Global Sustainability Reporting Framework
About GRI
GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) is an international non-profit organization, established to develop and promote the adoption of sustainable reporting standards worldwide. GRI has developed the GRI Standards – the most widely recognized globally recognized reporting framework on governance, environmental, social and economic impacts of businesses and organizations.
GRI was established in 1997 in Boston, USA, with the initial goal of encouraging businesses to fully and transparently declare their environmental and social impacts. Since then, GRI has become an important platform to help organizations evaluate, manage and effectively communicate sustainable development information to stakeholders.
History of establishment and development
GRI was born in the context that the world is increasingly concerned about environmental issues, climate change and sustainable development. In the late 20th century, many major environmental crises such as the Exxon Valdez oil spill (1989) raised the requirement for corporate information transparency. From the initial initiative founded by CERES (Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), GRI has developed and added economic and social factors to the reporting framework, not just the environmental aspect.
Through revisions and updates, the GRI standard has become more and more complete, meeting the needs of the business community and global stakeholders. Up to now, tens of thousands of businesses and organizations in more than 100 countries have applied GRI.
GRI Standard Set Structure
GRI Standards is the world’s first set of sustainability reporting standards built in modules, providing flexibility and ease of updating. The structure of the GRI Standards consists of three main groups:
- Universal Standards: Includes requirements, basic principles when preparing reports, information about the business, principles of governance, ethics, and relationships with stakeholders.
- Topic-specific Standards: Divided into three groups: economics (GRI 200), environment (GRI 300), and social (GRI 400). Each topic has specific indicators and guidelines for organizing the declaration of management impacts and effectiveness.
- Sector Standards: Applied to specific industries with special risks and impacts, such as oil and gas, mining, finance, etc.
Organizations using the GRI can report comprehensively (“in accordance with GRI Standards”), or select sections with reference to GRI Standards.
Benefits of applying GRI
Applying GRI helps businesses and organizations achieve many important benefits:
- Improve transparency and accountability: GRI encourages businesses to fully disclose their business results, economic, social and environmental impacts; thereby strengthening the trust of stakeholders such as investors, customers, the community, and management agencies.
- Improve governance and risk management efficiency: The GRI reporting process helps businesses identify, measure, and assess risks and opportunities in sustainable development, thereby building appropriate strategies.
- Attracting sustainable investment capital: Financial institutions and investors are increasingly prioritizing businesses with transparent sustainable development reports that meet international standards such as GRI.
- Improve competitiveness: The GRI report helps businesses affirm their position and brand image and easily access global supply chains and international partners.
- Meeting legal and policy requirements: Many countries and regions have included sustainability reporting requirements in laws or regulations, and the GRI is an effective reference framework.
GRI Report Development Process
To prepare a report under the GRI, the organization usually takes the following steps:
- Determine the organizational context: Include the scope of activities, value chains, stakeholders, factors affecting sustainable development.
- Consultation with stakeholders: Collecting comments from customers, investors, employees, communities, social organizations, authorities, etc. to identify critical issues to report.
- Identify material topics: The most important content and impact on the organization and stakeholders.
- Collecting, checking and verifying data: Ensuring the accuracy and reliability of published indicators and information.
- Prepare and publish reports: Prepare and present reports transparently and easily understand, and at the same time widely publish them through appropriate communication channels.
Compare GRI with other reporting frameworks
In addition to GRI, there are currently many other sets of sustainable development standards such as SASB, TCFD, CDP, Integrated Reporting (IR), ESG reporting, etc. However, GRI has the following outstanding characteristics:
- Wide scope, applicable to all industries, fields and types of organizations.
- Internationally recognized, chosen by many of the world’s leading organizations.
- Focus on social, environmental and economic topics in a balanced way.
- Encourage the participation and consultation of stakeholders in the process of developing the report.
The GRI is also not opposed but is often used in combination with other sets of standards to increase comprehensiveness and meet the diverse needs of investors, partners, and regulatory agencies.
Challenges in applying GRI in Vietnam
Although the benefits are obvious, Vietnamese enterprises when applying the GRI also face many challenges:
- Professional and financial resources for the development of the report are limited.
- The quality and transparency of data are uneven.
- The awareness of sustainable development of a part of the leadership is incomplete.
- Lack of independent verification and evaluation system for reporting indicators.
- There are no legal regulations mandatory to apply GRI on a large scale.
However, the trend of international integration and increasing requirements from foreign investors and partners will promote the application of GRI more strongly in the near future.
GRI plays an important role in the process of promoting transparency, responsibility and sustainable development of businesses globally. The application of GRI helps Vietnamese businesses not only improve their prestige and access to international capital, but also contribute to building a responsible business community, towards the harmonious development of the economy, society and the environment. In the context of increasing requirements for sustainable development, mastering and effectively implementing GRI standards will be the key to helping businesses develop in a long-term and sustainable manner.
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