As highlighted in the Sustainability and business — the call to action; build back better report, we started a programme of thought leadership to explore accountancy and sustainability. This is part of a series of briefs exploring the topic of sustainability, business and the finance professional’s key role. These briefs will help organisations consider the sustainability issues, how to integrate them into their long-term decision-making, and how to incorporate these issues into internal and external reporting.
This paper is designed as a summary of a specific standard or framework. It is written from the management accounting perspective. As a finance professional, you are likely to encounter one or many of the sustainability frameworks and standards. It is a crowded and fragmented landscape, with slightly different terms, inconsistent language and various measures between the numerous methodologies. Adding to the confusion is whether adoption is voluntary or mandatory and that some organisations work with combinations of standards and frameworks at the same time. Finally, the approaches to reporting also differ. They range from annual reports, integrated reports, sections on an organisation’s website aimed at a specific audience or a stand-alone sustainability report.
Fortunately, there are several initiatives underway to address this fragmented accounting and reporting landscape. They will build a coherent global approach to corporate reporting that encompasses financial and non-financial reporting.1
A framework or a set of standards? The difference
A framework is a set of principles-based guidance for how information can be structured and prepared, and what broad topics should be covered. A set of standards are specific, replicable and detailed requirements for what should be reported for each topic. They are rules-based requirements.
Background
The GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) is an independent international organisation that provides the most widely used standards for sustainability reporting. The GRI was founded in 1997 in the wake of the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the first set of GRI reporting guidelines was published in 2000. In 2016, the GRI transitioned from providing guidelines to having global standards for sustainability reporting, developed by the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB), an independent operating body under the auspices of the GRI. The GRI also assists organisations on their sustainability reporting journey.
In July 2021, GRI announced it was working with the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) in the role of ‘co-constructor’ of new EU sustainability reporting standards; the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) proposal.2
A joint announcement from the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation and GRI, in March 2022, revealed a collaboration agreement, in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). This agreement seeks to align standard-setting activities between the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB) at GRI and the International Sustainability Board (ISSB) at IFRS.3
This paper summarizes the most recent versions of the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards (GRI Standards) as of October 2021, which have an effective date of 1 January 2023.4