What is GRI?

Satunnainen

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is an international organization that has developed a globally used standard for sustainable development reporting by companies and other organizations. GRI’s goal is to promote transparency and accountability in business operations by providing clear guidelines and indicators that enable organizations to report on their economic, environmental and social impacts.

What is GRI?

GRI, i.e. the Global Reporting Initiative, is a non-profit organization founded in 1997. Its headquarters are located in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The standards developed by GRI are recognized worldwide and are widely used in various industries and sectors. The GRI standards offer a systematic way to report on sustainable development measures and their impacts.

Structure of GRI standards

GRI standards consist of three main parts:

  • General standards: These include general reporting principles and guidelines that apply to all organizations.
  • Industry-specific standards: These standards are designed specifically for the needs of certain industries and contain industry-specific indicators and guidelines.
  • Thematic standards: These standards focus on specific topics of sustainable development, such as climate change, human rights and working conditions.

Benefits of GRI reporting

GRI reporting offers many benefits to organizations:

  1. Transparency: GRI reporting helps organizations to be more open and transparent towards their stakeholders.
  2. Responsibility: Reporting encourages organizations to take responsibility for their sustainable development impacts and improve their operations.
  3. Comparability: The GRI standards enable the comparison of sustainable development measures of different organizations.
  4. Trust of stakeholders: Transparent and responsible reporting increases stakeholders’ trust in the organization.

GRI and other sustainable development standards

GRI is not the only sustainability reporting standard, but it is one of the most widely used. Other well-known standards include Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). Many organizations use several standards in parallel to get the most comprehensive picture of their sustainability measures.

More information

You can find more information about GRI and its standards on GRI’s official website. The website also contains comprehensive instructions and tools for starting and developing reporting.

, ,