Mapping of GRI Standards and ESRS
Project goal
For many years, DFGE has been supporting clients in the preparation of sustainability reports in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Some of our customers will be subject to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) in the next few years.
At the beginning of September, GRI and EFRAG released a statement assuring the interoperability of the GRI and ESRS standards in relation to impact reporting. On the one hand to prevent double reporting and on the other hand to create a user-friendly reporting system without undue complexity.
In order to support our customers in the best possible way, to be able to efficiently use what has been developed so far as well as to transfer it to the CSRD, DFGE has created an internal mapping of the GRI standards with the ESRS on both a qualitative and quantitative level. This process was intended to identify gaps in the current GRI reporting compared to the ESRS and to provide an overview of the customers´ current reporting capability.
Process description
After adoption of the CSRD together with the ESRS in July 2023, DFGE experts engaged deeply and in detail with the current ESRS standards. Based on this, a listing of all qualitative and quantitative data points for the general standard ESRS 2 as well as for all topical standards was performed. In order to compare the interoperability of ESRS and GRI, a mapping of the individual data points with the GRI standards was carried out. In this way, the DFGE analyzed whether there is a matching data point in GRI for the queried data point of the specific ESRS. If so, DFGE created an overview for the customer and identified whether this data point is already reported in the customer´s current GRI reporting.
Through this detailed and comprehensive process, DFGE is able to identify, at an in-depth qualitative as well as quantitative CSRD – level, statements about existing gaps in relation to ESRS and provide a comprehensive overview of the current data situation in relation to sustainability reporting for our clients. This in turn is the starting point for efficient preparation and implementation of the CSRD.
Challenges
DFGE faced a number of challenges in carrying out the mapping of GRI and ESRS. The interoperability of the two standards could be confirmed in many parts by DFGE’s internal mapping. However, some differences between the two standards could also be identified, especially when considering the quantitative level of detail as well as number of data points.
By changing the materiality analysis from a single (GRI) to a double (CSRD) one, the ESRS not only include many more qualitative and quantitative data points, but now also financial reporting in addition to impact reporting (as in GRI). For this reason, the data points from the GRI standards could often only be partially mapped to the ESRS, as the query of Impacts, Risks and Opportunities (IROs) in the ESRS is much more comprehensive.
However, this enormous effort was very worthwhile for DFGE and customers, as it became clear that companies already reporting according to GRI still have a lot of work ahead of them to close the gaps in their reporting.
Solution
Through DFGE’s internal mapping of ESRS and GRI, DFGE now has in-depth expertise to individually analyze clients’ current data basis and reporting capabilities. Data as well as reporting gaps can be identified and the client can be efficiently supported in preparing the CSRD compliant report.
DFGE’s experts in sustainability reporting can also support you in converting your sustainability reporting from GRI to CSRD. If you have any questions, please contact us via or by phone 08192-99733-20.
