The Global Reporting Initiative

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The Global Reporting Initiative

• Lecture 12

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CSR Reporting

• There is one standard reporting system for
  corporate sustainability reports and many
  non-standard approaches, the Global Reporting
  Initiative
• GRI is an outgrowth of the CERES sustainability
  reporting format

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What is it?

• A multi-stakeholder process and independent
  institution, mission is to develop and
  disseminate globally applicable Sustainability
  Reporting Guidelines.
• Guidelines are for voluntary use by for
  organizations reporting on the economic,
  environmental, and social dimensions of their
  activities, products, and services.
• The GRI incorporates the active participation of
  representatives from business, accountancy,
  investment, environmental, human rights, research
  and labor organizations from around the world.
• Started in 1997, GRI became independent in 2002.
  It is an official collaborating center of the
  UNEP and works in cooperation with the Global
  Compact.
• http//www.globalreporting.org

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The Global Compact

• At the World Economic Forum on 31 January 1999,
  Kofi Annan challenged business leaders to join an
  international initiative the Global Compact
  to bring companies together with UN agencies,
  labor and civil society to support universal
  environmental and social principles.
• Hundreds of companies from all over the world,
  labor and civil society organizations are now
  engaged in the Global Compact to advance ten
  universal principles in the areas of human
  rights, labor, the environment and
  anti-corruption.
• Through the power of collective action, the
  Global Compact seeks to promote responsible
  corporate citizenship so that business can be
  part of the solution to the challenges of
  globalization. In this way, the private sector
  in partnership with other social actors can
  help realize the a vision of a more sustainable
  and inclusive global economy.
• http//www.unglobalcompact.org

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GRI Family of Documents
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The Reporting Guidelines

• 2002 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines The
  Guidelines represent the foundation upon which
  all other GRI reporting documents are based, and
  outline core content that is broadly relevant to
  all organizations regardless of size, sector, or
  location. All organizations seeking to report
  using the GRI framework should use the Guidelines
  as the basis for their report, supported by other
  GRI documents as applicable.

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Technical Protocols

• To assist users in applying the Guidelines,
  GRI is developing technical protocols on
  indicator measurement. Each protocol addresses a
  specific indicator (e.g., energy use, child
  labour) by providing detailed definitions,
  procedures, formulae and references to ensure
  consistency across reports. Over time, most of
  the indicators in the GRI Guidelines will be
  supported by a specific technical protocol.

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Sector Supplements

• GRI recognizes the limits of a
  one-size-fits-all approach and the importance of
  capturing the unique set of sustainability issues
  faced by different industry sectors (e.g.,
  mining, automotive, banking). To address this
  need, GRI is developing sector supplements
  through multi-stakeholder processes for use with
  the standard Guidelines. Supplements are intended
  to add to, but not replace, the Guidelines. These
  supplements are at an early stage of development,
  but will grow in number and rigor over time.

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Status of Sector Supplements

• Ready to use
• Automotive
• Financial Services
• Mining and Metals
• Public Agency
• Tour Operators
• Telecommunications
• In development
• Apparel and Footwear
• Logistics and Transportation open for public
  comment

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Issue Guidance Documents

• GRI expects to develop issue-specific guidance
  documents on topics such as diversity or
  productivity to provide reporting organizations
  with additional models for presenting and
  organizing the information in the Guidelines and
  Sector Supplements.

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GRI Reporting Principles
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Description of GRI Principles

• form the framework for the report (transparency,
  inclusiveness, auditability)
• inform decisions about what to report
  (completeness, relevance, sustainability
  context)
• relate to ensuring quality and reliability
  (accuracy, neutrality, comparability) and
• inform decisions about access to the report
  (clarity, timeliness).

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Details of Principles

• The principles of transparency and inclusiveness
  represent the starting point for the reporting
  process and are woven into the fabric of all the
  other principles. All decisions about reporting
  (e.g., how, when, what) take these two principles
  and associated practices into consideration.
• The principles of sustainability context,
  completeness, and relevance play the key role in
  determining what to report. Reports should help
  place the organizations performance in the
  broader context of sustainability challenges,
  risks, and opportunities. The information
  contained within the report must meet the test of
  completeness in terms of the reporting boundaries
  (i.e., entities included), scope (i.e., aspects
  or issues reported), and time frame. Lastly,
  reported information should be relevant to the
  decision-making needs of stakeholders.

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• The quality and reliability of the report content
  are guided by the principles of neutrality,
  comparability, and accuracy. Reports should be
  comparable over time and across organizations.
  Information should be sufficiently accurate and
  reliable to enable its use for decision-making
  purposes. Equally important, the report should
  present its content in a balanced and unbiased
  manner.
• The principles of clarity and timeliness govern
  the access and availability of reports. Put
  simply, stakeholders should receive easily
  understood information in a time frame that
  allows them to use it effectively.
• Lastly, the principle of auditability relates to
  several other principles such as comparability,
  accuracy, neutrality, and completeness.
  Specifically, this principle refers to the
  ability to demonstrate that the processes
  underlying report preparation and information in
  the report itself meet standards for quality,
  reliability, and other similar expectations.

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GRI Content
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GRI Content Index
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British American Tobacco Polska

• In its 2003-4 CSR Report, BAT Polska presented
  both quantitative and qualitative Global
  Reporting Initiative (GRI) indicators, covering
  89 of such GRI indicators within the GRI 2002
  Guidelines.

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