Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Reporting Standards

Authors: Vanessa Heidt, Anne Hovehne, Lea Neill, Annika Strehl
Last updated: December 19, 2022

1 Definition and relevance

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is a worldwide operating company which provides guidelines for all kinds of organizations to improve their transparency, especially regarding non-financial performance. The aim of the GRI standards is to measure the impact of an organization regarding sustainability topics. The triple bottom line of sustainability is the basis for GRI standards. ¹

If we turn our attention to companies, we see that their role in the sustainable development process has changed. The traditional view that companies are only responsible for generating profits has eroded. Sustainable reporting shows how companies and organizations influence the economy, but also the environment and society. Sustainability reports show the corporate commitment and performance of companies in terms of sustainability and are therefore a critical component when it comes to corporate communication. Overall, it can be said that sustainability reporting contributes to the implementation of a responsible corporate strategy and thus also to the implementation of corporate social responsibility.

The GRI framework is one of the leading standards for the compilation of sustainability reports. According to the GRI, the GRI standards have been applied by over a thousand reporting organizations in a hundred countries. In addition to the standards, the GRI also provides other services such as online learning and training. This is intended to help organizations become experts in sustainability reporting. Companies are also supported in aligning their business activities with the Sustainable Development Goals.

According to the GRI, impact can be understood as the ‘effect the organization has or could have on the economy, environment, and people, including on their human rights, which in turn can indicate its contribution (negative or positive) to sustainable development‘. ² Impact can be positive or negative which can affect the financial situation of an organization directly.

Besides ‘Impact’ there are three more key concepts: ‘Material topics’, ‘Due diligence’ and ‘Stakeholder’. Material topics reporting is necessary for structuring the report. Some activities of an organization have impact on several topics. For measuring the overall impact on one topic in the end, it is beneficial to report topic related. Due diligence means that ecological, economic, and social aspects shall be considered. If it is not possible to find out all kinds of impacts regarding these aspects, the ‘severity’ and the ‘probability of occurrence’ is relevant for prioritizing. When it comes to human rights violation, the severity is the only indicator. ³

The first GRI guideline was launched in 2000. Since then, it has been continuously updated. In 2015 they implemented the sustainable development goals to their framework. ⁴ GRI standards are aligned with the human rights. ⁵

The standards refer to the sustainability definition from the United Nations which says: Sustainability or sustainable development is a ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. ⁶

2 Background

GRI was founded in 1997 in Boston, USA. The foundation was a reaction to an oil spill catastrophe. Local non-governmental organizations identified the need of taking the responsible companies into account for their destructive behavior towards nature. ⁷ The GRI is located in Amsterdam, but they operate worldwide and have headquarters in North America, Brazil and Latin America, Southeast Asia and China, Africa and Europe. ⁸
The GRI is funded by several investors and income streams. This has the advantage that the influence is distributed and the GRI stays independent. There are three different main income streams consisting of the global standard fund, their program partners and the GRI community. ⁹
Funders and donators are business consulting firms such as PWC, KMPG or industrial companies such as JSW Steel Limited, an Indian steel producing company. Further supporters are from the financial sector, banks and climate funds like One Earth or institutions like the Integrated Reporting Foundation. ¹⁰ Detailed information about their financial structure can be viewed in their own report, which they publish on their website: www.globalreporting.org/about-gri/mission-history/gri-s-own-reports/. The reports follow their own standards.

3 Practical implementation

In 2020, the GRI is the most popular reporting standard globally. Approximately more than 70% of the N100 and G250 companies worldwide are using the GRI approaches for their annually sustainability reporting. ¹¹

The following eight principles shall be observed, when reporting along the GRI standards:

‘Accuracy’: Information need to be ‘detailed’ and ‘correct’.
‘Balance’: Positive and negative activities of an organization shall be reported.
‘Clarity’: The report must be easy to understand.
‘Comparability’: Reports should be used for benchmarking with others and for comparing with the organization’s own activity over time.
‘Completeness’: All activities of the reporting organization shall be reported and rated.
‘Sustainability context’: An organization shall understand and report what role they play in the larger picture of the sustainability topic.
‘Timeliness’: Others need to get the report in time to be able to make important decisions.
‘Verifiability’: All data and sources for the report must be easily accessible & comprehensible for others.

Each of these principles is explained in the GRI Guideline by further details. ¹²

The GRI provides the standards in multiple languages. The standards can be easily downloaded for free from their website: www.globalreporting.org/how-to-use-the-gri-standards/resource-center/. If additional help is required, the initiative offers services for improving the reporting process and the report itself. These services are one of their income streams. ¹³ The GRI standards can be linked to other standards such as the AICPA, CASS, BRSR, B Lab’s B Impact Assessment or others. ¹⁴

Organizations shall increase the credibility of their sustainability reporting by implementing internal and external control organs. Internal control shall be part of the daily business and can be managed by an internal auditing team. External control shall be carried out by independent auditors. ¹⁵ The dimension and the result of the auditions have an impact on the report level of the organization. The best grade is A+. ¹⁶

4 Structure of GRI Standards

The GRI standards consist of three categories, the universal standards, the sector standards, and the topic standards. The different standard categories, their application area and mode functionality are presented in the following parts. ¹⁷

4.1 Universal standards

The universal standards are divided into three parts. GRI 1 introduces the reporting with GRI in general. The key concept with the reporting principles, mentioned in 1.2, are presented. ¹⁸ GRI 2 is mainly about the government and the strategy of the reporting organization. In this part the organization must report about e.g., Organizational details, Entities included in the organization’s sustainability reporting, the reporting period, frequency and contact point, restatements of information and external assurance. GRI 3 sets the focus on the material topics that an organization causes the largest impact on. These topics have the most potential for improvement. Therefore, the organization needs to go through all their regular activities, listing them and evaluating their impact. ¹⁹

4.2 Sector standards

Organizations need to report along the so called “sector standards”. Sectors can have different impacts on sustainability because of their specific character. Sectors regarded in the GRI standards are among others mining, coal, oil & gas, or agriculture. Sectorial reporting has the aim to increase the benchmarking between the acting organizations of the single sectors. ²⁰

However, there are studies which show that this is still a challenge to compare GRI reports. ²¹ Sector standards are especially important for sectors in transition, because of the high number of CO2-emissions they are causing. ²²

There are studies pointing out that the GRI standards are not yet perfectly applicable for organizations from the non-profit and public sector. Nevertheless, the majority of the reporting organizations in the third sector are already using GRI, which shows the potential for GRI to make corresponding adjustments. ²³

4.3 Topic standards

The topic standards provide information categorized by different topics. Standards on energy, occupational health and safety, and anti-corruption are only a few examples. Each standard includes a general overview of the subject as well as particular disclosures about the subject and how an organization handles its related affects. An organization chooses Topic Standards that are relevant to the material themes it has identified and reports on them. ²⁴^,²⁵

4.3.1 Economic

This part of the Standards is intended to be used by companies to report on their economic impacts. It consists of GRI 201 Economics Performance, GRI 202 Market Presence, GRI 203 Indirect Economic Impacts, GRI 204 Procurement Practices, GRI 205 Anti-corruption, GRI 206 Anti-competitive Behavior, and GRI 207 Tax. ²⁶ Each Topic is structured by requirements, recommendations, and guidance. The information is mainly based on the financial reports a company has published or from its internally audited management accounts.

Starting with GRI 201 Economic Performance which gives guidance how companies report on 201-1 direct economic value generated and distributed, 201-2 financial implications and other risks and opportunities due to climate change, 201-3 defined benefit plan obligations and other retirement plans, and 201-4 financial assistance received from government. The former, disclosure 201-1, includes basic financial figures as revenues, operating costs, employee wages and benefits, etc. and intends to disclose how an organization has generated value for its stakeholders and local economies, if presented in country-level detail. Disclosure 201-2 covers climate change risks and opportunities that have the potential to cause significant changes in operations, profit, or expenditure. Since governments strive to control activities that contribute to climate change, enterprises which are directly or indirectly responsible for emissions confront regulatory risks and opportunities such as higher costs or new technologies. In disclosure 201-3 the company must report on how it manages its retirement plans. The benefits of a retirement plan can lead to a commitment where the involved parties plan on their long-term economic well-being. Lastly, disclosure 201-4, draws information to calculate how much a government contributes to an organization. Goal is to have a balanced picture of the transactions between the organization and the government. ²⁷

GRI 202 Market Presence provides information about 202-1 ratios of standard entry level wage by gender compared to local minimum wage and 202-2 proportion of senior management hired from the local community. Disclosure 202-1 is critical for reducing inequities, such as wage disparities between men and women or between locals and migrants. In addition, comparing entry-level pay to local minimum wages demonstrates the competitiveness of an organization’s wages and provides information useful in determining the impact of wages on the local labor market. Comparing this data by gender may also be used to assess a company’s commitment to equal opportunity in the workplace. Furthermore, disclosure 202-2, as the name implies, inquires the share of local residents that are represented in senior management. A high proportion would indicate a positive market presence of the company because it enhances human capital, increases economic benefit to the local community and improves the companies understanding of local needs. ²⁸

In the third part, GRI 203 Indirect Economic Impacts, the 203-1 infrastructure investments and services supported as well as 203-2 significant indirect economic impacts are covered. Disclosure 203-1 may include transport lines, utilities, community social facilities, health and welfare centers, and sports centers. It is one indicator of the company’s capital contribution to the economy, along with investment in its own activities. In disclosure 203-2 all other significant indirect economic impacts are comprised such as changes in productivity because of technology or economic development in areas of high poverty. ²⁹

The GRI 204 Procurement Practices deals with the 204-1 proportion of spending on local suppliers. An organization can attract higher investment to the local community by supporting local suppliers. Local sourcing may be a useful technique for ensuring supply, promoting a stable local economy, and maintaining positive community connections. ³⁰

The next section, GRI 205 Anti-corruption, includes instruction to report 205-1 operations assessed for risks related to corruption, 205-2 communication and training about anti-corruption policies and procedures, and 205-3 confirmed incidents of corruption and actions taken. Disclosure 205-1 identifies the extent to which a risk assessment has been implemented within a company. Risk assessments may aid in determining the likelihood of corruption within and linked to the organization, as well as assisting in the development of anti-corruption policies and procedures. Disclosure 205-2 intends to build awareness and the necessary capacity to combat corruption. In disclosure 205-3 the actual number of incidents that already happened is counted and how the company reacted. ³¹

GRI 206 Anti-competitive Behavior gives advice about 206-1 legal actions for anti-competitive behavior, anti-trust, and monopoly practices. They can have an impact on customer choice, price, and other market-related aspects. Legal action signifies a scenario in which an organization’s market actions or position have grown to the point where a third party is concerned. Legal rulings resulting from these scenarios might lead to considerable market disruption as well as punitive penalties for the firm. ³²

Last but not least, GRI 207 Tax copes with the 207-1 approach to tax, 207-2 tax governance, control, and risk management, 207-3 stakeholder engagement and management concerns related to tax, and 207-4 country-by-country reporting. An organization’s tax strategy, as dealt with in disclosure 207-1, determines how it combines tax compliance with commercial operations as well as ethical, social, and sustainable development goals. It might comprise the organization’s tax principles, its attitude towards tax planning, the level of risk it is ready to tolerate, and its strategy to dealing with tax authorities. Disclosure 207-2 helps to reassure stakeholders that the organization’s activities correspond to the representations made in its tax strategy or comparable documentation concerning its tax approach. In disclosure 207-3 an organization’s method of communicating with stakeholders is set out due to its impact on reputation and credibility. This covers how the organization collaborates with tax authorities on tax system establishment, legislation, and administration. Disclosure 207-4 country-by-country reporting reports financial, economic, and tax-related information for each jurisdiction in which the organization operates. ³³

4.3.2 Environmental

This part of the Standards deals with the environmental factors. It consists of GRI 301 Materials, GRI 302 Energy, GRI 303 Water and Effluents, GRI 304 Biodiversity, GRI 305 Emissions, GRI 306 Waste, GRI 307 Environmental Compliance and GRI 308 Supplier environmental assessment. Like economic standards, the environmental standards are structured by requirements, recommendations, and guidance. Each standard shows an organization’s impact and the handling of the topic and their effects.

First, it starts with GRI 301 Materials. This part consists of three topic disclosures. The first one is 301-1 Materials used by weight or volume. The materials used for production and packaging needs to be revealed and differentiated between renewable and non-renewable materials. In 301-2 Recycled input materials used and 301-3 Reclaimed products and their packaging materials the percentage of recycled input materials or reclaimed products and their packaging must be make transparent. Dealing with this standard may lead to a more conscious use of the resources of our earth, especially when it comes to non-renewable materials. ³⁴

GRI 302 Energy deals with five disclosures. 302-1 Energy consumption within the organization, 302-2 Energy consumption outside of the organization, 302-3 Energy intensity, 302-4 Reduction of energy consumption and 302-5 Reductions in energy requirements of products and services. In this standard organizations need to reveal what types of energy sources e.g., electric power, steam, heating, and cooling energy they use, where the energy comes from and what they have saved so far compared to a base year. Renewable energy choices are important to reduce climate change and environmental impacts. Creating awareness of the organization’s own energy usage and potential for savings can lead to increasing savings being made. ³⁵

The standards continue with GRI 303 Water and Effluents which consist of two management disclosures and three other disclosures. The management disclosures conclude 303-1 Interactions with water as a shared resource and 303-2 Management of water discharge-related impacts. In 303-1 the organization needs to reveal how it uses the resource water, how it determines and manages the water-related impacts and what their water-related goals are. 303-2 contains a description of the minimum standards for the quality of wastewater discharge and how these are determined. The other three are 303-3 Water withdrawal, 303-4 Water discharge and 303-5 Water consumption, where detailed information about each topic needs to be revealed. In 303-3 and 303-4, it must be specified where the water was taken from or returned to and which areas are affected by water stress. A distinction can be made between surface water, groundwater, seawater, produced water and water from third parties. Produced water only takes place in 303-3.

Furthermore, a distinction must be made between fresh water and other water. In addition, in 303-4 it must be listed how the discharge of significant substances of concern will be addressed. In 303-5, information on total water use and total water use from areas of water stress must be presented. Further, if adverse impacts have been identified, the change in water storage must be published. In each case, contextual factors are also expected. This standard aims to provide a comprehensive overview of a given organization’s water use. By providing organizations with a comprehensive understanding of water use and its impacts, it is intended that water will be managed effectively. Organizations are encouraged to take action in areas of water stress, to be mindful of local contexts, to respect all water users and their needs, and to balance the interests of different interest groups. ³⁶

The next standard is GRI 304 Biodiversity and contains of 304-1 Operational sites owned, leased, managed in, or adjacent to, protected areas and areas of high biodiversity value outside protected areas, 304-2 Significant impacts of activities, products and services on biodiversity, 304-3 Habitats protected or restored and 304-4 IUCN Red List species and national conservation list species with habitats in areas affected by operations. As one of the exceeded planetary boundaries, it is important to protect biodiversity. ³⁷ Biodiversity is necessary to ensure the survival of humans, animals, and plants on the planet. Preserving natural ecosystems provides clean water and air. This helps to ensure food safety and health. The standard deals with the problem of biodiversity loss and organizations must report their impact on biodiversity as described in the different disclosure topics. ³⁸

GRI 305 Emissions is structured in seven subtopics. These are 305-1 Direct (Scope 1) GHG emissions, 305-2 Energy indirect (Scope 2) GHG emissions, 305-3 Other indirect (Scope 3) GHG emissions, 305-4 GHG emissions intensity, 305-5 Reduction of GHG emissions, 305-6 Emissions of ozone-depleting substances (ODS) and 305-7 Nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur oxides (SOx), and other significant air emissions. It is shown that different kind of emissions in the air are topic in this standard as well as the three scope classifications from the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. Carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) and nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) are the greenhouse gases that are covered by the standard. The gross volume of emissions must be published. The company must be transparent about the emissions included, the choice of base year, the source of the emission factors and the calculation methods used. All emissions, ozone-depleting substances and pollutants have a negative impact on climate change, health, and Human relations in communities. It is important that organizations reduce their emissions to keep life on planet Earth possible. Through the standard, they become aware of their impact through emissions and can aim for reductions. ³⁹

The following standard is GRI 306 Waste. It contains of two management disclosures and three other topic disclosures. Management topics are 306-1 Waste generation and significant waste-related impacts as well as 306-2 Management of significant waste-related impacts. In 306-1 the waste-related impact of an organization needs to be revealed including what causes the impact and if it caused by their own activity or is related to the supply chain. In standard 306-2 the organization must describe what measures they take to manage the waste-related impact. Topic disclosures deals with 306-3 Waste generated, 306-4 Waste diverted from disposal and 306-5 Waste directed to disposal. In these disclosures it must be revealed how much waste is generated and how the organization dispose of the garbage. This involves looking at waste from the entire value chain. Responsible use of resources is important, which is why waste should be reduced through reuse and recycling. Organizations can use the standard to identify their waste reduction potential and take action to improve the current situation. ⁴⁰

There is another GRI 306 standard called GRI 306 Effluents and Waste. It is an outdated version of this standard which gets updated by GRI 306 Waste in 2020. That’s why this wiki focuses on the actual version. ⁴¹

GRI 307 Environmental Compliance consists of 307-1 Non-compliance with environmental laws and regulations. This standard focuses on the compliance with environmental laws and regulations by the organization. It involves different levels of laws and regulations like international declarations, conventions and contracts, plus national, sub-national, regional and local regulations. In 307-1 the organization must be transparent about non-compliance by revealing fines and sanctions. If an organization acts in compliance than a short statement about it is enough. ⁴²

The last standard of this topic is GRI 308 Supplier Environmental Assessment. Topics of this sections are 308-1 New suppliers that were screened using environmental criteria and 308-2 Negative environmental impacts in the supply chain and actions taken. An organization could be participating in an impact by their own activities as well as the activities of partners in the supply chain. Negative impact in the supply chain should be limited with this standard by on the one hand showing the percentage of new suppliers that are evaluated in 308-1. And on the other hand, by being transparent about the negative environmental impact in the supply chain and the measures that are taken against it in 308-2. Measures can be, on the one hand, the agreement of supplier improvements and, on the other hand, business relationships can be terminated. In addition to one’s own organization, other organizations are also brought to implement improvements. ⁴³

4.3.3 Social

The third topic-specific standard is called “social” (GRI 400). ⁴⁴ In total, there are 17 thematic standards within the GRI 400 series. ⁴⁵ It should be noted that the final GRI 400 standard is GRI 418. In the latest English version of the GRI from 2021, GRI 412 “Human Rights Assessment” and GRI 419 “Socioeconomic Compliance” have been omitted. In other languages, these two standards are still available. This could be due to the fact that the translations of GRI Standards 2021 update are not published until September or October (exception Spanish).

The social standards are often broken down into further sub-items and vary in extent. Each GRI 400 standard starts with a topic management disclosure, which can be seen as a supplement to GRI 3, followed by the Topic disclosure. Both topic management disclosure and topic disclosure of the GRI 400 standards are divided into requirements, recommendations, and guidance. In the following, mainly the topic disclosure will be discussed. ⁴⁶

GRI 401 Employment deals with three important aspects that make assertions about the relationship between the organization and its employees. GRI 401-1 requires disclosure of new employee hires and employee turnover. This can indicate whether a company intends to have a diverse team of employees. High turnover may indicate that employees are dissatisfied or, if high turnover occurs particularly among certain age or gender groups, that there is structural incompatibility or inequality in the workplace. Furthermore, GRI 401-2 requires the disclosure of benefits provided to full-time employees that are not provided to temporary or part-time employees. This means, for example, health care or life insurance. In this way, the minimum benefits for full-time employees can be filtered out. GRI 401-3 deals with parental leave. The number of employees who take advantage of parental leave must be disclosed by gender. The number of employees who return to work after parental leave must also be disclosed by gender. The recommendations include calculations of the return to work rate and the retention rate. GRI 401-3 is important in the sense of understanding what the employer’s practices are in terms of reconciling career and family. In addition, the gender disaggregation can be used to identify the potential differences in parental leave practices for men and women. ⁴⁷

GRI 402 Labor/Management Relations requires disclosure of minimum notice periods regarding operational changes (GRI402-1). For organizations with collective bargaining agreements, disclosure is also required as to whether a notice period is specified for the determination and negotiation of collective bargaining agreements. This standard discloses the extent to which employees are involved in changes and the extent to which employees have the opportunity to negotiate changes. Thus, Labor/Management Relations and the structures of personnel management can be identified (e.g., flat vs. hierarchical personnel management). ⁴⁸

The third and comprehensive social GRI standard is GRI 403 Occupational Health and Safety. The first aspect is a detailed description of how the term “worker” is defined. The term “workers” is divided into three categories. Workers includes employees but also persons who are not employees but whose work or workplace is controlled by the organization, and workers who are neither employees nor whose work/workplace is controlled by the organization, but the organization’s operations, products, or services are directly linked to significant occupational health and safety impacts on those workers through its business relationships. The first topic, management disclosure, includes GRI 403-01 to GRI4 403-07. Due to their comprehensive character, they will also be discussed in more detail in the following. It is important to note that the information on the standards within management disclosure in GRI 403 relates to the (management) processes and structural procedures of an organization with regard to employee health and safety. First disclosure is 403-1 organization’s occupational health and safety management system. It must be disclosed whether there is an occupational health and safety management system in the company and which employees are included in it. In addition, it must be shown on which guidelines or laws the occupational health and safety management system is based. The second disclosure is 403-2 hazard identification, risk assessment and incident investigation. Also required is the outline of the procedure for notifying workers of work-related hazards and hazardous situations, and a description of measures and procedures to enable workers to remove themselves from hazardous work situations. The procedure for investigating work-related accidents must also be disclosed. 403-3 deals with occupational health services and requires a description of occupational health services that help minimize work-related hazards and how employees can access them. It also requires a description of how the quality of occupational health services is ensured. Disclosure of worker participation, consultation, and communication on occupational health and safety is required by 403-4. 403-5 requires the description of worker training on occupational health and safety. Promotion of worker health and the related description of (voluntary) non-work-related medical benefits for employees is required by 403-6. The last disclosure of the first management part concerns the description of the approach to prevention and mitigation of occupational health and safety impacts directly linked by business relationships GRI 403-7. In the second part of GRI 403, the topic disclosures, figures must be disclosed on how many workers are covered by the occupational health and safety management system. The disclosure of work-related injuries is required by 403-9. The number of work-related injuries classified into different categories (e.g., high-consequence work-related injuries) must be disclosed. Key indicators must also be calculated. These include Rate of fatalities as a result of work-related injury, Rate of high-consequence work-related injuries (excluding fatalities) and Rate of recordable work-related injuries. 403-10 Work-related ill health must also be listed in their number and by category classification. ⁴⁹

GRI 404 Training and Education consists of 404-1 average hours of training per year per employee and 404-2 Programs for upgrading employee skills and transition assistance programs. Average training hours must be calculated as a key indicator by gender and by employee category. 404-2 shall disclose the employee satisfaction associated with training and indicate the extent to which employees are supported by the organization in their transition to retirement. ⁵⁰

GRI 405 Diversity and Equal Opportunity deals with disclosure 405-1 diversity of governance bodies and employees and 405-2 Ratio of basic salary and remuneration of women to men. The percentage of persons in governance bodies must be disclosed by gender, age and other indicators of diversity. This classification must also be provided for other employee categories. This provides a quantitative measure of diversity in an organization. ⁵¹

GRI 406 Non-discrimination includes disclosure 406-1 incidents of discrimination and corrective actions taken. The standard defines which reasons must be stated for discrimination. These include, for example, race, skin color, gender, religion, political opinion, national origin or social origin, etc. Incidents of discrimination that have been reviewed by the organization or measures taken as a result must be described. ⁵²

GRI 407 Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining provides disclosure 407-1 operations and suppliers in which the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining may be at risk. In addition to identifying operations and suppliers where the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining may be at risk, measures to support freedom of association and collective bargaining must also be disclosed. The information provided by a company serves to demonstrate the organization’s obligation to exercise due diligence with regard to human rights and freedom of association along the value chain and thus the organization’s entire activities. In this way, the indicator also conveys that business relationships that violate these rights will not be tolerated. ⁵³

GRI 408 Child Labor is concerned with 408-1 operations and suppliers at significant risk for incidents of child labor. The structure of the standard is very similar to its predecessor 407. operations and suppliers considered to have significant risk for incidents of child labor must additionally be named in relation to typical industries (such as manufacturing plant) and countries or regions in which child labor is expected to increase. The background is that many companies and organizations are often multinational and have global supply chains. ⁵⁴

GRI 409 Forced or Compulsory Labor focuses on disclosure 409-1 Operations and suppliers at significant risk for incidents of forced or compulsory labor. Also aligned with the guidance in 407 and 408, organizations must identify operations and suppliers by type of operation and the countries or regions in which forced or compulsory labor is likely to occur. Also, all measures to contribute to the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labor must be reported. ⁵⁵

The standards continue with GRI 410 Security Practices consisting of 410-1 security personnel trained in human rights policies or procedures. Providing comprehensive human rights training helps to guarantee that security personnel understand when to use force appropriately and how to ensure human rights respect. ⁵⁶

GRI 411 Rights of Indigenous Peoples deals with disclosure 411-1 incidents of violations involving rights of indigenous peoples. This information is primarily important in regions where indigenous peoples live or have interests near operations of the organization. ⁵⁷

Section 413 Local Communities is separated in 413-1 operations with local community engagement, impact assessments, and development programs and 413-2 operations with significant actual and potential negative impacts on local communities. The former pursues the goal to understand actual and potential impacts as well as the expectations and needs of the local community. It aims to pinpoint the components that have been regularly used across the whole company. The latter lets interested parties know if an organization is aware of the harm, it does to the community. Additionally, it helps the company to better prioritize its attention to residents. ⁵⁸

Continuing with GRI 414 Supplier Social Assessment which consists of disclosure 414-1 new suppliers that were screened using social criteria and 414-2 negative social impacts in the supply chain and actions taken. In former aims to give stakeholders information about what percentage of suppliers selected or contracted have undergone social impact due diligence. The latter reveals how much awareness the company has regarding significant actual and potential negative impacts in the supply chain. ⁵⁹

In GRI 415 Public Policy disclosure 415-1 political contributions are addressed. It can show to what extent a company’s political contributions are consistent with its declared principles, objectives, or other public stances. Furthermore, it can reveal the risk of corruption. ⁶⁰

GRI 416 Customer Health and Safety is composed of 416-1 assessment of the health and safety impacts of product and service categories and 416-2 incidents of non-compliance concerning the health and safety impacts of products and services. Both disclosures are meant to reveal how a business approaches health and safety throughout the life of a product or service as well as how strictly it adheres to laws and voluntary rules pertaining to consumer safety. ⁶¹

The next set, named GRI 417 Marketing and Labelling, consists of three disclosures. First, disclosure 417-1 requirements for product and service information and labelling. Second, disclosure 417-2 incidents of non-compliance concerning product and service information and labelling. Third, disclosure 417-3 incidents of non-compliance concerning marketing communications. This involves providing customers with correct and sufficient information on the benefits and drawbacks of the goods and services they use, both from the standpoint of product and service labelling and marketing communications. Customers can make more informed choices if they have access to information regarding product composition, safe usage, and disposal practices, as well as fair and ethical marketing messages. ⁶²

Lastly, GRI 418 Customer Privacy is concerned with disclosure 418-1 substantiated complaints concerning breaches of customer privacy and losses of customer data. This Standard covers the subject of consumer privacy, including data losses and privacy violations. These may be the result of failure to abide by current legal requirements, rules, and/or voluntary standards for the protection of client privacy. ⁶³

5 Drivers and barriers

This chapter deals with the drivers and barriers of the GRI standards. Starting with the drivers and continuing with the barriers. The arguments concentrate on drivers and barriers of the standard in general, through the initiative and the use in a company.

5.1 Drivers

Broad Field of Application
Beginning with the drivers or advantages of the framework. The GRI Standard is a reporting framework that is very broad and applicable to many organizations. This is particularly evident in the structure of the standard, which is divided into Universal Standards, Sector Standards, and Topic Standards. The Topic Standards are based on the triple bottom line approach with the topics of economy, ecology, and social issues, which has strongly influenced the concept of sustainability. ⁶⁴

Transparency
In addition, the standards are described extensively and in detail and are thus considered transparent to the users of the GRI standard. The inclusion of many relevant stakeholders and groups is given by the standard. By publishing the GRI Report, all stakeholders can view sustainability-related values of the company. In addition to transparency about these activities, publication also creates a kind of commitment. In particular, the fact that future measures for improvement are also stated makes it possible for stakeholders to monitor the achievement of objectives in the next report. ⁶⁵

Comparability
In addition, the standards are to be applied uniformly internationally. This ensures a high degree of comparability among the users of the work. Comparability enables the stakeholders addressed to make more informed decisions when it comes to choosing an investment or employer, for example. Benchmarking among organizations is also possible. This creates competition for sustainable aspects, which can lead to their increasing implementation. ⁶⁶

Improvement and Further Development
The initiative, which has published the standard, generates further benefits, which are outlined in the following paragraph. First of all, the GRI standard is subject to continuous review, improvement and further development by the initiative. To this end, the GRI initiates cooperation with companies, political institutions as well as universities, for example, in order to adapt the standards on an ongoing basis and in line with current knowledge. The framework thus represents a practice-oriented and scientifically based approach, which is created with the support of experts. ⁶⁷

Improvement of Internal Management
Further benefits arise from the use of the GRI standards for the organizations. According to one study, organizations do not use the standards exclusively to produce a sustainability report. The tool also improves internal organizational governance and enables the identification of risks and opportunities. In addition, the report promotes internal acceptance of the implementation and integration of sustainable activities within the company. Moreover, publishing the GRI report promotes the organization’s positive reputation and can be used as a marketing tool. Transparency and credibility towards stakeholders are also improved. ⁶⁸

Improvement Through the Supply Chain
Many organizations work with a variety of actors along the supply chain. GRI 308 and GRI 414 in particular can be used to get partners along the supply chain to implement social and ecological improvements. Both standards start with the verification of partners against ecological or social criteria and measures in the event of non-compliance with the minimum standards must also be considered. GRI reporting organizations can implement measures. These can be either agreeing to make improvements or dissolving a partnership. If organizations want to continue to work with the demanding organization, they must improve, provided these actions are taken. So, in addition to improvements by their own organization, others can also be made to implement improvements. In particular, if the reporting organization has high market power and others rely on the business relationship, partners will seek demanded improvements. ⁶⁹

5.2 Barriers

Furthermore, there are also barriers or disadvantages associated with reporting in general as well as the use of the GRI Standard for organizations. These are described below.

Lack of Motivation
First, for many organizations, sustainability reporting is currently voluntary. Those organizations that have not yet been affected by the reporting requirement sometimes lack the motivation to implement the report on a voluntary basis, even though benefits would accrue to the organization. ⁷⁰ However, various laws, such as the planned Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive of the EU Commission, are increasingly obliging organizations to report, both directly and indirectly. ⁷¹

Effort and Complexity
If an organization has voluntarily decided or has been directly or indirectly obliged to prepare a report, hurdles also arise in the preparation process. The organization must first familiarize itself with the chosen standard and learn what needs to be done. As already mentioned, the GRI standard is broad and comprehensive. The high level of complexity must be understood and implemented. To do this, the organization needs resources such as professionals, financial resources, and time. This barrier is mitigated by the benefit of good guidance from the GRI, but not completely removed. Also, data difficulties such as boundary setting, lack of available data, and definition of indicators are among the reporting challenges. ⁷²

Data Availability
For most companies, implementing a sustainability report is a completely new topic. Other than financial data, it is not compulsory to gather environmental or social data. Therefore, for many companies it very hard at the beginning to find out where to find the relevant data. ⁷³ Although GRI gives advice within their guidelines ⁷⁴, it is different from company to company where specific information is found.

Overall, the advantages of reporting outweigh the disadvantages. If an organization has the resources available, then it makes sense to implement sustainability reporting. The GRI standard is a very good framework for this, which is complex, but brings advantages with the use of the necessary resources. Overall, the long-term success of the organization can be improved or even ensured by the positive aspects.

6 Summary

To conclude this paper, it can be summarized that GRI is an independent and worldwide operating organization that develops standards regarding sustainability and helps organizations and governments to understand their impact on topics such as climate change, human rights, and corruption. The concept has been continuously developed since 1997 and not only increases transparency for the reader, but also offers some incentives for the reporting organizations/companies. The aim of the standards is to measure the impact of an organization regarding sustainability topics. The GRI is funded by several investors and income streams which has the advantage that the influence is distributed and the GRI stays independent.

More than 70% of the N100 and G250 companies worldwide are using the GRI approaches for their annually sustainability reporting which makes them to the most popular reporting standard globally, in 2020. The division into universal, sector, and topic standards helps organization to choose their reporting measures. The topic standards, divided into economic, environmental, and social cover the triple bottom line of sustainability and give companies orientation on what is relevant to report.

Drivers of the GRI standard includes, that the standards are very broad and applicable to many organizations. Also, the transparency for not only the businesses but governments and other organizations is a big advantage. Moreover, a high degree of comparability between different companies has proven as very useful as well as the improvement and further development as more organizations join the reporting. Even for businesses itself the reporting comes with positive side effects, namely the improvement of internal management.

Nevertheless, there are also obstacles for organizations and companies in disclosing the required GRI standards. The lack of motivation is one of the main problems why companies decide to not publish a sustainability report. Further, the effort and complexity of the whole process is a huge barrier. Moreover, the lack of data availability is a big problem for companies that hinders companies to introduce GRI in their company. It should also be noted that reporting by organizations/companies even using the GRI standards does not necessarily lead to desirable measures of action by the organizations/companies.

All in all, it can be said, that the GRI standards are a useful framework for companies, organizations, and the government to implement successful sustainability reporting in the organization.

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