Our position in the reporting landscape

With changes underway and a myriad of guidelines and frameworks, the sustainability reporting landscape can appear complex. Yet the simple reality is that only GRI provides comprehensive sustainability reporting standards for addressing impacts on the economy, environment and people, which meet the needs of multiple stakeholders. 

We firmly believe that, for reporting on sustainability issues to be effective, it has to be built on a two-pillar corporate reporting structure, with financial and sustainability disclosures on an equal footing. We are working with a variety of international and intergovernmental organizations to achieve this, including the IFRS Foundation and the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG). The aim of our collaboration is to achieve greater alignment and harmonization of the sustainability reporting landscape for the benefit of companies, investors, and society at large.  

GRI and the IFRS Foundation

By working together, the IFRS Foundation and GRI provide two pillars of international sustainability reporting – a first representing investor-focused capital market standards, the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards (set by the International Sustainability Standards Board - ISSB), and a second pillar of GRI sustainability reporting requirements (set by GRI Global Sustainability Standards Board - GSSB).

Most recently, the two organizations annouced a deepening working relationship, with the aim of delivering full interoperability between the the standards from GRI and the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB).

At the begining of 2024, GRI and the IFRS Foundation published Interoperability considerations for GHG emissions when applying GRI Standards and ISSB Standards. This mapping resource shows the high degree of alignment achieved so far between the two standards.

In March 2022, GRI and the IFRS Foundation first signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to coordinate work programs and standard-setting activities.

 

GRI and EFRAG

In July 2021, GRI and the European Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) began working together to co-construct the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), which set mandatory disclosure requirements under the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) for some 50,000 companies. Under the EFRAG-GRI cooperation agreement, the two organizations joined each other’s technical expert groups and cooperated to align standard-setting activities and timelines as much as possible.

Key recent developments include:

  • In July 2024, GRI published FAQs on what the new ESRS means for GRI reporters.
  • IN May 2024, GRI and GRI and European Parliament CSRD Rapporteur Pascal Durand collaborated to launch the CSRD Essentials publication,m covering key themes on implementation of the new directive.
  • In December 2023, GRI published an ESRS-GRI Standards data point mapping to support GRI reporters who are preparing for the first application of the ESRS. 
  • In November 2023, GRI and EFRAG signed a new Memorandum of Understanding, which substantiates the benefits of the alignment achieved between the ESRS and the GRI Standards and commits the organizations to continue working together.
  • As a first tangible outcome of this second cooperation agreement, a GRI-ESRS Interoperability Index has been made available, setting out how the disclosure requirements and datapoints in each set of standards relate to each other, emphasizing the high degree of commonality already achieved.
  • In September 2023, GRI and EFRAG issued a joint statement confirming the high level of interoperability achieved between their respective standards on impact reporting.

 

 

The GRI Perspective

You can learn more about GRI’s stance on a variety of topics on the sustainability reporting landscape in The GRI Perspective.

A regular series of briefings, launched in 2022, The GRI Perspective dives under the surface of topical themes in the world of sustainability reporting including the reporting landscape, materiality, tax, ESG standards and frameworks, and the role of a stakeholder-centric model in corporate transparency.