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The
Global Reporting Initiative |
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Established:
In 1997 by the Coalition for Environmentally
Responsible Economies (CERES) and the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP).
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Mission:
To develop and disseminate globally applicable Sustainability
Reporting Guidelines. These Guidelines are for voluntary use by organisations
for reporting on the economic, environmental, and social dimensions
of their activities, products, and services.
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Vision:
To raise the practice of corporate sustainability reporting to the
level of rigour, credibility, comparability and verifiability of
financial reporting.
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The Guidelines |
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The second version of the Guidelines was released in September 2002.
A copy of the Guidelines can be downloaded at
www.globalreporting.org |
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THE GUIDELINES
DOCUMENT IS STRUCTURED IN FIVE PARTS: |
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Introduction |
Trends driving sustainability
reporting and the benefits of reporting. |
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Part A Using the GRI
Guidelines |
General guidance on use of the
Guidelines. |
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Part B Reporting Principles |
Principles and practices that
promote rigourous reporting and underlie the application of
the Guidelines. |
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Part C Report Content
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Content and compilation of a
report |
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Part D Glossary and Annexes |
Additional guidance and
resources for using the Guidelines. |
The aim of the Guidelines is to assist reporting
organisations and their stakeholders in articulating and
understanding contributions of the reporting organisations to
sustainable development.
The GRI Guidelines are a framework for reporting on an
organisation’s economic, environmental, and social performance.
The GRI Guidelines organise “sustainability reporting” in terms of
economic, environmental, and social performance (also known as the
“triple bottom line”). This structure has been chosen because it
reflects what is currently the most widely accepted approach to
defining sustainability.
The GRI Guidelines are for voluntary use by organisations for
reporting on the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of
their activities, products, and services.
The Guidelines and GRI-based reports are not a substitute for
legally mandated reporting or disclosure requirements, nor do they
override any local or national legislation.
GRI encourages the use of the GRI Guidelines by all organisations,
regardless of their experience in preparing sustainability reports.
GRI provides ample flexibility in how organisations use the
Guidelines.
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To Summarise |
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The Guidelines: |
present reporting principles and specific content to guide
the preparation of organisation-
level sustainability reports; |
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assist organisations in presenting a balanced and reasonable
picture of their
economic, environmental, and social performance; |
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promote comparability of sustainability reports, while
taking into account the
practical considerations related to disclosing information across a
diverse range of
organisations, many with extensive and geographically dispersed
operations; |
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support benchmarking and assessment of sustainability
performance with respect
to codes, performance standards, and voluntary initiatives; and |
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serve as an instrument to facilitate stakeholder
engagement. |
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"Timely, credible and consistent information on an organisation's
economic, environmental and social performance is a key element in
building sustainable societies" |
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What are some of the benefits of
reporting?
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Reporting is a
key ingredient to building, sustaining and continually
refining stakeholder engagement
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Transparency
and open dialogue about performance, priorities and future
sustainability plans helps to strengthen partnerships and
build trust with external parties e.g. consumers, investors
and community groups.
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The process of
developing a sustainability report provides a warning of
trouble spots and unanticipated opportunities.
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Sustainability
reporting may reduce volatility and uncertainty in share price
for publicly traded enterprises, as well as reducing the cost
of capital.
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Further information:
www.globalreporting.org
Our GRI Update
 
offshore.environment@unep.fr
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