GRI Standards

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is the most widely used framework for sustainability reporting. GRI standards provide guidance on how companies can disclose their environmental, social and economic profile and performance. The latest version of the framework, the GRI Standards, is composed of a set of three Universal Standards applicable to all organisations and a series of Topic-specific Standards.

The Universal Standards

• Foundation (GRI 101)
  The foundation includes the basic requirements for using the standards, including the principles for defining report content and the principles for defining report quality.

• General Disclosures (GRI 102)
  The general disclosures cover general information about a company’s context, including its strategy, profile and approaches on reporting and engaging with stakeholders.

• Management Approach (GRI 103)
  The disclosures on management approach describe the processes used by an organisation to address its sustainability issues.

The Topic-specific Standards

• Economic (GRI 200) series
  6 standards on economic topics

• Environmental (GRI 300) series
  8 standards on environmental topics

• Social (GRI 400) series
  19 standards on social topics

The 200, 300 and 400 series of standards define all performance indicators (disclosures) for particular material issues and give guidance on their interpretation and compilation into the sustainability report. For example, ‘GRI 303: Water and Effluents (2018)’ sets out the reporting requirements of the following disclosures related to water: GRI 303-1 (Interactions with water as a shared resource), GRI 303-2 (Management of water discharge-related impacts) and GRI 303-3 (Water withdrawal), GRI 303-4 (Water discharge) and GRI 303-5 (Water consumption).

GRI Standards define two levels of compliance: ‘Core’ and ‘Comprehensive’, with the second option imposing a much higher number of disclosures (general and topic-specific).

See www.globalreporting.org for more details.