Why human rights?

Since the last update of the GRI human rights-related disclosures in 2011, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights have become an authoritative global reference point. As a result, companies now have a better understanding of their responsibilities, which they can consequently incorporate into reporting.

Recent years have also seen new business and human rights reporting frameworks and initiatives emerge, such as the UN Guiding Principles Reporting Framework and the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark. We have also seen the influence of the UN Guiding Principles go beyond human rights, including wider areas of responsible business conduct.

As a result of these international developments, this project was launched by the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB) in 2017 to ensure that GRI reporting stays up-to-date with organizational responsibilities and best practices for human rights-related reporting.

About this project

The main objective of this project is to bring the GRI human rights-related standards in line with key authoritative intergovernmental instruments in this area, namely the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and OECD instruments.

The project aims to review and revise the range of human rights-related topics covered in the standards and the related disclosures to ensure they reflect best practices.

The project is carried out in two phases. Phase 1 focused on the review of the GRI Universal Standards, to ensure the overall alignment of the GRI Standards with key authoritative intergovernmental instruments in the area of human rights.

Phase 2 of the project is focused on updating individual Topic Standards with human rights-related content and, if needed, developing new Topic Standards or disclosures.  

The project follows the GSSB's Due Process Protocol.

Phase 1: Review of GRI Universal Standards (now complete) 

A multi-stakeholder technical committee of experts was been appointed by the GSSB to make recommendations on how to align the GRI Standards with key authoritative intergovernmental instruments in the area of human rights.

The recommendations from Phase 1 have provided input into the review of the GRI Universal Standards, which are the standards that apply to all organizations that use the GRI Standards.

The revised Universal Standards now fully reflect due diligence expectations for organizations to manage their impacts, including on human rights, as set forth in intergovernmental instruments by the UN and OECD. Read more about the revisions to the  Universal Standards.

Phase 2: Review of GRI Topic Standards

Following the release of the revised GRI Universal Standards in October 2021, phase 2 of the project began. The aim of phase 2 is to review the GRI Topic Standards with human rights content and develop new Topic Standards as needed. A scoping survey was launched from 24 March until 19 May 2021, to identify the priority human rights issues for revising the Topic Standards. The initial results were presented to the GSSB in July 2021.

Following the scoping survey, the GSSB identified the need to review the Labor- Topic Standards as a priority. Additional review projects will be started in due course.