The GRI Standards
Enabling transparency onorganizational impacts

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The business case forsustainability reporting
From the need to safeguard marine habitats toresponding to pressures on natural resources andgrowing inequality, our world faces significant economic,environmental and social challenges. By doing businessin a way that aligns long-term growth strategies with carefor people and planet, organizations can play a crucialrole in sustainable development.
The GRI Sustainability Reporting 73%
Standards (GRIStandards) help organizationsof theincrease
largest 250theirtransparency and communicate
theirsustainability
companies
in thereportingoncontributions and impacts. By world
betterunderstanding,sustainability
usemanaging and disclosing impacts, organizations
GRI*
can unlock benefits that inform decisions, reducerisks, improve business opportunities and strengthen
168
Policies in more
stakeholder relationships. This, in turn, enables
companies to demonstrate their contributions towards than 67 countries
and regions
environmental stewardship and societal wellbeing.
reference GRI**

10,000+Companies
publish aGRI report73%of the largest 250
companies in theworld reporting onsustainability use
GRI*

224,000

168
67%

10,000+Downloads of the GRIStandards in 2020(11% increaseover 2019)

moreof thePolicies
largest in100
than67countries
companies in 52
andregions
countries
reportingreferenceGRI**
on sustainability
use GRI*

Companies
publish aGRI report

224,000* Source: KPMG “The time has come”, December 2020

Downloads of the GRI
Standards in 2020(11% increaseover 2019)

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What GRI has to offer
The GRI Standards are the world’s most widely used standards for sustainability
reporting. They have been widely adopted by leading companies in more than 100countries, and are referenced in policy instruments and stock exchange guidancearound the world. Over 160 policies in more than 60 countries and regions
reference or require GRI.

 Comprehensive range of topics

 Flexible structure

The Standards include disclosures on awide range of topics. From anti-corruption
to water, biodiversity to employment, tax toforced labor, they cover relevant topics acrossthe economic, environmental and social
dimensions. Organizations choose from among
these to report on their significant impacts.

The Standards help organizations to prepare
a complete sustainability report that covers all
topics where they have significant impacts.
Alternatively, they can select and report onindividual topics to meet specific stakeholder
demands or comply with regulatoryrequirements.

 A modular system Development of Sector Standards

The GRI Standards comprise of three series ofstandards: the Universal Standards, the Sector
Standards, and the Topic Standards. The
Standards contain disclosures, which provide ameans for an organization to report information
about itself and its impacts.

Organizations in sectors share common
impacts on the economy, environment andpeople. More consistent reporting on sectorspecific impacts increases transparency andaccountability for the issues that matter most.
Sector Standards are a new addition to thefamily of GRI Standards, with the intention todevelop standards for 40 sectors.

 Designed to be used by anyorganization
The Standards enable consistent reporting,which helps organizations meet the data needsof their stakeholders. Any organization – large
or small, private or public, regardless of sector,location, and reporting experience – can use
the Standards to report in a standardized,comparable way. This means that a car
manufacturer in Japan can report on its energy
consumption in the same way as a mining
company in Brazil.

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 Compatible with other reporting
frameworks

 Updated to reflect latest
developments

GRI continually works with other organizations
in support of the vision of a single, coherent
global set of reporting standards. Companies
can use the Standards in combination witha wide range of frameworks, including
the International Integrated Reporting
Framework, the CDP climate change andwater questionnaires, and the SASB industrystandards.

The Standards are regularly reviewed toinclude new issues as they emerge and update
existing topics. This helps organizations
respond to emerging stakeholder and regulator
demands for sustainability information. The
latest global developments in tax transparency,
and the transition to a circular economy,
are two recent examples that have been
encompassed into updates to the Standards.

 Aligned with best practice for impact
reportingA free public good available inmultiple languages

The GRI Standards are aligned withinternational instruments for responsible
business behavior, including the UN Guiding
Principles on Business and Human Rights, theILO Conventions, and the OECD Guidelines
for Multinational Enterprises. Organizations
can also use the Standards to report on theirimpacts and progress on the UN Sustainable
Development Goals.

The Standards can be downloaded andused free of charge. In addition to English,translations are available in Arabic, Bahasa
Indonesian, Simplified and Traditional
Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese,
Portuguese, and Spanish.

56Using the GRI Standards
The sustainability reporting process begins
with the organization identifying the reporting
topics that reflect their significant economic,environmental and social impacts. With theStandards, these are the ‘material’ topics toreport on.

The Universal Standards support thecompany in identifying its material topics bylaying out important principles when preparing
a report. They also contain disclosures on theorganization’s specific context, such as its
size, activities, governance and stakeholder
engagement.

The Sector Standards, when available andapplicable to the reporting organization,
support companies within sectors to determine
their material topics and what to report for eachtopic. For example, an oil company reporting inaccordance with the GRI Standards is required
to use the Oil and Gas Sector Standard.

The 33 Topic Standards contain disclosuresthat organizations use to report their impacts
in relation to a topic and how it manages theseimpacts. For example, a business can use theGRI Standard on water and effluents to reporttheir impacts on the environment because ofits water withdrawal from areas facing water
stress and how it manages these impacts.
This approach of identifying and reporting onmaterial topics helps companies create reportsthat focus on the impacts of their activities andoperations and meet the information demandsof their stakeholders.

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GRI’s support products
GRI offers a full range of reporting support. Our training, services,tools and membership program guide new and experienced
reporters every step of the way. Support is focused on using theStandards to develop a thorough reporting process and compile
better reports.
Support products include:•the Professional Certification Program, globally recognizedprofessional training delivered online via the GRI Academy and/or in-person through our Certified Training Partners•the GRI Community, our global network of organizationsjointly advancing the knowledge and practice of sustainability
reporting•alignment checks to ensure reporting meets the requirementsof the Standards•

workshops that offer dedicated support and guidance tomaster the reporting process•

software and digital tools, using GRI content, to makesustainability reporting easier and more manageable

8About GRI
Established in 1997, GRI is the independent,international organization that helps businesses andother organizations to take responsibility for their impacts
by providing them with the global common language
to communicate those impacts. Today, more than
10,000 companies around the world use GRI for theirsustainability reporting.
The GRI secretariat is headquartered in Amsterdam,
the Netherlands, with a network of seven regional
hubs ensuring strategic support for organizations andstakeholders worldwide.

Barbara Strozzilaan 336
1083 HN Amsterdam
The Netherlands+31(0) 20 531 00 00
www.globalreporting.org

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