Global Public Policy Institute
Reinhardtstraße 15
10117 Berlin
Germany
Phone +49 30 275 959 75-0
Fax +49 30 690 88 200
E-Mail gppi@gppi.net
20 January 2006
GPPi commissioned to conduct review of the Global Reporting Initiative
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The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has tasked the Global Public Policy Institute to conduct a review of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Together with the US-based NGO CERES, UNEP has been one of the key promoters of the GRI in its early development phase. Today, the GRI is an independent organization based in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Amsterdam (Netherlands), and a Collaborating Center of UNEP.
During the past decade, reporting on non-financial indicators (‘sustainability reporting’) has seen tremendous growth, greatly supported by programs such as the GRI. More than 600 organizations in all sectors explicitly recognize using the GRI Guidelines for reporting on their economic, environmental, and social performance. So far, however, the market for sustainability reporting is far from fully leveraged. While many companies, especially large firms, have adopted sustainability indicators in their regular reporting practice, corporate environmental and social reporting is still very much a minority practice. In addition, there still exist multiple standards for sustainability reporting. One of GRI's key goals was to contribute to a consolidation of the market for reporting guidelines.
Much needs to be accomplished, therefore, and initiatives such as the GRI will need to provide much leadership to make non-financial reporting a mainstream issue in the coming years. To enable the GRI to assume such a leadership role, UNEP has asked GPPi to conduct a forward-looking, strategic assessment of the GRI, and to advance practical recommendations that could help shape the future development of that initiative in productive ways. The review will not only uncover the current state of sustainability reporting and the GRI, but it will also give recommendations for developing future GRI products and a sustainable GRI business model, as well as for building relations between GRI and other public and private initiatives in the area of non-financial reporting.
The study commenced in early November 2005. The final project is due in May 2006.
For more information on the project please click here.