GRI key terms

A modular set of sustainability reporting standards issued by the Global Sustainability Standards Board, made up of universal standards, sector standards and topic standards that organizations use to disclose their impacts.

The three GRI Standards that apply to every organization reporting in accordance with the GRI Standards: GRI 1 Foundation, GRI 2 General Disclosures and GRI 3 Material Topics.

Standards containing disclosures on specific economic, environmental or social topics, such as energy, waste, employment or anti-corruption; an organization reports those whose topics are material to it.

The eight principles in GRI 1 - accuracy, balance, clarity, comparability, completeness, sustainability context, timeliness and verifiability - that guide decisions on what information to report and how to present it.

A reporting principle requiring an organization to present its performance against the wider context of the limits and demands placed on environmental or social resources at local, regional or global levels.

A claim available only to organizations that meet all nine requirements in GRI 1, including applying the reporting principles, disclosing the general disclosures, determining material topics and reporting the related topic disclosures.

A statement that a report or other material uses selected GRI Standards or disclosures, without meeting all the requirements needed to claim that it is in accordance with the GRI Standards.

A table listing each GRI disclosure included in a report together with the page or link where it can be found, so readers can locate reported information and see what is missing.

The time span, usually one year, covered by a sustainability report; organizations must state it, together with reporting frequency and a contact point for questions about the report.

A correction of information published in an earlier report, for example after a data error or a change in methodology, which must be explained together with the reason for the correction.

The activities, resources and relationships connected to an organization's business model and operating environment, including suppliers, customers and other business relationships upstream and downstream of its own operations.

People who perform work for the organization but are not employees, such as contractors, agency staff or self-employed persons, whose number and type the organization discloses.

The individual or group with formal authority to set an organization's strategy, oversee management and supervise how its economic, environmental and social impacts are managed.

An independent evaluation of a report or of selected disclosures against an external standard, which the organization discloses, including the scope of assurance and the relationship with the assurance provider.

The ratio between the annual total compensation of the organization's highest-paid individual and the median annual total compensation of all other employees, disclosed along with how it is calculated.

A negotiated written agreement between an employer and workers' representatives setting terms and conditions of employment; organizations disclose the proportion of employees covered by such agreements.

A channel through which individuals or groups can raise concerns about an organization's impacts and seek remedy, which the organization must describe, including how complaints are handled and resolved.

A written statement, approved at the highest level, of the principles and expectations the organization applies to its own activities and business relationships, for example on human rights or the environment.

An individual or group whose interests are affected or could be affected by an organization's activities, products or services, such as employees, communities, investors, suppliers, customers and civil society groups.

The effect an organization has or could have on the economy, environment and people, including human rights, which may be positive or negative, actual or potential, and short- or long-term.

A topic that reflects an organization's most significant impacts on the economy, environment and people, including impacts on human rights, and that must therefore be covered in its report.

The structured process of identifying an organization's actual and potential impacts, assessing how significant they are, and prioritizing those that will be reported as material topics.

How serious a negative impact is, judged by combining its scale (how grave the harm is), its scope (how widespread it is) and its irremediability (how hard the harm is to repair).

The chance that a potential impact will actually occur; it is weighed together with severity when deciding how significant a potential negative impact is.

A change caused by an organization's activities or business relationships in people's ability to enjoy internationally recognized rights, such as safe work, fair pay, freedom of association or non-discrimination.

A disclosure that sets out the policies, commitments, actions, resources and monitoring an organization uses to manage a material topic, and explains how it evaluates whether those actions work.

A disclosure showing the economic value an organization generates through its activities and how that value is distributed to employees, providers of capital, governments and communities.

The process by which an organization evaluates its operations for exposure to corruption and bribery, and discloses how many operations were assessed and which significant risks were identified.

A disclosure describing an organization's strategy and governance for taxation, including how it manages tax risk and how it engages with tax authorities, reported by country in some cases.

Direct greenhouse gas emissions from sources that the organization owns or controls, for example fuel burned in its own boilers, furnaces or vehicles.

Indirect greenhouse gas emissions from the generation of purchased or acquired electricity, heat, cooling or steam that the organization consumes.

All indirect greenhouse gas emissions occurring in an organization's value chain, both upstream and downstream, that are not already covered by Scope 2.

The total volume of water an organization takes from surface water, groundwater or third-party sources, reported by source and by whether it is in areas of water stress.

A work-related injury or illness that leads to death, days away from work, restricted work, medical treatment beyond first aid, or loss of consciousness, used to calculate safety rates.

Disclosures reporting how suppliers are screened using environmental criteria, the environmental impacts arising in the supply chain, and the actions taken to address them.

Standards that identify the topics most likely to be material for organizations in a given sector and add sector-specific disclosures, guiding reporters beyond the universal standards.

The rule that an organization must use the Sector Standard for each sector in which it has substantial operations, applying it when identifying material topics and deciding what to report.

A disclosure contained in a Sector Standard that is especially relevant for organizations in that sector, reported in addition to the universal and topic disclosures that apply.