Today, stakeholders increasingly demand sustainability transparency and accountability from businesses. In this landscape, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has emerged as an international leader in guiding companies through their disclosure efforts. However, many businesses find leveraging the GRI to its full potential to be daunting without the right tools and expertise.
In this article, we explore what the GRI is, why adopting its principles is beneficial, and how to get started.
The GRI is an independent, international organisation that helps businesses and other organisations take responsibility for their impacts by providing them with the global common language to communicate such. The GRI provides the world's most widely used standards for sustainability reporting.
Adopting GRI standards for your business can be a game-changer, offering a structured and recognised framework for sustainability reporting. This adoption not only enhances your company's credibility but also drives meaningful change by embedding sustainable practices into your core operations. Here are some key benefits:
Enhanced transparency and accountability: The GRI standards ensure that you disclose your sustainability impacts comprehensively and comparably, building trust with stakeholders.
Improved risk management: By identifying and managing your environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks, GRI reporting helps safeguard your business against future challenges.
Competitive advantage: Companies that report through the GRI can demonstrate their commitment to sustainability, enhancing their reputation and attracting socially-conscious investors and customers.
Compliance and benchmarking: The GRI standards align with international frameworks, helping you meet regulatory requirements and benchmark your performance against industry peers.
Strategic insights: GRI reporting provides valuable data and insights, enabling you to make informed decisions and drive long-term sustainability goals.
While the benefits of the GRI are clear, the path to effective reporting can be complex. Our Sustainability Plus plan utilises intuitive tech and personalised, expert guidance to overcome this complexity, helping you to drive success, manage change, and enhance decisions.
Our Sustainability Plus plan follows a streamlined process to ensure that your sustainability reporting is thorough, transparent, and aligned with industry best practices:
Onboarding: Our experts learn about your business, its goals, and drivers, then create a customised workplan outlining the timeframe, support, and expected outcomes.
Sustainability journey mapper: Gain access to a detailed chart outlining deadlines and objectives for your sustainability plan. This roadmap helps track progress and guide strategic actions.
Materiality assessment: Conduct a thorough analysis to identify your company's most significant actual and potential impacts. This analysis will also compare your current sustainability practices with those of high-performing companies in the same sector. The resulting report will outline these impacts and highlight any gaps in your sustainability practices.
Determine material topics: After completing the Gap & Impact Report from the Materiality Assessment, we will conduct a workshop with you to prioritise the most significant impacts and determine what sustainability areas to focus on.
Sustainability report: We will compile a detailed report that covers all material sustainability topics identified in the previous steps. This report will break down key impacts, benchmark your performance against competitors, and provide targeted recommendations for mitigation and next steps.
Notify GRI and publish statement: We notify the GRI on your behalf with your Materiality Assessment findings and the materiality topics you have identified. This outcome varies depending on whether you are reporting in reference or in accordance with the GRI.
Adopting the GRI standards is a strategic move towards a more sustainable and transparent future. With FutureTracker, you can simplify the complexities of GRI reporting and maximise its benefits.
Ready to take your sustainability reporting to the next level?
Take a look at the services we offer and select the tools that can help you achieve your GRI goals and drive sustainable success, or you can get in touch with us straight away by emailing enquiries@futuretracker.com
