GRI | Global Reporting Initiative

GRI: Reporting only what matters

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GRI is an international independent organization that publishes CSR reporting guidelines.

The guidelines are split into general and specific standard disclosures. General disclosures mainly refer to the CSR strategy of the company as well as to its business model and governance profile. Specific disclosures directly relate to CSR topics like CO2 emissions, child labor, sustainable procurement, and so on. The specificity of GRI is that organizations can choose the topics to be reported according to their importance for the company and for the company’s stakeholders (impacted parties like clients, shareholders, local communities).

“In order to make it easier for German companies in particular to participate in the GRI, I have been acting voluntarily for several years as Chairman of the Peer Review Committee for the translation of the GRI Standard into German”
Profilbild Dr. Thomas Fleissner
Dr. Thomas Fleissner, Founder and CEO DFGE - Institute for Energy, Ecology and Economy

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Our Services

     Starter: Your Materiality Matrix

The GRI Standard-Guidelines specificities lie in the reporting principles. They require to only report what matters and to consult stakeholders. The most common way to fulfill these requirements is to draw a materiality matrix.

Our process is the following:

  • Benchmark which leads to a shortlist of potential material aspects
  • Survey among the decision-makers to rate them
  • Stakeholder engagement process to get their feedback
  • Synthesis in materiality matrix
  • Study of up to 20 companies showing what topics are included in their reports, if the topics are present in their materiality matrix, the sectorial topics
  • Stakeholder engagement package
  • Shortlist of potential topics with their “boundaries” (where they occur)
  • Survey designed by us on this basis, to be filled by the decision-makers
  • A materiality matrix and a list of material topics and boundaries
  • Decision-making tool for the report contents and the CSR strategy

     Complete: GRI Complete Solution

You want a GRI report but have no idea what your peers are doing, what a materiality matrix is or whether the current data is sufficient? Then you can opt for the 360° solution.

We will:

  • Conduct a benchmark
  • Provide a materiality matrix and list of aspects
  • Conduct the data compilation process along with the GRI index.
  • A materiality matrix and list of material topics and boundaries
  • Gap analysis and data collection plan.
  • Collection of data and plausibility
  • Provision of draft with raw structure, texts and indicators
  • Delivery of GRI index to be added to the final report

     Services: Individual & Modular

We consult you on an individual basis, providing internal trainings and workshops for your team. In addition, we take on subtasks during the GRI participation.

  • Workshops & trainings
  • Tailor-made consulting services
  • Validation of your responses

Your Advantages:

  • Scalable: you choose the structure of your report
  • Time-saving: you can focus on the communication itself, not the technical aspects
  • Compliance with the GRI guidelines
  • Reliable: use of an internationally recognized standard to structure your CSR report
  • Relevant: DFGE will help pick only the relevant topics and prioritize according to your business and your stakeholders’ views
More about the GRI process

The GRI process prescribes certain principles for the report’s content as well for its quality, e.g. concerning diligence, comparability, reliability and completeness of the presented information. With regards to content, the principles are stakeholder integration, completeness (all important CSR fields should be covered), sustainability context (how can the company’s activities be seen as a whole?) and materiality (priorization of the most important CSR areas).

The implementation of these principles normally results in a materiality matrix (with the topics which are seen as being important by the stakeholders and the company) and a list of the material aspects incl. description.

Why GRI at all?

  • Measurement and control of progess becomes possible
  • CSR strategy and economic interest are brought in line
  • Only material topics are reported
  • Acknowledged standard which includes stakeholders
  • Data can be compared over a period of time

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