GRI Standards (Global Reporting Initiative)
The GRI Standards are the most widely used framework for voluntary sustainability reporting. Published by the Global Reporting Initiative, they ask a company to report on its most significant impacts on the economy, environment, and people, and they set out the disclosures to make for each material topic, including greenhouse gas emissions under GRI 305.
The Global Reporting Initiative was founded in 1997 and is based in Amsterdam. It publishes the GRI Standards, a modular set of sustainability reporting standards that a company of any size, sector, or location can use. Where the ISSB standards and the SASB Standards focus on what matters to investors, GRI takes an impact view: a topic is material if the company has a significant effect on the economy, the environment, or people, whether or not that effect shows up in its financial results.
The standards come in three sets. The Universal Standards apply to every reporter: GRI 1 sets the reporting principles, GRI 2 covers general disclosures about the organization, and GRI 3 explains how to identify and report material topics. Sector Standards add disclosures expected for specific industries, such as oil and gas, coal, agriculture, and mining. Topic Standards cover individual subjects, from GRI 302 on energy and GRI 305 on emissions to GRI 403 on occupational health and safety.
GRI 305 is the standard most relevant to carbon accounting. It asks for direct (Scope 1) emissions, energy indirect (Scope 2) emissions, and other indirect (Scope 3) emissions, along with GHG intensity, reductions achieved, and the methodology and base year behind the numbers. It follows the GHG Protocol, so a company with a GHG Protocol inventory already has most of what GRI 305 requires. In 2025, GRI published GRI 102: Climate Change and GRI 103: Energy, which will replace the emissions and energy disclosures in GRI 305 and GRI 302 for reporting periods starting on or after January 1, 2027.
A company reports either "in accordance with" the GRI Standards, which means meeting all nine requirements in GRI 1, or "with reference to" them, which means using selected standards and saying so. Either way, it publishes a GRI content index that shows where each disclosure lives.
GRI is designed to sit alongside the investor-focused frameworks rather than replace them. The EU built the ESRS with GRI interoperability in mind, and GRI and the IFRS Foundation have published joint guidance on reporting GHG emissions under both GRI 305 and IFRS S2. Many companies, Assent among them, report against GRI and SASB together to serve both a broad stakeholder audience and investors.
For a sustainability team, the practical work under GRI 305 is having a complete, auditable emissions inventory with a stable base year and a clear methodology for each scope, so that every figure in the content index can be traced back to its source.
Frequently asked questions
What are the GRI Standards? +
The GRI Standards are a set of sustainability reporting standards published by the Global Reporting Initiative. They are organized into Universal Standards that every reporter uses, Sector Standards for specific industries, and Topic Standards for individual subjects such as emissions, energy, water, and labor. They focus on a company's impacts on the economy, environment, and people.
What does GRI 305 require? +
GRI 305 covers emissions. It asks for Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions, GHG intensity, emissions reductions achieved, and the base year, methodology, and emission factors used. It aligns with the GHG Protocol. GRI 102: Climate Change will replace its GHG disclosures for reporting periods starting January 1, 2027.
How is GRI different from SASB and ISSB? +
GRI reports on a company's impacts on the world for a broad audience of stakeholders. SASB and the ISSB standards report on sustainability matters that affect a company's financial performance for investors. Many companies use both, and GRI and the IFRS Foundation have published guidance on reporting emissions under GRI 305 and IFRS S2 together.
Is GRI reporting mandatory? +
GRI is voluntary in most jurisdictions, but it is the most widely used sustainability reporting standard and is often expected by investors, customers, and ratings agencies. Some stock exchanges and governments reference it in their disclosure guidance, and the EU designed the ESRS to be interoperable with it.
Related terms
SASB Standards (Sustainability Accounting Standards Board)
The SASB Standards identify the sustainability topics most likely to affect financial performance in 77 industries, and pair each topic with disclosure metrics. Originally published by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, they have been owned and maintained by the ISSB since 2022, and IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 require companies to refer to and consider them.
ESG Reporting
ESG reporting is the disclosure of an organization's performance across environmental (E), social (S), and governance (G) dimensions. It encompasses GHG emissions, water and waste management, labor practices, diversity, board structure, ethics, and risk management — providing stakeholders with a holistic view of sustainability performance.
ISSB (International Sustainability Standards Board)
The ISSB is a body under the IFRS Foundation that issues global sustainability disclosure standards. IFRS S1 (General Requirements) and IFRS S2 (Climate-related Disclosures) set the baseline for sustainability reporting worldwide, designed for investor-focused, financially material disclosures.
ESRS (European Sustainability Reporting Standards)
ESRS are the detailed reporting standards developed by EFRAG that specify what companies must disclose under the EU's CSRD. They cover ten sustainability topics across environmental, social, and governance dimensions, with ESRS E1 (Climate Change) requiring detailed emissions data, transition plans, and climate risk assessments.
GHG Protocol
The GHG Protocol is the world's most widely used greenhouse gas accounting standard. Developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), it provides frameworks for organizations, cities, and countries to measure and manage their emissions across three scopes.
Double Materiality
Double materiality is the assessment framework required by the EU's CSRD that evaluates sustainability topics from two perspectives: impact materiality (how the company affects society and the environment) and financial materiality (how sustainability issues affect the company's financial performance, position, and cash flows).
Base Year
A base year is the reference year against which an organization measures its greenhouse gas emission reduction progress. It establishes the starting-point emissions level from which percentage reductions are calculated, and it must be recalculated when significant structural changes (mergers, acquisitions, divestitures) occur.