Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is one of the main internationally recognised standards for sustainability reporting. More information about the other standards can be found on our reporting standards page. GRI’s framework for sustainability reporting helps companies identify, gather, and report ESG information in a clear and comparable manner. First launched in 2000, GRI’s sustainability reporting framework is currently the most popular, well-known, and widely accepted framework used by multinational organisations, governments, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), NGOs, and industry groups.

The GRI framework supports third parties with the assessment of the environmental impacts of their activities and supply chain. The framework consists of several elements, including a set of universal standards to be used by every organisation when preparing a sustainability report, and topic-specific standards on different economic, environmental, and social topics. Each topic-specific standard specifies particular disclosures relevant to the topic and sets indicators and metrics for them. An organisation can opt to produce a comprehensive report covering all disclosures and indicators stated in the GRI standards, or go for core reporting whereby they report on all the general (universal) disclosures and the selective topics the organisation deems to be material.

The GRI sustainability reporting aims to standardise and quantify the environmental, social, and governance costs and benefits derived from the activities of the reporting companies.

Sustainability reporting is becoming increasingly prevalent, but there is a lot to measure, count, and describe. This means that first attempts can be laborious. However, once complete, it will help you to stay on top of your performance and develop your strategy in a clear metric. Our advice: be mindful when choosing a framework for your reporting: with required consistency, it will define your path for the consequent years.

Ecomatters provides sustainability support in many capacities. Our strategic advice, target-setting, and reporting service can help you ensure that your organisation’s reporting meets regulatory requirements as well as your corporate objectives. We support companies in determining how best to implement the GRI framework in their organisational structure. It is our priority to work closely with you to go beyond the numbers and make sustainability mean something productive for your business. In order to offer effective support, we are up to date on the GRI framework and have implemented it for various types of companies.

Our experts can:

• Support in understanding how the GRI (Comprehensive & Core) can be best implemented to fit the company strategy.
• Support with calculations of the environmental footprint of products or the organisation.
• Design and support with the development of reporting systems, compliant with the GRI Framework.
• Help your organisation measure carbon emissions under your direct control (Scope 1 and 2 emissions) as well as your organisation’s indirect (Scope 3) emissions.
• Carry out value chain analysis, develop customised tools and perform marketing activities.
• Support in the review or audit process of sustainability reporting as part of the annual report.