Earth Charter International celebrates ten years and signs an MOU with Global Reporting Initiative

In recognition of their common mission of raising awareness about sustainable development and other challenges facing humankind, and inspiring and enabling as many people as possible everywhere to play an active role in creating a better future, Earth Charter International (ECI) and GRI renewed their alliance first set up in 2008, by signing a new MoU on the 27 May 2010 at the Amsterdam Global Conference on Sustainability and Transparency.

Consolidating and building on their past relationship, the aim of this new MoU is to create an environment where there is a broad-based increase in sustainability reporting around the world using the GRI framework, inspired and driven by an ever deeper understanding of the principles and considerations set out in the Earth Charter.

Within the framework of the Programme of Cooperation, recognizing the complementary nature of their respective missions, both organizations will take appropriate opportunities to support and complement each other’s work and encourage its use as part of a comprehensive approach to responding to the challenges of moving towards a just and sustainable future.

Guidance Paper on the Earth Charter, Global Compact and GRI

To respond to the increasing number of questions as to how the Earth Charter relates to other leading global initiatives such as the UN Global Compact and the Global Reporting Initiative, Earth Charter International, in cooperation with NCDO, has developed a Guidance paper. This paper is designed to help Earth Charter users – as well as those using the GRI Guidelines and the Global Compact – to understand the synergies and complementary strengths of these three initiatives, and to help organizations to integrate the Earth Charter into their global engagement and reporting processes.

Since the Earth Charter identifies a broad spectrum of ethical commitments that are not explicitly included in the GRI Guidelines or the Global Compact, the paper will also be of interest to users of these instruments in developing their own responses. These include, for example, issues related to peace and conflict prevention, economic justice, gender equality, family well-being, the prevention of cruelty to animals, and sustainable consumer choices, among others.

Download this resource here:

The Earth Charter, GRI and the Global Compact: Guidance to Users on the Synergies in Application and Reporting (2008)