Have you started implementing the GRI Universal Standards 2021 - new guidelines for sustainability reporting? The new requirements that apply from January 2023 affect all companies and organizations reporting under the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Here, Stratsys' sustainability expert Cecilia Almér shares her best tips for adapting reporting to the changed requirements.
GRI's new sustainability reporting standards align with international due diligence agreements on sustainability impacts, including those on human rights.
The changes announced already in 2021 will apply from January 1, 2023. This means that all companies and organizations covered by GRI must adapt their reporting to the new standards.
- The new requirements include changes in the implementation of the materiality analysis, an integration of the organization's impact on human rights and clarification of GRI's key concepts, begins Cecilia Almér, sustainability expert at Stratsys.
The increasing importance of sustainability reporting
There are major changes in the requirements for sustainability reporting - from having been a voluntary plus in the edge and a few years back a legal requirement for simpler reporting to being standardized in the future like the requirements for a financial annual report.
GRI, the standard for sustainability reporting that is currently used by most of the world's major organizations and companies, provides a good preparation for the reporting requirements that come within the EU.
It is a fact that companies that take their sustainability work seriously increase their competitiveness among investors, customers and employees.
- Sustainability is today a business-critical issue for the majority of Swedish companies. That said, it is important to produce a sustainability report with substance, not just as a marketing product that lacks content of real facts, analysis and actions. The new GRI standards provide good guidance on how companies can clearly and transparently produce a sustainability report with substantial facts," explains Cecilia.
5 key changes in the GRI Standards
1. General disclosures have been redesigned
The general disclosures (GRI 102) have been redesigned and are now referred to as GRI 2. Previously there were 56 general disclosures, but this has now been changed to 30 disclosures that apply to all reporting organizations. Several of these are already included to some extent in the annual financial report but must now be included in the GRI Index.
2. "Core" and "comprehensive" reporting have been removed
The old reporting options "core" and "comprehensive" have been removed. Now there is only one level of application for businesses to report in accordance with the GRI Standards.
3. New requirements for human rights reporting
Human rights have been integrated much more clearly. The GRI Standards now include reporting on the actual and potential impacts of the organization's activities on the environment, economy and people, including impacts on their human rights.4. New process for materiality analysis
A new process for identifying the material issues of the business has been developed. The GRI materiality analysis is based on impact materiality and is mandatory. Remember that it is not only the result of the analysis that must be reported, but also the process of determining which sustainability issues are material and how they are managed. The report must also show how stakeholders have been involved in the materiality analysis.It is good to know that impact materiality is one of the two perspectives in a double materiality analysis, which will be a requirement in the upcoming Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).
5. Integrating due diligence and stakeholder engagement
The changes include due diligence reporting requirements and new guidelines on stakeholder engagement. Due diligence and stakeholder dialogues must be handled as ongoing processes - that is, they should not only be reviewed during reporting but be part of the systematic sustainability work. Stakeholder dialogues are an important part of the process of identifying material issues.
A system support to manage sustainability reporting
A challenge for many organizations is that sustainability reporting requires a lot of time and resources. There is a lot of data from different parts of the business to be collected, compiled and analyzed. Stratsys' sustainability management product makes it possible to manage current sustainability frameworks in one tool and simplifies both the reporting and analysis of data.
- The purpose of the tool is to streamline the entire process of sustainability reporting by simplifying the collection and compilation of data while enabling a structured approach to the organization's sustainability goals and activities. Stratsys offers help to live up to and keep track of the organization's current status and progress in the field of sustainability - which is crucial to meet current frameworks and above all future legal requirements, Cecilia concludes.
Read more about how Stratsys can streamline your sustainability work.
