Section 1 introduces the purpose and the system of the GRI Standards.

Section 2 explains the key concepts that are used throughout the GRI Standards.

Section 3 specifies the requirements for reporting in accordance with the GRI Standards.

Section 4 specifies the reporting principles, which are fundamental to ensuring the quality of the reported information.

Section 5 presents recommendations for the organization to align its sustainability reporting with other types of reporting and to enhance the credibility of its sustainability reporting.

The Appendixes provide guidance on how to prepare a GRI content index.

The Glossary contains defined terms with a specific meaning when used in the GRI Standards. The terms are underlined in the text of the GRI Standards and linked to the definitions.

The Bibliography lists authoritative intergovernmental instruments used in developing this Standard.

Through their activities and business relationships, organizations can have an effect on the economy, environment, and people, and in turn, make negative or positive contributions to sustainable development. Sustainable development refers to ‘development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs' [8]. The objective of sustainability reporting using the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards (GRI Standards) is to provide transparency on how an organization contributes or aims to contribute to sustainable development.

The GRI Standards enable an organization to publicly disclose its most significant impacts on the economy, environment, and people, including impacts on their human rights and how the organization manages these impacts. This enhances transparency on the organization’s impacts and increases organizational accountability.

The Standards contain disclosures that allow an organization to report information about its impacts consistently and credibly. This enhances the global comparability and quality of reported information on these impacts, which supports information users in making informed assessments and decisions about the organization’s impacts and contribution to sustainable development.

The GRI Standards are based on expectations for responsible business conduct set out in authoritative intergovernmental instruments, such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises [3] and the United Nations (UN) Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights [5] (see the Bibliographies of the GRI Standards for a list of authoritative instruments used in developing the GRI Standards). Information reported using the GRI Standards can help users assess whether an organization meets the expectations set out in these instruments. It is important to note that the GRI Standards do not set allocations, thresholds, goals, targets, or any other benchmarks for good or bad performance.

Any organization can use the GRI Standards – regardless of size, type, geographic location, or reporting experience – to report information about its impacts on the economy, environment, and people, including impacts on their human rights.

The reported information can be used by the organization in its decision-making, for example, when setting goals and targets, or when assessing and implementing its policies and practices.

Stakeholders and other information users can use the GRI Standards to understand what organizations are expected to report. Stakeholders can also use an organization’s reported information to assess how they are affected or how they could be affected by the organization’s activities. Investors, in particular, can use the reported information to assess an organization’s impacts and how it integrates sustainable development into its business strategy and model. They can also use this information to identify financial risks and opportunities related to the organization’s impacts and to assess its long-term success. Users other than the organization’s stakeholders, such as academics and analysts, can also use the reported information for purposes such as research or benchmarking. The term ‘information users’ in the GRI Standards refers to all these diverse users of the organization’s reported information.

Investors, in particular, can use the reported information to assess an organization’s impacts and how it integrates sustainable development into its business strategy and model. They can also use this information to identify financial risks and opportunities related to the organization’s impacts and to assess its long-term success. Users other than the organization’s stakeholders, such as academics and analysts, can also use the reported information for purposes such as research or benchmarking. The term ‘information users’ in the GRI Standards refers to all these diverse users of the organization’s reported information.