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Albert Vilario Alonso Follow


Consultant in Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability, Reputation and Corporate Communicatio
Apr : < min read

Sustainability Reporting: The New


GRI Standards.

NOTE: This article was first published in spanish and can be found here.

The latest version of the Sustainability Reporting Standards of the Global


Reporting Initiative (GRI) has recently been released. This version, which
will replace the previous G4, has been baptized simply as GRI Standards.

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.

We will now comment on the new guide, as a first general


approximation for the reader based on the presentation that is available
on the GRI website.

Characteristics of the new standards.


They present a more flexible and future-proof structure, ensuring
that GRI standards remain up-to-date and adequate, and their references
are better suited to policy initiatives to enable greater integration into
governments and market legislation around the world.

They have been developed with multiple contributions from interested


parties always bearing in mind the public interest.

What changes do they have regarding G4?


The new standards have:

New modular structure: standards are now organized as a modular


set of interrelated standards.

New format with clearer requirements: the new format has clear
distinctions between Requirements, Recommendations, and
Orientation.

Clearer content: key G4 concepts have been clarified to improve


understanding and application of the standards. For example, the
contents of G4 (including indicators) now have unique identifiers based
on the number of the guide (eg the G410 content is now 1028, located
in GRI 102: General Contents).

Greater flexibility and transparency in the use of standards:


both for organizations that prepare a report in accordance with
standards, and for those that use specific guidelines to report specific
information.

General reprint: G4 content has been edited for clarity and simpler
language has been used.

Source: Grlobal Reporting Initiative.

Modular structure: universal and


specific guides.
The new GRI is structured in 3 guides called universal (101, 102 and 103)
that are applicable to all types of organizations, and a total of 33 specific
guides that are organized by economic themes (series 200),
environmental (300 series), and social(400 series), and that can be used
depending on what issues are relevant to organizations.

Modular structure GRI Standards. Source: GRI.

What do universal guidelines contain?


As we have commented, there are 3 guides considered universal:

GRI 101: Foundation. It includes the principles of reporting, the basic


requirements for using standards for the writing of sustainability
reports, and details on how to use and refer to the standards (including
the in accordance according to the G4 criteria).

GRI 102: General contents. Includes the General Basic Contents of


G4.

GRI 103: Management approach. It includes information on the


management approach (DMA) and G4 content, along with additional
guidance and recommendations (eg, G4 claim mechanisms).

What do the specific guidelines contain?


The 200 series of new GRI standards include guides on specific topics that
are used to report information about the organizations significant
economic-related impacts.

Specifically, they are the following:

GRI 201: Economic Performance.

GRI 202: Presence in the market.

GRI 203: Indirect economic impacts.

GRI 204: Public Procurement Practices.

GRI 205: Anticorruption.

GRI 206: Anti-competitive behavior.

The 300 series includes guides on specific topics used to report


information on significant impacts of the organization related to
environmental issues.

In this case, they are the following 7 guides:

GRI 301: Materials.

GRI 302: Energy.

GRI 303: Water.

GRI 304: Biodiversity.

GRI 305: Emissions.

GRI 306: Dumps and waste.

GRI 307: Environmental Compliance.

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 401: Employment.

GRI 402: Company / employee relations.

GRI 403: Occupational health and safety.

GRI 404: Training and education.

GRI 405: Diversity and equal opportunities.

GRI 406: Non-discrimination.

GRI 407: Freedom of association and collective bargaining.

GRI 408: Child Labor.

GRI 409: Forced or compulsory labor.

GRI 410: Safety Practices.

GRI 411: Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

GRI 412: Evaluation of Human Rights.

GRI 413: Local communities.

GRI 414: Social evaluation of providers.

GRI 415: Public policies.

GRI 416: Health and safety of the client.

GRI 417: Marketing and labeling.

GRI 418: Customer Privacy.

GRI 419: Socioeconomic Compliance.

Grades of compliance with GRI Standards.


GRI standards are primarily designed to be used together when preparing a
report in accordance with the standards. This fact will indicate that the
Information Principles have been applied and that the organization has
identified and informed on all material or relevant issues.

The core and comprehensive options that already existed in G4 continue


with minor changes due to the new structure.

Specific guidelines can also be used to report specific information. This is


called a GRI-referenced claim and must specify specifically what
reference standards and sections have been used.

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.

It also states that information principles, the management approach (DMA)


and the emphasis on reporting only on material issues are still present and
that some content has been clarified and some parts of it have been
relocated or merged to the end to reduce duplication.

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.

Guides and documents can be downloaded from these two links


(standards and resources).

Sustainability Gri Reporting Csr Corporate Responsibility

Albert Vilario Alonso Follow


Consultant in Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability, Reputation and
Corporate Communication,and integration of people with disabilities.

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