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Global Reporting Initiative

GRI

GRI envisions a sustainable future enabled by transparency and open dialogue about impacts.

Lobbying Activity

Meeting with Nicolo Brignoli (Cabinet of Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis)

15 Jul 2025 · Sustainability Reporting

Meeting with Radan Kanev (Member of the European Parliament)

20 May 2025 · CSRD

Meeting with Elena Arveras (Cabinet of Commissioner Maria Luís Albuquerque)

20 May 2025 · Sustainability Reporting Standards – Simplification Agenda and International Standards

Meeting with Didier Millerot (Head of Unit Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union)

20 May 2025 · Sustainability Reporting Standards – Simplification Agenda and International Standards

Meeting with Lara Wolters (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur)

14 May 2025 · Omnibus

Meeting with Radan Kanev (Member of the European Parliament)

8 May 2025 · Omnibus CSRD/ CSDDD

Meeting with Pierre Karleskind (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur)

15 Jan 2024 · European Sustainability Reporting Standards

Meeting with Pascal Durand (Member of the European Parliament)

8 Jan 2024 · CSRD implementation

Meeting with Mairead McGuinness (Commissioner) and

28 Nov 2023 · ESRS, sector standards

Response to European Sustainability Reporting Standards

6 Jul 2023

Dear Commissioner McGuinness, Congratulations on taking the final step towards finalising the first set of European Sustainability Reporting Standards; a cornerstone of the EUs sustainable finance agenda and the European Green Deal. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) was very encouraged to see that, despite external pressures, the Commission has held firm to its commitment to ensure the first set of standards includes all cross-cutting and topical standards as outlined in the CSRD. The Green Deal is grounded in the belief that the environmental and social impacts of economic activities need to be managed so future generations have a chance to live prosperously. This is the same core belief upon which GRI was founded 25 years ago. Therefore, we have really appreciated the opportunity to contribute to the development of the ESRS, as envisaged by the Commission, while striving for optimal alignment with our global standards. Reporting companies will most certainly benefit from this streamlining of European and global reporting requirements. It unquestionably fits with the call by President Von der Leyen to reduce the administrative burden of reporting. Our continued work with EFRAG on a digital taxonomy and multi-tagging system based on the final ESRS and GRI Standards also fits in the approach to minimize the reporting burden for MNEs and SMEs alike throughout the value chains. In the spirit of collaboration and shared aim to develop the highest quality standards possible, we have provided detailed suggestions for further optimization of the ESRS as described in the annex of the Delegated Act in the attached document. Our feedback is focused on ESRS 1 and 2. In summary: 1. We believe there are opportunities to further align with widely accepted international due diligence instruments such as the UN Guiding Principles and the OECD MNE Guidelines. Lack of optimal alignment will create unnecessary confusion and burden for reporters and hinder the application of due diligence globally, as companies will be faced with different and, potentially, contradictory requirements at national level. 2. We are concerned that the phasing in of the social ESRS sends the wrong signal that these matters are less relevant than environmental and governance matters. Recognising that reporting on these topics is already standard practice by a majority of reporters this change would lower the bar significantly on topics essential for the creation of social cohesion. 3. We recommend that selected disclosure requirements (see feedback document) on workers and human rights be reinstated as requirements that cannot be subjected to materiality. All reporters should be able to provide basic information about their workforce. This information provides crucial context for understanding the scope and nature of impacts that are subsequently reported in other disclosure requirements. 4. Mindful of the overarching objective of the Green Deal to become climate neutral by 2050, we urge the Commission to reinstate mandatory climate reporting elements of the original drafts. This will also help European companies required to report this information in other parts of the world. In order to address the reporting burden concerns laid out in the Long-Term Competitiveness communication, this requirement can be supplemented with permission for reporters to omit certain data points with a short explanation when omission is justified. We really appreciated the opportunity given through the public consultation process to continue to provide input. GRI remains committed to help ensure qualitative standards meeting European needs and which are aligned with the global standards. We are looking forward to engaging with DG FISMA and EFRAG not only on the development of the next set of standards and keeping the standards of set 1 current and aligned, but also on the development of implementation support and guidance to reporters. Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
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Response to Effectively banning products produced, extracted or harvested with forced labour

30 Nov 2022

GRI welcomes this important initiative by the EU Commission, and is grateful for the opportunity to share our feedback in the attached response.
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Response to Effectively banning products produced, extracted or harvested with forced labour

20 Jun 2022

GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) would like to thank the European Commission for the opportunity to provide feedback to this initiative,and would like to reiterate our commitment to the European process and initiatives. As providers of the world's most widely used Sustainability Reporting Standards (the GRI Standards), our feedback highlights the critical need for a robust multi-stakeholder approach, and for this initiative to align with international authorittive instruments, such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Our response in full is attached below.
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Response to Sustainable corporate governance

23 May 2022

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) very much welcomes the opportunity to provide our feedback to this crucial initiative, particularly given that the 2021 revision of the GRI Standards ensured that they reflect due diligence expectations for organizations to manage their sustainability impacts, including on human rights, as set forth in intergovernmental instruments by the United Nations and OECD. Having recently signed into an MOU with the IFRS Foundation, as well as Co-Constructing the European Sustainability Reporting Standards along with the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG), GRI is keen to continue contributing to the continuously evolving landscape. Please find attached GRI's feedback and proposed amenments.
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Response to Sustainable corporate governance

1 Oct 2020

GRI’s contribution (attached) includes three recommendations (points 6-8): • Alignment with international standards • Mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence • Complementarity with the revision of the NFRD
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Response to Revision of Non-Financial Reporting Directive

27 Feb 2020

GRI encourages the EC to support the increased reporting of non-financial information to help progress the EU towards its sustainable finance ambitions, as set out in the Green Deal. We appreciate the opportunity to share our initial reactions towards the revision of the NFR Directive. As the EC has published a consultation document in parallel, we will limit our feedback to the following points: - Materiality: Through the Green Deal, the EC showed that one of the catalysts for change towards sustainable finance is transparency. GRI supports the EU’s ambitions to look after all stakeholders and the environment beyond the sole role of companies. GRI’s broad view of sustainability and materiality is closely aligned with this thinking. Because non-financial information includes environmental and social impacts on the wider world, the magnitude of these impacts must also be considered to determine materiality. A focus on financial materiality only is ill-informed and undermines the objectives of the Green Deal. It excludes key sustainability issues that leave companies and investors exposed to risks which, over the long-term, can have significant financial implications. To meet the objectives of the Green Deal, we must look beyond short-term gains and consider the needs of all stakeholders and our planet. Aligning capital to sustainable business practices can only be achieved with full transparency for the impacts of corporate actions. - Quality of reporting: Non-financial reporting standards need to be internationally agreed and compatible. By relying on existing independent, multi-stakeholder and globally adopted standards, the legislation will not add to the reporting burden of companies. Furthermore, the NFR framework needs to support improved reporting practices that offer decision-useful data based on impacts. Companies need guidance on widely used international standards to enable reliable, comparable, and relevant disclosures. Ultimately, comprehensive reporting following global standards will help generate comparable data that stakeholders can use to benchmark progress and inform decisions. - Global applicability of non-financial reporting standards: The revision of the NFR Directive is an opportunity for the EU to offer global leadership in sustainable finance. GRI strongly supports the global applicability of reporting requirements. This will ensure comparison of data while avoiding any unnecessary reporting burden. The revision of the NFR Directive should set up a standardized high-level reporting framework, based on existing standards with independent and multi-stakeholder governance. Specifying the type or form of disclosures in legislation should be avoided as this would lock in "box-ticking” practices. - Scope: Limiting the scope to large listed companies does not support the Directive’s wider objectives. We encourage the EC to extend the scope by mandating reporting for all large enterprises (based on turnover) as well as state-owned enterprises. Furthermore, SMEs should be explicitly encouraged to comply as they will be in a better position to access new value chains and improve their business. However, more work is needed to ensure reporting requirements do not present an unnecessary burden for these companies. - Private sector contribution to the SDGs: Corporate reporting can help contribute to the SDGs by identifying private sector contributions. For example, the government of Colombia used sustainability data provided by companies to inform its Voluntary National Review, based on the GRI Standards. In view of the above points, GRI supports the complementary policy options #2 and #3. It is essential that issuers use a common global language to disclose their impacts. We look forward to actively engaging and sharing our expertise throughout the process leading to the revision of the Directive.
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Response to Fitness check on public reporting by companies

8 Mar 2018

GRI welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the European Commission (EC)’s Fitness Check on Public Reporting by Companies and would like to provide input on four areas. We remain available to further discuss the recommendations presented below and look forward to being actively included in the next steps of the fitness check, bringing GRI’s non-financial standards-setting perspective and multi-stakeholder approach.
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Meeting with Jonathan Hill (Commissioner)

16 Apr 2015 · Non-financial reporting