Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and Co-conveners: Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies(CERES) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
International Financial Institutions and Multi-lateral Organisations
Research and Academic Institutions from more than 50 countries
Associations of Accountants
Aims/Objectives:
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) pursues its mission through a multi-stakeholder process of open dialogue and collaboration in the design and implementation of widely applicable sustainability reporting guidelines.
The GRI has the following objectives: To elevate sustainability reporting worldwide to a level equivalent to financial reporting;
To design, disseminate, and promote standardised reporting practises, core measurements, and customised, sector-specific measurements; and
To ensure a permanent and effective institutional host to support such reporting practises worldwide.
Measurable results and specific
targets:
More than 115 companies from 17 countries have used the GRI Guidelines.
More than 3500 interested individuals in the GRI network.
Improved quality and quantity of corporate environmental, economic, and social performance information (at local, national, and global levels) available to investors, consumers, and other stakeholders;
Standardised sustainability information, analogous to financial reporting, stimulates the market to recognise and reward private sector leaders in sustainability issues;
Improved awareness of stakeholders and investors of the content, interpretation, and application of corporate sustainability performance information;
Increased ability of companies and their stakeholders to track measurable progress toward corporate sustainability performance;
Improved awareness by companies of the competitive benefits of being proactive simultaneosly in environmental, economic, and social performance and disclosure;
Increase in the number, diversity, and effectiveness of coalitions of government, NGOs, business and other stakeholder groups, which make regular use of corporate sustainability information in policymaking, advocacy, investment, benchmarking and other activities;
Increased number of organizations (by stakeholder group and region) involved in the GRI through consultative process, governance, working groups, and other activities. Long term goal of 50% of the GRI network participants from developing countries;
Global and independent institution with strong governance structure and network of regional offices established by 2003-2004.
Global GRI Network of Organisational Stakeholders well established and continually growing;
The GRI Guidelines become THE standard framework for sustainability reporting;
Sustainability reporting increasingly influences decision-making by corporations, governments and capital markets worldwide.
Implementation mechanisms
and further application:
It will take time to develop procedures, systems, measurements and standards for sustainability reporting that are comparable to those in financial reporting. We are currently on a two-year revisions schedule to the main Guidelines. In the intervening time we will develop sector supplements, indicator definitions, and measurement protocols. Structure and consistency in reporting will be fortified.
Sector supplements currently under development include automotive, financial services, mining, tour operators.
To address concerns that the Guidelines are structured primarily for large multinational corporations, the GRI will develop approaches to address the specific needs of small and medium enterprises, and non-profits.
Through the development of the Guidelines we have started to address some challenging issues and we expect to address several more in the coming years (e.g., the value of intellectual capital, boundaries of the corporation, disclosure on HIV/AIDS, the role of verification).
As we evolve into a fully functioning, international standards-setting body we will continue to apply our operating principles of inclusiveness, transparency, and technical excellence. Business, NGOs, governments, investors, labour, accountants and countless other stakeholders will be engaged to ensure we achieve broad relevance, credibility, and uptake.
Regional offices will be established by 2003-2004 and will focus on outreach and education.
Further outreach will be accomplished by registering and interacting with Organisational and Individual Stakeholders.
