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GRI Standards

Global Sustainability Standards Board

Reporting standard
Issuer / operator
Global Sustainability Standards Board
Geography
Global
Sectors
All sectors
Scope unit
Company
Current edition
GRI Universal Standards 2021; GRI 101:2024; GRI 102:2025 + GRI 103:2025
Edition status
Published
Next edition review
Not yet reviewed. Help review this fact
Access to standard text
Free
Binding status
Voluntary, referenced by law
Binding in
Not yet reviewed. Help review this fact
Materiality lens
Impact
Reporting / measurement unit
Company
Assurance expectation
Optional
Instrument kind
Disclosure

In brief

What this profile covers

The GRI Standards, maintained by the Global Sustainability Standards Board, are the most widely used sustainability reporting standards globally. The modular system comprises Universal Standards (revised 2021 — GRI 1, 2, 3), Topic Standards covering specific impacts (revised biodiversity and climate standards include GRI 101:2024 and GRI 102:2025), and Sector Standards. Reporting "in accordance with" GRI requires applying the full system, including the impact-materiality approach: organisations report their impacts on the economy, environment and people, including human rights. GRI is the reference for impact materiality where ESRS applies double materiality and IFRS applies financial materiality, and formal interoperability mappings between GRI and ESRS exist. A GRI content index allows specific disclosures to be referenced with a claim of "reporting with reference to" rather than full accordance. The Standards are free to download and maintained through a due-process governance model modelled on financial-standard setters, with public comment periods for each revision. National regulators from the EU to Asia reference GRI as either a direct requirement or an accepted reporting basis. Using this framework does not by itself verify data accuracy, legal compliance or sustainability performance.

Conditional relationships

Claims it may support

A relationship does not mean that the standard proves or validates every use of a claim.

Sustainable companyProvides evidence relevant to · Disclosure against this standard provides evidence relevant to the claim; the standard does not certify performance.
Evidence and conditions
Edition reviewed
GRI Universal Standards 2021; GRI 101:2024; GRI 102:2025 + GRI 103:2025
Covered scope
Company / group
Market
Global
Evidence normally needed
Published disclosure/report prepared in accordance with the standard; separate assurance statement where the claim implies independent verification
Assurance
Report-level assurance optional
Chain of custody
Not applicable — the scheme defines no chain-of-custody model
Relationship source ↗
Committed to sustainabilityProvides evidence relevant to · Disclosure against this standard provides evidence relevant to the claim; the standard does not certify performance.
Evidence and conditions
Edition reviewed
GRI Universal Standards 2021; GRI 101:2024; GRI 102:2025 + GRI 103:2025
Covered scope
Company / group
Market
Global
Evidence normally needed
Published disclosure/report prepared in accordance with the standard; separate assurance statement where the claim implies independent verification
Assurance
Report-level assurance optional
Chain of custody
Not applicable — the scheme defines no chain-of-custody model
Relationship source ↗
Independently verified sustainability reportProvides evidence relevant to · Disclosure against this standard provides evidence relevant to the claim; the standard does not certify performance.
Evidence and conditions
Edition reviewed
GRI Universal Standards 2021; GRI 101:2024; GRI 102:2025 + GRI 103:2025
Covered scope
Company / group
Market
Global
Evidence normally needed
Published disclosure/report prepared in accordance with the standard; separate assurance statement where the claim implies independent verification
Assurance
Report-level assurance optional
Chain of custody
Not applicable — the scheme defines no chain-of-custody model
Relationship source ↗

Recognition & legal context

Laws referencing it

No reviewed law references are published.

Provenance5 profile updates
Profile update 5
Imported source-linked claim and dictionary relationship reviews. Public profile remains Founding edition · public beta.
Profile update 4
Added source-linked instrument, organisation and conformity classifications. Public profile remains Founding edition · public beta.
Profile update 3
Applied the owner/editor-approved Review 01 source and edition corrections. Public profile remains Founding edition · public beta.
Profile update 2
Initial profile published after recorded site-owner/editor review of the complete standards batch.
Profile update 1
Initial private editorial draft imported from the reviewed standards handover.

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