Partner with the
Global Standards Fundto help businesses takeresponsibility for their impacts

2

The Global Standards Fund offers an opportunity forfoundations, governments, private sector and individuals
to participate in a coalition of like-minded funders whowant to ensure that companies integrate sustainability
in the core of their activities. Corporate transparency
and understanding of impacts and related risks enablea sustainable future through improved decision making
and stimulating accountable behavior.
Creating and maintaining standards is a time andresource intensive activity. The Fund will ensure
continued updating of Standards, develop newStandards addressing new societal concernsand develop sector specific standards to ensurecomparability.

GRI’s purposeWhy
GRI exists to help organizations be transparent and takeresponsibility for their impacts so that we can create asustainable future.
How
We create the global common language for organizations
to report their impacts. This enables informed dialogue anddecision making around those impacts.
What• GRI is the global standard setter for impact reporting throughan independent, multi-stakeholder process• We maintain the world’s most comprehensive set ofsustainability reporting standards• The GRI Standards are available as a free public good

3

The Global Standards Fund safeguards thatcompanies continue to have free accessto the world’s most comprehensive andup-to-date set of sustainability standards
to report their impacts.
From climate change to biodiversity loss,
growing inequality, modern slavery, thescarcity of resources such as water and the
management of waste, our society and planet
face the most significant challenges of alltimes. The task of building a sustainable future
is a shared responsibility for us all. By doing
business in a way that aligns their long-termcommercial strategies with care for people andthe planet, companies can play their part.

organization headquartered in Amsterdam,
The Netherlands with eight regional offices
around the world, has been at the forefrontof sustainability reporting since 1997. GRI
created the global common language fororganizations to transparently report theirimpacts. This reporting enables informed
dialogue and decision making around those
impacts and contributes to sustainable
development.

Companies need to take responsibility for
their impacts on the world. Sustainability
reporting is the practice by which they disclose
their significant economic, social andenvironmental impacts. It is therefore very
encouraging to see a record number ofcompanies around the world voluntarilychoosing to disclose their sustainability
impacts; with GRI as the global common
language.

Any organization – large or small, private
or public, regardless of sector, location
and reporting experience – can use the
GRI Standards to disclose impacts in astandardized, comparable way. This meansa car manufacturer in Japan can report onits energy consumption in a similar way to amining company in Brazil or a retail firm in
Europe. The GRI Standards enable consistentreporting, which helps organizations meet theneeds of their stakeholders for comparable
data.

Eric Hespenheide, GRI Chairman

For companies to contribute to a sustainable
future, they need to understand and manage
their impacts in a way that is transparent,
trusted and objective. The Global Reporting
Initiative (GRI), an international nonprofit

Over the past 23 years the GRI Standards
have become the world’s most widely used
and internationally accepted tool for corporatetransparency. More than 10,000 companies
around the world communicate their impacts
using the GRI Standards.

4Transparency informs decision of all
stakeholders
Companies/reporting organizations use
sustainability reporting to measure, understandand communicate to external stakeholders how
they impact the world around them. In addition,
reporting informs internal decision making tounderstand impacts and related risks, catalyzechange and help identify sustainable businessmodels which can be profitable and contributeto sustainable development at the same time.
Consumers want to know that the products
or services they buy, and use have beendeveloped responsibly, under fair and decent
working conditions and without harm to theenvironment.
Civil Society is concerned with sustainability
and wants to understand how a company
impacts people and planet, so it can holdcompanies accountable.
Policymakers are concerned withsustainability and how an economic
168 transformation could tackle these issues, andpolíticas en más arede therefore introducing regulations, laws and67 países y regiones
other requirements to encourage companies
hacen referencia
al GRIto integrate sustainability into their businesspractice and reporting.
Stock exchanges around the world havestarted requiring listed companies to report on
their impacts beyond the financial results as
224,000a means to protect investors and future proof
descargas de lostheir market.
Estándares GRI en
2019 (un 11% deincremento enInvestors, including asset owners, pension
comparaciónfunds and businesses are increasingly
con 2019)

considering environmental, social andgovernance (ESG) risks when deciding
which companies to invest in. Beyond risk
management a growing group of investors
expects their money to make a tangible
contribution towards prosperity for people andthe planet.

To achieve the transition to a sustainableeconomy we need future proofed, objective andregularly updated standards for measuring
progress. The GRI Standards cover a wide range of
topics – such as biodiversity, human rights, climatechange, tax – that stimulate companies to improve,and help governments and civil society bringcorporate behavior in line with a just and green
economy. That is why I fully support the work of
GRI.
Paul Tang, MEP, Chair Subcommittee
on Tax matters(launch of the Global Standards Fund, 2020)73%of the largest 250
companies in theworld reporting onsustainability use
GRI*

168

Policies in morethan 67 countries
and regions
reference GRI**

10,000+Companies
publish a
GRI report

224,000

67%

Downloads of the GRI
Standards in 2020(11% increaseover 2019)of the largest 100
companies in 52
countries reportingon sustainability
use GRI** Source: KPMG “The time has come”, December 2020** https://www.carrotsandsticks.net/

5

6

GRI Standards
GRI plays a unique role in the global drive tocreate a sustainable future for all. Sustainability
reporting enables transparency and helps
markets function more efficiently, supporting
better decisions that create sustainable
benefits for everyone.
The standards help stakeholders holdorganizations accountable for their impacts andinitiate dialogue to drive corporate contribution
to national and international sustainable
development efforts.
GRI offers reporting organizations both aframework for reporting as well as reporting
standards. The GRI Standards focus on theeconomic, environmental and social impactsof the activities of a company, and hence
its contributions – positive or negative– towards sustainable development. It is
the underlying assumption that if not alreadyfinancially material at the time of reporting,these impacts can become financiallymaterial over time. Organizations can also
use the Standards to report on their impacts
and progress on the UN Sustainable
Development Goals.

Sustainability reporting contributes togreater transparency and the GRI Standards
will help to ensure our reporting is robust, clear
and relevant to our stakeholders.
Peter Blom, CEO of Triodos Bank
(launch of the new Standards, 2016)

The GRI Standards include disclosures about
the organization’s specific context, such as its
reporting practices, activities, products andservices, its governance, and stakeholder
engagement. In addition, the GRI Standards
include 34 Topic Standards from anti-corruption
to water, biodiversity to occupational healthand safety, and going forward will also include
Sector Standards for 40 sectors. Organizations
select from among these topics to report on
their significant impacts.
• For each topic, a combination of qualitativeand quantitative disclosures enables
organizations to report their impacts
comprehensively, including how they
manage these impacts.
• For each sector an overview of likely
material topics will be made available.
Moreover, the GRI Standards are aligned withwidely recognized international instruments forresponsible business behavior, such as the UN
Guiding Principles on Business and Human
Rights, the ILO conventions, and the OECD
Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

7

They are also compatible with a wide
range of reporting frameworks that
may be combined in an organization’ssustainability report, such as the International
Integrated Reporting Framework, the CDPquestionnaires, the TCFD, the SASB industry
standards and the B-Lab Business Impact
Assessment.
In this respect GRI continuously collaborates
with these additional standard setters aswell as with other expert partners in thesustainability reporting market to develop
linkage and alignment tools that makereporting easier for users. Furthermore, we
work with those organizations and others
to identify additional opportunities forharmonization so that sustainability reportingis globally relevant and produces highquality, comparable data to power sustainabledecisions.

Supporting the Global Standards Fund will
therefore also enable GRI to continue andexpand this work with others and ensure global
collaboration and stakeholder involvement indetermining how transparency and disclosure
enables a sustainable future for the planet.
The GRI Standards are a free public good andavailable in 11 languages.

GRI’s Tax Standard marks an evolution intax transparency and provides a much-needed
and ambitious framework for corporate tax
reporting.
Fiona Reynolds, CEO of UN-PRI (2019)GRI Standards

Universal Standards
101

Information about
how to use the
GRI Standards

102

Disclosures about
the reportingorganization

103

To identify and report
general informationon the organization’smaterial topics

Apply all three Universal Standards
to your reporting

Sector Standards

Topic Standards

Use the Sector Standard that applies
to your organization to identify topics
that are likely to be material for yoursector

Select Topic Standards to reportspecific information on your material
topics8Developed through an independent, multistakeholder process
The GRI Standards are issued by the Global
Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB), an
independent operating entity of GRI. They
are developed according to a formally defineddue process overseen by the independent
Due Process Oversight Committee (DPOC).
Experts from different stakeholder groups
across the world are involved in developing
the GRI Standards using a consensusseeking approach that builds on their diverse
backgrounds and expertise. The GSSB also
routinely conducts public comment periods
to gather stakeholder feedback on draft
Standards.

Transparency lies at the heart of the GSSB’s
work. All meetings of the GSSB and the
documents discussed at these meetings,
including drafts of Standards, are publicly
accessible via the GRI website.

The GRI Standards will promote corporatetransparency and help companies fightcorruption.
Cobus Swartz, CEO of
Transparency International(launch of the new Standards, 2016)

Commitment to staying current
To maintain the status and relevance of the
GRI Standards as the leading global
sustainability standard, the standards need toreflect leading practice, international norms
and reflect the global multi-stakeholder
consensus at any moment in time. Therefore,
the GSSB is committed to reviewing all existing
GRI Standards every 4 years.
In addition, a comprehensive Sector Programis being implemented to complete the set of
GRI Standards. And, finally, the GSSB aims
to have 5 new topic-specific Standards underdevelopment concurrently to ensure that the

GRI Standards reflect the ongoing evolutionof the sustainable development agenda, areresponsive to stakeholder expectations andcontinue to promote the public interest. The
formulation of globally applicable transparency
expectations for societal issues like tax (GRI
207: Tax Standard) and GRI’s efforts close
the gaps between expectations set out in the
SDGs and the GRI Standards are two recent
examples of the evolution of the standards.

9

Driving adoption and improving the quality ofreportingIn support of its standard setting work, GRI
engages in activities focused on ensuringthat the Standards are widely used byorganizations and interested stakeholders.
In addition, it helps reporting organizations
improve the quality of their reporting.

Supporting reportingorganizations
Producing a meaningful and comprehensive
sustainability report based on the Standards
requires a thorough understanding of thereporting process, the issues facing the world,
and the organization’s activities. Over theyears GRI has developed a suite of support
tools and activities to help both new andexperienced reporting organizations improvetheir reports, and for reporting professionals
to hone their skills. For example, over the
past two decades GRI has trained more than
25,000 professionals. Since September 2020
professional training is provided through the
GRI Academy. Some of the trainings and tools
are freely available while others are paid for.

Enabling smart policy
GRI works with governments, internationalorganizations, and capital markets to promote
and advance sustainability disclosure as auniversal practice. For example, since thebeginning of 2020, GRI has been actively
engaged in shaping the next iteration ofEurope’s Non-Financial Reporting Directive.
Other illustrations are the work with the OECDon country-by-country tax reporting and theengagement with the International Financial
Reporting Standards (IFRS) process tostrengthen financial reporting to better capture
the impacts of sustainability issues on acompany’s financial position.

Finally, GRI is deeply involved with theimplementation and monitoring of the SDGs.
It works with other organizations on global
initiatives, which focus on pressing challenges
such as climate change, human rights abuse
and corruption. The importance of this work
is recognized by several governments thatgive GRI multi-year financial support to foster
sustainable economic growth in developing
countries.

Collaboration
While GRI is internationally renowned as theglobal leader in sustainability reporting, thenon-financial reporting landscape is becoming
increasingly crowded. This development isboth positive and negative. More initiatives
bring greater recognition and understandingof the importance of disclosing non-financial
information and changing business practices.
However, the world of sustainability disclosuresneeds consistency, compatibility and in somecases convergence, and this will not happen
if the multitude of different initiatives andstandards act in a disjointed way.
As GRI, we believe strongly in a vision ofa single, coherent global set of reporting
standards. That is why we are pursuingcollaboration with these other organizations.
And not just with other standard setters suchas IFRS, SASB, CDP and IIRC but also withleading civil society organizations - such as
the Danish Institute for Human Rights andTax Justice - and with progressive businessorganizations like the UN Global Compact,
WBCSD and B-Lab.

10
1,700,000

2,300,0Updating
Standards

Secto
Progra2022 - 2023 - 202
The Global Standards Fund
Maintaining the world’s most comprehensive
set of sustainability standards requires asignificant investment of time and resources.
Therefore, GRI has created the Global
Standards Fund to safeguard that the GRI
Standards continue to be available to allorganizations and companies as a free global
public good, which encourages responsible
business practices, with respect to the climate
and the environment, social issues andcorporate governance.
The Global Standards Fund offers an
opportunity for foundations, governments,
private sector and individuals to participate ina coalition of like-minded funders who want toensure that companies integrate sustainability
in the core of their operations. Corporatetransparency and understanding of risks
enable a sustainable future through improved
decision making and stimulating accountablebehavior.
The Global Standards Fund meets therequirements of the GSSB Terms of Reference
to ensure that the Standards are developedin line with the needs of companies and theglobal community, and free from any external
influences.

2,333,334

4,333,3Updating
Standards

Secto
PrograGlobal Standards Fund impact

GSF
Partners

10,000+Companies
around the world
reporting theirimpactsa moresustainable
world

11

The fund supports three objectives:
1. The continuous review and updating of
the existing GRI Standards to stay alignedwith developing international norms andleading practice. For example, in May
2020, GRI 306: Waste 2020 was launched
and in December 2019, GRI 207: Tax 2019,the world’s first global standard for tax
transparency. In 2018, GRI released GRI
303: Water and Effluents 2018 and GRI
403: Occupational Health and Safety 2018.
Currently, GRI is working on updating the
Universal Standards (GRI 101, GRI 102,
GRI 103), including recent developments
regarding responsible business conduct
incorporating Human Rights; expectedlaunch September 2021. Further upcoming
work includes updates to the Biodiversity
Standard.
2. The further development of the Sector
Program, GRI’s sector-specific standards
to improve and focus reporting practice on
the most material topics from a sustainable
development perspective. The GRI Sector
Program aims to focus on 40 high-impact
sectors. In 2021 the first standard will
be launched for the Oil and Gas sector,
with the second and third standards for
the Agriculture and Fisheries sector andthe Coal sector respectively nearing
completion.
The GSSB has grouped the sectors it willdevelop standards for by priority based on theseverity of impacts of the sector on the world.
These sectors align well with sectors included
in OECD’s Guidance for Responsible Supply
Chains, the WBCSD sector roadmaps, theWorld Benchmarking Alliance benchmarks,
and the International Finance Corporation’s
Industry Guidelines. Note that the order
within a priority group is not yet determined,
as it depends on the acceptance of project
proposals by the GSSB.

Further changes and updates to the list are
defined by the GSSB, the most updated list
can be found on the GRI website.
•

Priority Group 1 - Basic Materials and
needs

•

Priority Group 2 - Industrial•

Priority Group 3 - Transport, infrastructure
and tourism•

Priority Group 4 - Other services and lightmanufacturing

3. Support advocacy and communications
aimed at driving the use of the GRI
Standards by both report issuers as well
as stakeholders whose decisions are
influenced by transparent information about
an organization’s impact. GRI works withgovernments, International Governmental
Organizations and (financial) market
regulators around the world to encouragesustainability reporting and make thereported information widely and freely
available. In addition, GRI’s communication
programs and engagements, support
reporting organizations and reporting
professionals to become more proficient inand comfortable with transparency.

12

Budget
The financial goal for the Global Standards
Fund is to grow to an annual value of €8 million
by 2023, which should then be continued atthat level afterwards. A total of about 75%
will be allocated to objectives 1 and 2, thecontinuous review and updating of the GRI
Standards and the Sector Program. Following
the successful completion in September in
2021 of the Oil and Gas sector standard,
the next two standards for respectively the
Agriculture and Fisheries sector and the
Coal sector, are to be approved before theend of 2021. It will cost an estimated €14
million to complete the remaining 37 sectors(approximately € 350,000 per sector).
From the remaining 25% of the Fund, 17% willbe allocated to the third objective, advocacy
and adoption of the GRI Standards. This
will facilitate the global rollout as well as thecommunication support and policy outreach
aimed at increasing the adoption of theStandards. The 8% left is the overhead fee
for the fund management, monitoring andevaluation, reporting and Global Standards
Fund partner event organization.

GSSB workplan 2020-2022• Review and update of 10 standards peryear• Have 5 new topic standards underdevelopment concurrently• Development of a full set of sector
standards till 2024
• Implementation of a communication plan
to support the launch and adoption of the
updated and new standards• Advocacy outreach to policy makers,
market regulators and other stakeholders to
mandate sustainability reporting based on
GRI Standards and stimulate the use of thereported information in decision making

Global Standards Fund budget planning 2021 - 2025
2021

2022

2023

2024

2025

Standards

1.202.000

2.106.000

3.509.000

3.587.000

3.669.000

Sector Standards

936.000

1.638.000

2.730.000

2.787.000

2.847.000

Communication& Advocacy

457.000

789.000

1.314.000

1.325.000

1.336.000

Overhead204.000

353.000

600.000

618.000

636.000

Total

2.799.000

4.886.000

8.153.000

8.317.000

8.488.000

13

Become a partner of the Global Standards Fund
Be part of a diverse group of funders, public
and private, and support the Global Standards
Fund. All the partners believe in GRI’s
mission, its multi-stakeholder process and theimportance of accelerating the adoption oftransparency through sustainability reporting tocreate a sustainable future, achieve the SDGs,
and Climate Goals.
Your support to the Global Standards Fund
ensures:• the continuous development andevolution of the GRI Standards,• the GRI Standards as a free public good,• safeguarding the independent, multistakeholder development of the GRI
Standards, and• global advocacy for the Standards.
GRI welcomes all types of partners tocontribute to the Global Standards Fund:foundations, governments, the private sector,
and individuals. The Global Standards
Fund was developed to ensure sufficientfunding whilst protecting the independenceof the standards setting process from undue
influence or undermining the multi-stakeholder
principle. There are two partnering options
available:

Global Standards Fund Partner
Contribution of at least 500,000 euros per
year, for a minimum period of three years (or acomparable amount in a one-time payment).

Global Standards Fund Supporter
Contribution of at least 200,000 euros per
year, for a minimum period of three years (or acomparable amount in a one-time payment).

14

Visibility and recognition

Staying current and networking

Partners and Supporters will be acknowledged
for their generous backing of the Global
Standards Fund on the GRI website and in
Global Standards Fund related publications.

Partners and Supporters will be kept informed
about the developments of the GRI Standards,
broader transparency trends as well as about
the Fund, through an annual Global Standards
Fund report and a biannual newsletter. In
addition, GRI will organize an exclusive annual
Global Standards Fund meeting to present anddiscuss progress, as well as engage with other
Partners and Supporters, GRI senior executive
staff, the GSSB and members of GRI’s
governance bodies. A dedicated GRI contact
will be available for any additional queries.

In collaboration with each partner or
supporter additional co-branding and visibility
opportunities including through joint advocacy
activities will be identified to acknowledge theirimportant role in maintaining the standards andaddressing the individual needs of the Partners
or Supporters.

The networking opportunities also includes acomplimentary membership of the
GRI Community, giving access to a networkof more than 400 organizations across 35
industries from 66 countries.
GRI welcomes your support to the Global
Standards Fund. The Fund is managed by
GRI’s Chief Development Officer and theStrategic Partnerships and Programs TeamFor more information and to express
your interest, please contact:
Sabine Content,
Director Corporate & Stakeholder Engagement
partner@globalreporting.org

15

GRI’s funders
Since the creation of GRI in 1997 many organizations and funders have supported GRI.
Recent funders include:• Alcoa Foundation, USA• Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Australia• Department for International Development (DfID), United Kingdom• Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Germany• Fundación ONCE, Spain• International Organisation of Employers (IOE), Switzerland• Integrated Reporting Foundation, United Kingdom• Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Netherlands• Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway• Ministry for Foreign Trade and Development, The Netherlands• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), USA• State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), Switzerland• Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), Sweden• United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)• United Nations Office of the High Representative for the LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS (UNOHRLLS)• World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), Switzerland

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