Sustainability is now a key part of how companies operate. They are expected to manage their environmental and social impacts responsibly and report them openly. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) helps with this by providing a clear framework for reporting environmental, social, and economic impacts. It promotes transparency and helps the public understand how companies support a sustainable future.

The GRI Standards are the most widely used standards for impact-based sustainability reporting worldwide. It is used by around 14,000 organizations in over 100 countries. They guide companies, governments, and NGOs in reporting their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance. These standards are regularly updated to cover new and existing topics and help organizations align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by linking GRI disclosures to SDG targets.

What GRI has to offer?

• Comprehensive range of topics: From anti-corruption to water, biodiversity to employment, tax to forced labour, they cover relevant topics across the economic, environmental and social dimensions. Organizations choose from among these to report on their significant impacts
• Flexible Structure: Organizations can either prepare a full sustainability report or report selectively on specific topics, depending on stakeholder needs or regulatory requirements.
• Modular System which comprises of 3 series of standards: Universal Standards, Sector Standards, and topic Standards
• Usable by Any Organization: Designed for all types of organizations — large or small, public or private, across any sector or location and reporting experience — promoting standardized and comparable sustainability data.
• Compatible with Other Frameworks: GRI works alongside global frameworks such as International Integrated Reporting Framework, CDP (climate & water disclosures), SASB industry standards
• Aligned with Global Best Practices: Aligned with leading international instruments for responsible business behaviour, including like UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, ILO Conventions, and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises
• Free and Accessible: GRI Standards are freely available in multiple languages including English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Spanish, and more — making them globally accessible.

GRI helps in enhancing stakeholder trust, promoting environmental responsibility, driving continuous improvement by tracking and reporting performance, and supporting alignment with global goals.

The modular system of GRI standards comprises of 3 series of standards:

1. The Universal Standards

Help organizations define material topics and provide disclosures on organization’s specific contexts like size, activities, governance and stakeholder engagement. All 3 universal standards are applied to all reporting organizations.

• GRI 1: Foundation 2021- Requirements and principles for using GRI standards
• GRI 2 : General Disclosures 2021- Disclosure about the reporting organization
• GRI 3: Material Topics 2021- Disclosure and guidance about the organization’s material  topics

2. The Sector Standards

Sector standards, if available and relevant (e.g., oil companies must use the Oil and Gas Sector Standard) supports to guide companies in sector-specific material reporting. For eg:

• GRI 11: Oil and Gas Sector 2021
• GRI 12: Coal sector 2022

3. The Topic Standards

Provide detailed disclosures on managing impacts for specific issues (e.g., water use, emissions, labour practices).

• GRI 200s: Economic topics
• GRI 300s: Environmental topics
• GRI 400s: Social topics

How ARRO by CeroED supports GRI based reporting

CeroED, through its block chain-enabled, AI-driven platform ARRO, simplifies and strengthens the GRI reporting process for organizations along with other ESG frameworks. Simple, standards-based questionnaires make sustainability reporting easier for companies by guiding them to collect relevant data efficiently and align their disclosures with frameworks like the GRI. ARRO facilitates stakeholder engagement through user-friendly platforms that collect and organize feedback, while advanced analytics help prioritize material topics and sustainability risks. CeroED ensures a safe and strategic journey towards sustainability and reporting.

Discover how ARRO can support your sustainability goals!

Contact: info@ceroed.com

For more info: www.ceroed.com

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