GRI STANDARDS: all you need to know right now

Discover the new certification training program

The “GRI Professional Certification Program” has just been launched, building up a full sustainability curriculum that delivers globally applicable professional development. The program is provided by the GRI Academy in a pre-recorded format or live by the network of GRI training partners, such as Forethix, and includes a certification exam. The learning path includes 5 fundamental elements:

• The GRI certified training course: already covers the first three elements of the sustainability program and will give participants 3 points out of the 5 points required to become eligible for the certification exam.
• Integrating SDGs into Reporting Process course: covers the fourth element of the program and will give participants 1 point.
• Sustainability Reporting Process course: covers the fifth element of the program and will give participants 1 point.

Candidates who have been granted 5 points and passed the final exam will benefit from the status of “GRI certified sustainability professionals” for 1 year – the status may be maintained provided they complete a minimum of training hours during the year.

Start the learning path registering here to our GRI certified training course.

Adopt the new standard encouraging tax transparency

Launched at the end of 2019, the GRI Tax 207 (2019) standard will come into force for reports and other documents published from January 2021. It allows organizations to report on tax practices, strategy, governance and risk management. The standard introduces a country-by-country reporting on business activities, income, profits and taxes; and also calls for justifying differences between tax regimes.

Download the standard here

Transition to new versions of topic-specific standards

To stay as close as possible to changes in standards and regulations as well as best practices around the world, GRI periodically reviews its standards. The first versions were defined in 2016 and enforced in 2018, transitioning away from the G4 version. Organizations always have a transition period, but be sure to raise awareness among your teams as soon as possible to ensure the availability and quality of your data. The latest releases are:

GRI 403 – Occupational Health & Safety– (2018)

Developed in 2018, the standard will be mandatory from January 2021. It mainly aims to align better with the ILO (International Labor Organization) instruments and the ISO 45001 standard, to understand better the impact of the organization through a new, more precise definition of the term “workers” referring to employees, workers whose workplace is controlled by the organization and those affected by the organization’s business relationships (suppliers, partners, etc.). The new standard also takes a more holistic approach by further covering health promotion and lifestyle risks. Finally, the notion of hierarchy of controls has been introduced to encourage a systematic approach to improve health and safety, eliminate hazards and reduce risks.

GRI 303 – Water & effluents (2018)

Defined in 2018, the standard will be mandatory from January 2021. It mainly aims to better align with the CEO Water Mandate Corporate Water Disclosure Guidelines and the CDP questionnaire 2018 relating to water but also to better understand the quality of the discharged water (indicator initially present in GRI 306: Effluents and waste 2016), water consumption (new indicator measuring water not returned back to the environment), geographic sensitivity (with an emphasis on impacts within areas under water stress) and impacts in the supply chain.

GRI 306 – Waste (2020)

Developed in 2020, the standard will be mandatory from January 2022. Its main purpose is to better reflect the relationship between materials and waste, in order to help organizations understand how procurement, design and use of materials lead to waste-related impacts and identify opportunities for circularity and waste prevention. It encourages organizations to assess the waste generated throughout the value chain, prompting them to recognize responsibility for upstream and downstream waste-related impacts. The standard helps identify management decisions and actions that can lead to systemic change.

Download the standards here. They all converge towards a deepened description of the managerial approach to precisely report on the mechanisms and systems of identification, prevention, mitigation and remediation of the direct and indirect impacts of the organization throughout its value chain.

The current revisions focus on the subject of Human Rights and are being established in two phases:

• Phase 1, in progress, consists of a conceptual review, aimed at better aligning with the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights; the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct. The results of this review will feed into the revision of universal standards (see section 5 of the article).
• Phase 2 will consist of reviewing specific human rights standards (GRI 408: Child labor, GRI 409: Forced labor, etc.).

Remember that the GRI standards due process, governed by the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB), includes a public consultation so that you can provide your feedback from the field.

Find out more here

Dive into the relevance of your reporting with sector standards

Sector standards provide information on likely material topics for an organization in a given industry. These topics have been identified through a transparent and multi-stakeholder process, and are based on recognized instruments. Any organization in the sector will have to take these standards into account when preparing reports. If an organization identifies a topic as material in an applicable sector standard, the sector standard will also help it determine what to report, using the topic-specific standards, for that topic.

The sector standards under development are:

• Oil, gas and coal – expected to be released in Q1 2021
• Agriculture and Fisheries – expected to be published in Q3 2021

G4 Sector supplements (developed for the GRI G4 Guidelines) can provide additional sector information that can be used in conjunction with the GRI Standards. Please note that the content of these has not been updated as part of the transition from the G4 guidelines to the GRI standards.

Prepare for the upcoming universal standards

The universal standards – GRI 101 I GRI 102 I GRI 103 – are under review and should be published in mid-2021, depending on the number of comments received during the public consultation until September 2020. Here is an overview of the main expected changes:

GRI 101: Foundations

• New section on key terms: “impact” (positive or negative) of an organization on the economy, the environment and / or society; “Material topics” reflecting the most significant impacts of an organization on the economy, the environment and / or society; “Due diligence” in line with the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights; the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct; and “stakeholders” who may affect or be affected by the organisation’s activities and decisions
• A unique option for reporting “in accordance” with GRI standards: No more differences between the core and comprehensive options: a list of disclosures resulting from a merger between the two options will be mandatory (no reason for omission allowed for GRI 102 and GRI 103). The organization can still choose, as before, to “refer” to the GRI Standards when it does not meet all of the in accordance criteria. The GRI content index, on the other hand, becomes mandatory for all approaches as well as the statement of use
• Statement of use has evolved and engages the responsibility of the most senior person in the organization
• Revision of reporting principles: the principles of materiality and stakeholders inclusiveness have been integrated into GRI 103: Management approach

GRI 102: General disclosures

Changes in structure and content will be carried out:

• Section 1. Introduction which reminds the organization that omissions are not permitted for the disclosures in the GRI 102 exposure draft, and directs the organization on what to do if it does not have a committee, policy, practice or other process required by a disclosure.
• Section 2. Organizational details and reporting practices (REP) now requires reporting the entities included in the organization’s sustainability reporting, rather than the entities included in its consolidated financial statements, and any differences between the entities included in the organization’s sustainability reporting and financial reporting.
• Section 3. Organizational activities (ACT) includes additional requirements for the organization to report on the characteristics of entities in its value chain (both upstream and downstream from the organization) and their related activities, and any other relevant business relationships not included within its value chain
• Section 4. Governance (GOV) contains fifteen disclosures, which provide an overview of the organization’s governance structure, composition, roles, and remuneration. New requirements have also been introduced in terms of description of the responsibilities and efficiency of the various governance bodies; as well as the process for determining the remuneration
• Section 5. Responsible business conduct (RBC) contains seven disclosures, which provide an overview of the organization’s policies and practices for responsible business conduct, including new requirements to report on human rights.
• Section 6. Stakeholder engagement contains two disclosures, which cover the organization’s stakeholder engagement practices, including how it engages in collective bargaining with employees.

GRI 103 : Management approach

Changes in structure and content will be carried out:

• Section 1. Introduction reminds the organization that omissions are not permitted, and directs the organization on what to do if it has not developed or implemented a policy, practice or other process required by a disclosure.
• Section 2. Identifying material topics This section clarifies how to identify material topics, based on the expectations contained in the Reporting Principles for defining report content in the existing GRI 101. This section provides further guidance for identifying impacts, assessing their significance, and prioritizing them for reporting – in line with the expectations included in key instruments such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, and the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct.
• Section 3. Reporting on material topics This section contains three disclosures, which are based on the existing GRI 102 and GRI 103 and revised in line to align them more closely with the expectation of due diligence.

1. 1. Identification of material topics and related impacts (MT-1)

This disclosure covers content from the existing GRI 102-46 (defining report content and topic Boundaries) and 102-49 (changes to the list of material topics). It now requires further information on how the organization has identified its impacts, how it has prioritized them for reporting based on their significance, and the stakeholders and experts whose views have informed the identification of material topics.

1. 2. Material topics and related impacts (MT-2)

This disclosure covers content from the existing 102-47 (list of material topics) and 103-1 (explanation of the material topic and its Boundary). In addition, it now requires a description of the impacts identified for each material topic. The term ‘topic Boundary’ is no longer used, but the standard now requires the organization to report, for each material topic, whether it is involved with the negative impacts through its own activities or as a result of its business relationships.

1. 3. Management of material topics and related impacts (MT-3)

This disclosure covers content from the existing 103-2 (the management approach and its components) and 103-3 (evaluation of the management approach). It now requires additional information on actions taken to prevent, mitigate, and remediate negative impacts (in line with the expectation of due diligence), as well as information on engagement with stakeholders.

Find out more here

Note: The following Topic-specific Standards will be superseded by the revised Universal Standards:

• GRI 307: Environmental Compliance 2016, the content has been incorporated into the exposure draft of GRI 102.
• GRI 412: Human Rights Assessment 2016, the content has been incorporated into the exposure draft of GRI 102 and GRI 103.
• GRI 419: Socioeconomic Compliance 2016, the content has been incorporated into the exposure draft of GRI 102.