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GRI — Global Reporting Initiative + GRI Standards

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GRI = Global Reporting Initiative. Voluntary global sustainability-reporting standards; distinct from but partly aligned with India's mandatory BRSR.

Definition

GRI (“Global Reporting Initiative”) is an independent international standards organisation that publishes the GRI Standards — the most widely used voluntary framework globally for sustainability reporting. The GRI Standards enable any organisation (regardless of size, sector, or geography) to publicly report its impacts on the economy, environment, and people in a consistent, comparable way.

GRI was founded in 1997 in Boston (now headquartered in Amsterdam), and the standards have gone through multiple major revisions. The current architecture, finalised in 2021 and effective from 1 January 2023, organises the standards into three layers: Universal Standards (apply to every reporter), Sector Standards (industry-specific), and Topic Standards (specific sustainability topics).

The three-layer GRI Standards architecture

Universal Standards (GRI 1, 2, 3) — apply to every reporter

  • GRI 1: Foundation 2021 — the conceptual foundation; defines the reporting principles (accuracy, balance, clarity, comparability, completeness, sustainability context, timeliness, verifiability) and the rules for reporting “in accordance with” the GRI Standards.
  • GRI 2: General Disclosures 2021 — organisational profile, governance, strategy, stakeholder engagement, reporting practices.
  • GRI 3: Material Topics 2021 — the materiality assessment process: how an organisation identifies, prioritises, and reports on its material sustainability topics.

Sector Standards — industry-specific

GRI publishes industry-specific Sector Standards that supplement the Universal + Topic Standards. As of 2025, published Sector Standards include:

  • GRI 11: Oil and Gas Sector 2021
  • GRI 12: Coal Sector 2022
  • GRI 13: Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fishing Sectors 2022
  • GRI 14: Mining Sector 2024
  • Banking, Textiles, and other sectors are in development

Topic Standards (200 / 300 / 400 series) — specific issues

  • 200 series — Economic topics: economic performance, market presence, indirect economic impacts, procurement practices, anti-corruption, anti-competitive behaviour, tax (GRI 207)
  • 300 series — Environmental topics: materials, energy, water and effluents, biodiversity, emissions (GRI 305), waste, supplier environmental assessment
  • 400 series — Social topics: employment, labour-management relations, occupational health and safety, training and education, diversity and equal opportunity, child labour, forced labour, freedom of association, human rights, local communities, supplier social assessment, customer health and safety

”In accordance with” the GRI Standards

A reporting organisation can claim to have reported either:

  • “In accordance with” the GRI Standards — the higher tier; requires reporting on all applicable disclosures from Universal + Sector + Topic Standards for each material topic identified through the GRI 3 materiality process
  • “With reference to” the GRI Standards — the lighter tier; the organisation selectively uses certain GRI disclosures but does not claim full compliance

GRI requires reporters to publish a GRI content index listing the disclosures used and their location in the report.

GRI vs BRSR — how they relate

BRSR and the GRI Standards are independent reporting frameworks. The key distinctions:

AspectBRSR (India)GRI Standards
MandateSEBI-mandated for Top 1,000 listed entitiesVoluntary, globally
GeographyIndia-specific (NIC codes, INR-denominated, Indian regulatory anchors)Global, jurisdiction-neutral
Structure9 NGRBC Principles + BRSR Core (9 attributes) + Section A/B/CUniversal + Sector + Topic Standards
AssuranceBRSR Core under mandatory reasonable assurance (phased to Top 1,000 by FY 2026-27)Voluntary assurance under ISAE 3000 or similar
Disclosure depthQuantitative + narrative, structured per SEBI formatDisclosure-by-disclosure, with materiality-driven scoping

Overlap: many large Indian listed entities prepare BOTH disclosures — the SEBI-mandated BRSR for regulatory compliance plus a voluntary GRI-aligned sustainability report for global stakeholder communication. The underlying data is largely shared (GHG inventory, workforce demographics, water metrics, etc.) — only the output formats differ. The SEBI BRSR Format itself references GRI in places, and the ICAI Background Material on BRSR (Revised 2024) maps several BRSR disclosures back to corresponding GRI indicators.

GRI vs IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards (ISSB)

The other major global standards-setter is the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) under the IFRS Foundation, which has issued IFRS S1 (General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information) and IFRS S2 (Climate-related Disclosures).

The two frameworks have different orientations:

  • GRI — impact materiality — reports on the organisation’s impacts on people, environment, and economy (outward-looking)
  • ISSB (IFRS S1/S2) — financial materiality — reports on sustainability matters affecting the organisation’s enterprise value (investor-focused, inward-looking)

The two are increasingly seen as complementary (“double materiality” — both impact and financial). Many global sustainability reports cite GRI + ISSB jointly, plus regulator-specific frameworks like BRSR (India), CSRD/ESRS (EU), or SEC climate rules (US).

GRI in the Indian context

For Indian listed entities preparing BRSR, GRI is operationally relevant in three ways:

  1. Voluntary supplemental reporting — many large entities publish a separate annual GRI-aligned sustainability report alongside the SEBI-mandated BRSR, to address global investor and rating-agency expectations (MSCI, Sustainalytics, S&P CSA, ISS ESG all reference GRI in their methodologies).
  2. Methodology adoption — GRI’s materiality assessment methodology (GRI 3) is commonly applied in practice for the upstream scoping that drives BRSR P4 (Stakeholder Engagement) disclosures and the broader BRSR materiality narrative. See the Materiality Assessment Walkthrough.
  3. Reconciliation with BRSR — entities often maintain an internal GRI ↔ BRSR mapping table so the same underlying data feeds both disclosures consistently. See the BRSR vs Integrated Reporting guide for the broader reporting landscape context.

Common questions

Is GRI mandatory in India? No. GRI is a voluntary framework. The mandatory Indian reporting framework for listed entities is BRSR, issued by SEBI.

Can a company switch between GRI and BRSR? They are not substitutes — BRSR is a regulatory requirement and GRI is a voluntary global reporting choice. Most large Indian listed entities prepare BRSR (because they must) plus a GRI-aligned report (because investors and rating agencies expect it).

Does GRI replace ISO standards? No. GRI is a reporting standard. ISO standards (ISO 14001 environmental management, ISO 45001 occupational health and safety, ISO 14064 GHG quantification, etc.) are management-system or technical standards that often inform the data that gets reported under GRI.

How does GRI handle assurance? GRI does not itself provide assurance — the GRI content index is published by the reporter. Assurance over GRI-aligned reports is typically engaged separately under ISAE 3000 (for non-GHG subject matter) or ISAE 3410 (for GHG-specific scope). The assurance opinion is appended to the GRI report.