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"GRI Rules the Roost": Benchmarking Report shows 94 % of Best Reporters are Using GRI
02 November 2004
The highly-anticipated report by SustainAbility, Standard & Poors’s and UNEP revealed that 47 of the top 50 company reports this year openly referenced the GRI Guidelines. A further 45 of the so-called "Other 50" also use the Guidelines, and the report, titled Risk & Opportunity: Best Practice in Non-Financial Reporting, notes "the fact that so many companies have stepped forward with high-quality sustainability reports - including many from developing countries - owes much to GRI’s tireless efforts."
The report describes the reporting world as entering a third era, wherein the authors predict a focus on reintegrating the bottom line, externalities being increasingly internalised, and a growing distinction between disclosure, reporting, and communication. In looking to the future, the report authors question in what direction the reporting world will move, and find that this opens another question, namely: "what path will GRI take?"
The answer to the question is that GRI is well-positioned to move into this anticipated third era. Indeed, the GRI has been actively preparing to do so, and has just launched the G3 program with a core focus on innovation, both of the Guidelines, and of the process, principles, and application of them. Additionally, the GRI will expand its capacity, by building new infrastructure to support the use of the Guidelines, including the development of a digital platform for delivery. This supports the report’s prediction of a trend towards virtuality, wherein technology enables more flexibility in format and usage of reports and data.
Further, SustainAbility’s recommendation that the sources of funding for GRI should be diversified is one that GRI has already recognised and addressed, through the creation of a new business model which is intertwined with the G3 innovations process. GRI is set to undergo a dual transition:
-Move the Guidelines to a Standard
-Move away from philanthropic dependence to self-sufficiency through the provision of products and services in support of the new Standard.
"GRI is constantly aware of the need to respond to changing stakeholder needs," said Ernst Ligteringen, GRI’s Chief Executive. "Continuous improvement is built into all of our processes and products, and this is what allows us to maintain our flexibility, while still working towards the goal of becoming the standard for reporting."
"Whether this happens within the larger context of standardisation, consolidation, regulation, or integration, as SustainAbility, S&P and UNEP forecasts, GRI will be able to respond in the most effective way, and is well situated to play a key role in determining the eventual outcome" Ligteringen concluded.
Acknowledging that this is the case, the report notes that with respect to the growing architecture of standards and frameworks, "GRI is clearly well positioned to figure strongly in how this overarching accountability framework develops and deepens, and should continue to devote time and energy to making this happen."