Sector Standards and applying the GRI Standards in practice
What Sector Standards are - and are not
Sector Standards identify the topics most likely to be material for organizations in a given sector, and for each topic they point to the Topic Standard disclosures to report. Crucially, Sector Standards contain no disclosures of their own - they are a materiality and completeness tool.
Using the applicable Sector Standard is part of reporting in accordance: an organization operating in a covered sector must use the Sector Standard to identify its material topics. If it does not, it must state why, using one of the permitted reasons for omission. Examples include GRI 11 (Oil and Gas), GRI 12 (Coal), GRI 13 (Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fishing) and GRI 14 (Mining); further sector standards are in development, so check which apply to the organization's sector rather than assuming.
Applying the Standards in practice
Practical reporting questions cluster around four themes:
- The GRI content index - required for reporting in accordance; it lists each disclosure reported and where it can be found, including any reasons for omission.
- Reasons for omission - only not applicable, legal prohibitions, confidentiality constraints, or information unavailable/incomplete, always explained.
- Restatements - corrections of earlier figures go through disclosure 2-4 with the reason and effect.
- Combining frameworks - GRI may be used alongside other frameworks; that is acceptable provided the GRI requirements are still fully met for the GRI portion of the report.
Rule of thumb: if a question describes an organization that "prefers not to reference" its Sector Standard, the answer is not a free pass - a stated, permitted justification is compulsory.
Worked example: a mining company omits 14.x-related topics entirely and cites only "immaterial to investors". That fails twice: financial immateriality is not the GRI test, and not using the Sector Standard requires a permitted reason, properly explained.