Promoting clarity and compatibility in the sustainability landscape
The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) announced a collaborative workplan.
For companies that use both standards the reporting effort can be considerable and, to help address this, the two organisations will collaborate to show how some companies have used both sets of standards together and the lessons to be shared. SASB and GRI also seek to help consumers of sustainability data understand the similarities and differences in the information from these standards.
Tim Mohin, Chief Executive of GRI, said: “GRI and SASB share the guiding principle that transparency is the best currency for creating trust among organizations and their stakeholders.” “Investors, policy makers, civil society and other stakeholders are demanding improved disclosure of information on sustainability impacts, including those likely to drive risk and opportunity in both the short and long term.”
“In a post-COVID world, companies will increasingly be expected to disclose their performance on a range of ESG topics,” said Janine Guillot, CEO of SASB. “The pandemic has demonstrated that so-called ‘non-financial’ information can indeed highlight material financial implications. This makes the collaboration between SASB and GRI, and the increased clarity it will bring for all stakeholders, all the more timely.”
The collaboration will initially focus on helping stakeholders better understand how the standards can be used concurrently, through examples based on real-world reports. These resources are planned to be delivered within 2020.
GRI and SASB provide compatible standards for sustainability reporting, intended to fulfill different purposes and based on different approaches to materiality:
- SASB’s industry-specific standards identify the subset of sustainability-related risks and opportunities most likely to affect a company’s financial condition (e.g., its balance sheet), operating performance (e.g., its income statement) or risk profile (e.g., its market valuation and cost of capital).
- The GRI Standards focus on the economic, environmental and social impacts of a company, and hence its contributions – positive or negative – towards sustainable development. Users of the GRI Standards identify issues that are important to their stakeholders. If not already financially material at the time of reporting, these impacts may become financially material over time. They provide both the framework and supporting standards on a wide range of sustainability topics and are aligned with international instruments for responsible business behaviour.
For both GRI and SASB, providing clarity on the application of their reporting standards and helping others understand how to use sustainability performance data, is critical to meeting every stakeholder’s needs.
78% of the world’s 250 largest companies report in accordance with the GRI Standards
SustainCase was primarily created to demonstrate, through case studies, the importance of dealing with a company’s most important impacts in a structured way, with use of the GRI Standards. To show how today’s best-run companies are achieving economic, social and environmental success – and how you can too.
Research by well-recognised institutions is clearly proving that responsible companies can look to the future with optimism.
FBRH GRI Standards Certified & IEMA recognised Sustainability Course | Venue: London LSE
By registering for the next 2-day FBRH GRI Standards Certified & IEMA recognised course you will be taking the first step in gaining the many benefits of sustainability reporting.
Most importantly, you will gain the knowledge to use the GRI Standards, project manage your own first-class sustainability report and:
- Identify your most important impacts on the Environment, Economy and Society
- Begin taking solid, focused, all-round sustainability action ASAP
References:
This article is based on published information by GRI. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the publication’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the following link: