The GRI Standards are designed to enable organisations to report publicly on their most significant impacts on the economy, the environment and people, including human rights. Reporting using the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards enhances transparency, increasing organisational accountability for these impacts and plans the organisation has to contribute to sustainable development.
The GRI system of interrelated standards includes GRI Universal Standards, GRI Sector Standards, and GRI Topic Standards. Universal Standards apply to all users; the industry sectors in which an organisation operates determines the use of relevant Sector Standards; use of Topic Standards is determined by a materiality assessment.
GRI Universal standards
GRI 101: Foundation — Introduces the Standards, explains key concepts and specifies the principles for compliance for reporting in accordance with the GRI Standards.
GRI 102: General disclosures — Provides contextual information about the organisation, its reporting practices and governance that are necessary for understanding organisational impacts
GRI 103: Material Topics 2021 — Provides step-by-step guidance on determining material topics, disclosures about its process for determining those topics and how it manages each topic
GRI Sector Standards
GRI Sector Standards provide information about likely material topics and what information to report for those topics. The GRI Sector Program has plans to develop standards for 40 sectors, prioritized by highest impact. At the time of the launch of the revised GRI Standards, only the Oil and Gas Sector Standard had been made available for public use; standards for coal and agriculture, aquaculture and fishing have been open for public comment; a mining sector standard is underway.
GRI Topic Standards
The GRI Topic Standards, which are summarized below, have remained essentially consistent. While a selection of these carries 2018, 2019 and 2020 dates, the majority of these topic standards were developed in 2016.