G3 Guidelines and GRI Sustainability Reporting

The The G3 Guidelines are the cornerstone of the GRI Sustainability Reporting Framework. They are used as the basis of an organization’s annual reporting.

The Guidelines outline core content for reporting and are relevant to all organizations regardless of size, sector, or location. They are the foundation upon which all other GRI reporting guidance is based.

The G3 Guidelines outline a disclosure framework that organizations can be voluntarily, flexibly, and incrementally adopted. The flexibility of the G3 format allows organizations to plot a path for continual improvement of their sustainability reporting practices.

Part 1 – Reporting Principles and Guidance
-Principles to define report content: materiality, stakeholder inclusiveness, sustainability context, and completeness.
-Principles to define report quality: balance, comparability, accuracy, timeliness, reliability, and clarity.
-Guidance on how to set the report boundary.

Part 2 – Standard Disclosures
-Strategy and Profile
-Management Approach
-Performance Indicators

The Guidelines are updated incrementally. This process represents a change from the previous revision cycles, in which the entire set of Guidelines were subject to revision. Going forward, GRI will use a process involving incremental updates that will target specific revision goals – addressing only certain portions of the Guidelines.

On an annual basis, GRI invites stakeholders to identify their priorities in Q4 for further development of the guidelines. The stakeholder feedback is then reviewed and used to formulate a draft plan. The draft plan is posted on the GRI website for public comment. The Board of Directors will approve a final set of priorities for implementation for the next fiscal year based on feedback from the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) and the Stakeholder Council (SC). This plan will take into account any ongoing projects from previous years that have not yet been completed. GRI will form working groups to develop draft revisions for review by the TAC. Following the TAC review, the draft revisions will be forwarded to the SC for their concur/non-concur and then to the Board for a final decision. Updates to the guidelines are issued when the work is completed.

GRI is involved with several projects related to updating the guidelines including Community Indicators. As part of the general process of continuously improving the Sustainability Reporting Framework, GRI is working to improve the Community Indicators in the G3 Guidelines.
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