database containing sustainability reports and related disclosure information for many years. Maintaining the collection required substantial ongoing effort and data-management resources.

  Action taken

  GRI decided to discontinue the publicly accessible database from April 2021 while continuing to provide a system through which organizations could register their use of GRI Standards.

  Aftermath

  Public access to the central collection ended, although many sustainability reports remained available through the reporting organizations’ own websites and GRI continued its registration function.

  Source

1. 1Global Reporting Initiativeen.wikipedia.org
2. 2GRI Standardsglobalreporting.org
3. 3GRI and EFRAG joint statement on interoperabilityglobalreporting.org