Our position in the reporting landscape

The sustainability reporting landscape can appear a complex one, with different frameworks, standard setters and other initiatives all involved. To help bring clarity and encourage alignment, GRI works with other organizations in several ways.  

Our efforts are focused on ensuring that the reporting process for companies is straightforward, while encouraging effective and comprehensive sustainability disclosure (inclusive of ESG - environmental, social and governance), which is needed to enable responsible business practices and contribute towards a more sustainable world. 

As Eric Hespenheide, Chair of the GRI Board, explains: 

"At GRI, we strongly believe in a vision of a single, coherent global set of reporting standards. That is why we pursue collaboration with other organizations 

We are committed to achieving greater transparency through disclosure, reducing the burden on reporting organizations, and ensuring organizations and their stakeholders can base decisions on consistent and comparable information." 

Comprehensive Reporting initiative

GRI has joined with five other organizations to achieve progress towards a single set of comprehensive and global reporting standards. This shared vision is provided by GRI, CDP, Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB), International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) and Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). The group announced the collaboration in September 2020. 

Access the report Statement of Intent to Work Together Towards Comprehensive Corporate Reporting: Summary of alignment discussions among leading sustainability and integrated reporting organizations CDP, CDSB, GRI, IIRC and SASB. A response to the report has also been provided by the GRI Global Sustainability Standards Board: statement from the GSSB 

GRI and SASB

GRI and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) provide compatible standards for sustainability reporting, which are designed to fulfill different purposes and are based on different approaches to materiality. As the two global standard setters for sustainability disclosure, GRI and SASB started a joint project in 2020. 

Initially the collaboration is focused on delivering communication materials to help stakeholders better understand how the standards may be used concurrently. The two organizations also aim to help the consumers of sustainability data understand the similarities and differences in the information created from these standards. It is expected that this can lead to further collaboration opportunities. 

Corporate Reporting Dialogue

GRI is a member of the Corporate Reporting Dialogue (CRD), a platform launched in 2014 to promote greater coherence, consistency and comparability between frameworks, standards and related requirements.  

The participants in the CRD are: CDP, CDSB, Financial Accounting Standards Board (observer), GRI, International Accounting Standards Board, IIRC, International Organization for Standardization, and SASB.

In June 2019, the CRD published Driving Alignment in Climate-related Reporting, which found that organizations are closely aligned on the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations. 

Wider collaboration

GRI regularly works with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and United Nations bodies such as the UN Global Compact (UNGC) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). In particular, we work with UNGC  to foster private sector contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals.  

Through our capital markets engagement we connect with stock exchanges and market regulators, to support sustainability reporting and corporate transparency by listed companies. This includes working with the Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative, Ceres, the World Federation of Exchanges, and the PRI (Principles for Responsible Investment).