NOTE: This article was first published in spanish and can be found here.
The new GRI standards are issued by the Global Sustainability Standards
Board (GSSB), which is independent of the GRI and incorporates the key
concepts and disclosures in the Guidelines and the G4 Application Manual
but with a new and improved Structure and format.
New format with clearer requirements: the new format has clear
distinctions between Requirements, Recommendations, and
Orientation.
General reprint: G4 content has been edited for clarity and simpler
language has been used.
To conclude, the 400 series is the longest and consists of the following 19
guides used to report information on the significant impacts of the
organization related to social issues:
GRI clarifications.
The Global Reporting Initiative makes it very clear that these GRI
Standards are not a G5 version because no new topics have been added
and the key concepts and most contents are the same as in G4, so for
organizations that already had reported in accordance with G4, the impacts
on their reporting process should be relatively minor.
Although the use of these standards will not be required for reports
published before July 1, 2018, organizations are encouraged to leave behind
the G4 and to use the GRI Standards before that deadline.
Documentation available.
As of today, both the guides and the additional documents and resources
(introduction to the new guide, brochures, glossary, map of concordances
with G4, etc.) are only available in English. The expected release dates in
other languages can be found here.
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