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| Primary purpose Summary Potential benefits Who can use the tool? What resources are needed? Development, ownership and support Social enterprise examples Footnotes Global Reporting
Initiative The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is an independent institution whose mission is to develop and disseminate globally applicable sustainability reporting guidelines that help organisations to report on the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of their activities, products, and services. The aim of the GRI is to assist reporting organisations and their stakeholders in articulating and understanding contributions of the organisation to sustainable development through their reports.1 The GRI Guidelines provide a framework for reporting on an organisation’s economic, environmental and social performance. They assist organisations by:
At the heart of the Guidelines is the identification of indicators that help organizations to measure economic, environmental and social performance.2 They distinguish between two types: core and additional indicators. Core indicators:
Additional indicators:
Organisations are encouraged to use a number of indicators based on this guidance, though some flexibility and discretion are allowed. The Guidelines are non-prescriptive and do not require organisations to adhere to specific standards or codes. The Guidelines focus primarily on what is being reported and how the report has been prepared. Whilst they emphasise the importance of stakeholder feedback in writing reports, they do not offer specific guidance on how to conduct stakeholder engagement and they do not focus on how the process is assured or audited. However, they have been designed with other tools in mind and are particularly well suited to incorporating the AA1000 Assurance Standard to address credibility of the reporting organisation’s information. Whilst GRI seeks to enhance comparability between reports, it can also incorporate flexibility so that organisations can take steps to reflect the context in which they operate. The Guidelines can also be used with a more informal approach consistent with an organisation’s capacity. The organisation may choose to cover only some of the content in working towards improving its reporting. With this in mind, organisations are also asked to clearly indicate how they have used the Guidelines and in particular, the core indicators. With time and practice, organisations are encouraged to move gradually towards more comprehensive reporting built on the content of the GRI framework.
Potential limitations
The Guidelines are intended to be applicable to organisations of all sizes and types operating in any sector. However, they were developed primarily with the needs of larger businesses in mind. Leadership To adhere to the Guidelines, an organisation will need to collect information and performance across the whole organisation and therefore it requires the leadership and commitment of management and senior staff members. Proficiencies or skills Skills and experience with developing reports and impact assessment or data collection would be helpful, as would experience of other social research methods. Staff time Significant time will be required to compile, analyse and write up information and implement action. Some flexibility exists depending on whether the organisation uses all or part of the Guidelines. Courses, support, and information While GRI does not currently offer training programmes related to sustainability reporting or the Guidelines, a number of companies, consultancies, NGOs and other organisations worldwide do offer this type of service. GRI does not formally endorse any specific training organisation and does not provide any sort of certification related to trainings. The GRI website includes a large amount of information including forums, publications, help and information on High 5! a publication that offers step-by-step guidance and practical how-to advice on using the GRI Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, so that SMEs can easily and effectively create sustainability reports that bring value to their businesses and communications practices. There are also a number of supporting documents which provide additional information and support to the main document and include sector specific guidance. Development, ownership and support The GRI is a multi-stakeholder process and independent institution whose mission is to develop and disseminate globally applicable sustainability reporting guidelines. The GRI incorporates the active participation of representatives from business, accountancy, investment, environmental, human rights, research and labour organisations from around the world. Started in 1997, the GRI became independent in 2002, and is an official collaborating centre of the UNEP and works in cooperation with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Global Compact. Since its inception the GRI has initiated a process of continuous improvement driven by the insights and experiences of stakeholders familiar with the Guidelines and other GRI reporting framework components. Now underway is a process to innovate the Guidelines based on stakeholder input gained from nearly 500 people worldwide through a structured feedback process. This will result in the third generation of GRI Guidelines (built on prior versions 2000 and 2002) due for release in mid-2006.
Examples from other sectors:
www.globalreporting.org 1 The GRI Guidelines organise ‘sustainability reporting’ in terms of economic, environmental, and social performance (also know as the triple bottom line). They reflect what the members of the initiative think is currently the most widely accepted approach to defining sustainability. GRI recognises that the definition has its limitations but sees the definition as a starting point that is comprehensible to many and has achieved a degree of consensus as a reasonable entry point into a complex issue. More information on sustainable development can be found in the Guidelines. 2 In the Guidelines, indicators are defined as “a measure of performance, either qualitative or quantitative”.
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“We have produced environmental reports for many years, but wanted a toolthat would combine financial, social, environmental and economic measurement to produce a fully integrated sustainable report. This integration has been one of the main benefits of using the Guidelines and the reason we chose them.” — Triodos Bank NV. “We began using the GRI Guidelines in 2001 and were the first bank to use them for our annual report. They have increased our transparency to all our stakeholders.” — Triodos Bank NV. |
