Last updated: May 22, 2026.
The GRI Standards are one of the most widely used frameworks for sustainability reporting. They help organizations explain their significant impacts on the economy, environment, and people in a structured, comparable way.
For companies preparing a first sustainability report, GRI can be useful because it gives the reporting team a clear architecture: identify material impacts, explain how they are managed, and disclose the relevant metrics and narrative. For companies already facing CSRD, customer requests, stock exchange guidance, or investor questions, GRI can also provide a practical reporting backbone, even where another framework or regulation sets the final disclosure requirement.
This guide explains what the GRI Standards are, how the modular system works, how to use GRI in a reporting project, and where companies commonly get stuck. If you need help turning material topics, data owners, and disclosure requirements into a publishable report, Keslio can support reporting and communications, sustainability strategy, and GHG emissions calculations.
Short answer: The GRI Standards are a modular sustainability reporting system built around impact reporting. Companies start with the Universal Standards, check whether a Sector Standard applies, identify material topics, and then use the relevant Topic Standards to report how those impacts are managed. A company can either report in accordance with the GRI Standards or use selected GRI Standards with reference, depending on the scope and quality of the report.
What the GRI Standards are for
GRI is designed to help organizations report their impacts on people, the environment, and the economy. That makes it especially useful when stakeholders want to understand how a company affects workers, communities, customers, suppliers, natural resources, climate, biodiversity, waste, tax, anti-corruption, human rights, and other sustainability topics.
GRI is not only a communications framework. Used properly, it forces the organization to clarify which topics matter, which teams own the data, what policies and controls exist, and where performance is still weak. The report becomes the visible output of a management process, not just a polished PDF.
GRI is also voluntary in many contexts. A company may choose to use it because customers, investors, lenders, regulators, or parent companies expect a recognized reporting structure. In some jurisdictions, GRI can support regulatory reporting, but companies should still check the specific legal standard that applies to them.
How the GRI Standards are structured
The current GRI Standards are organized as a modular system. That means companies do not treat GRI as one long checklist. They use the parts that apply to the organization and its material topics.
Universal Standards
The Universal Standards apply to all organizations using GRI. They include:
- GRI 1: Foundation 2021: explains the purpose of the Standards, key concepts, reporting principles, and requirements for reporting in accordance with GRI.
- GRI 2: General Disclosures 2021: covers organizational profile, activities, workers, governance, strategy, policies, stakeholder engagement, and reporting practices.
- GRI 3: Material Topics 2021: explains how to determine material topics and report how each material topic is managed.
The revised Universal Standards were published in 2021 and came into effect for reporting from January 1, 2023.
Sector Standards
Sector Standards help companies in higher-impact sectors identify topics that are likely to be material for their sector. They do not replace the materiality process, but they make it harder to miss obvious sector-specific impacts.
As of this update, GRI Sector Standards are available for oil and gas, coal, agriculture, aquaculture and fishing, and mining. GRI has also been developing standards for additional sectors, including financial services and textiles and apparel.
If a Sector Standard applies to the organization, it should be consulted when determining material topics. The organization still needs to assess its own business model, geography, value chain, stakeholders, and actual impacts.
Topic Standards
Topic Standards contain disclosures for specific sustainability topics. Examples include energy, emissions, waste, occupational health and safety, tax, anti-corruption, employment, diversity, supplier assessment, and human rights-related topics.
Companies use Topic Standards after they determine which topics are material. For example, a company that identifies emissions as material would use the relevant GRI disclosures for emissions and explain how the topic is managed, what data was used, and what performance is being reported.
In accordance vs with reference
One of the most important choices is whether the organization is reporting in accordance with the GRI Standards or with reference to selected GRI Standards.
Reporting in accordance with GRI is the more comprehensive route. It requires the organization to follow the GRI reporting principles, disclose the required general disclosures, determine and report material topics, use applicable Sector Standards, provide a GRI content index, and explain any permitted omissions.
Reporting with reference to GRI is narrower. It can be useful when a company is not ready for a full GRI report, or when it is using selected GRI disclosures inside another report, customer response, or internal reporting pack. The company should be clear about which GRI Standards or disclosures it used and should avoid implying full accordance if the report does not meet the requirements.
How to use GRI in a reporting project
A practical GRI reporting project usually follows these steps:
- Confirm the reporting purpose: decide whether the report is for public sustainability reporting, customer requests, investor communication, regulatory support, board reporting, or a combination of these.
- Set the reporting boundary: define the entities, geographies, operations, and value-chain activities covered by the report.
- Map stakeholders and impacts: identify workers, customers, suppliers, communities, investors, regulators, and other groups affected by or interested in the company's impacts.
- Determine material topics: assess which impacts are most significant, using evidence rather than just management preference.
- Check the applicable Sector Standard: if a GRI Sector Standard applies, use it to test whether any likely material topics have been missed.
- Select Topic Standards: connect each material topic to the relevant GRI disclosures.
- Assign data owners: identify who owns HR, operations, finance, procurement, legal, health and safety, environmental, and emissions data.
- Collect and test data: gather the quantitative and qualitative evidence needed for each disclosure and document assumptions, exclusions, and limitations.
- Draft the report and content index: write the report in plain language and create a content index that makes disclosures easy to find.
- Review and approve: check consistency, sign-off responsibilities, and whether any claims need stronger evidence before publication.
GRI and materiality
GRI focuses on impact materiality: the organization's significant impacts on the economy, environment, and people, including human rights impacts. This is different from a purely financial materiality lens, which focuses on sustainability matters that affect enterprise value or financial performance.
In practice, companies may need both perspectives. For example, the EU CSRD and ESRS use double materiality, which includes both impact materiality and financial materiality. GRI can help with the impact side, but it does not automatically make a report CSRD-compliant.
If your company is trying to understand CSRD or ESRS requirements, see Keslio's guides to getting ready for CSRD reporting and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards.
GRI and emissions reporting
Many companies use GRI alongside greenhouse gas reporting. GRI can frame how climate and emissions impacts are disclosed, but the underlying emissions calculations still need a robust method, activity data, emission factors, boundaries, and documentation.
For companies preparing a sustainability report, this usually means aligning the narrative and governance disclosures with the emissions data. The report should explain the reporting period, organizational boundary, Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, relevant Scope 3 categories, methodology, assumptions, and any changes from prior years.
Keslio can help with GHG emissions calculations where the report needs a clearer emissions baseline before disclosure.
Common mistakes when using GRI
- Treating GRI as a checklist: the Standards are modular, but the report still needs a coherent materiality process and management narrative.
- Skipping the boundary: readers need to know which entities, sites, workers, and value-chain activities are included or excluded.
- Confusing impact materiality with financial materiality: GRI is impact-focused, while some regulations and investor frameworks also require financial materiality.
- Using Sector Standards too late: if a Sector Standard applies, consult it during material topic determination, not after the report is drafted.
- Reporting policies without performance: policy statements are useful, but stakeholders also need metrics, actions, progress, and limitations.
- Weak content indexes: a GRI content index should help readers locate disclosures quickly. It should not become a vague reference list.
- Overclaiming: do not say the report is in accordance with GRI unless the requirements are actually met.
What companies should prepare before starting
Before starting a GRI reporting process, collect the basics:
- Legal entity and operational structure.
- Reporting period and reporting boundary.
- Stakeholder list and engagement records.
- Existing sustainability policies, risk registers, and board or management oversight records.
- Employee, health and safety, training, diversity, and labor data where relevant.
- Energy, fuel, refrigerants, waste, water, and emissions data where relevant.
- Supplier and procurement information for value-chain topics.
- Prior reports, customer questionnaires, investor requests, or regulatory submissions.
- Evidence for claims, targets, progress, and corrective actions.
For a broader view of data readiness, see Keslio's guide to managing ESG data.
How Keslio can help
Keslio helps companies turn sustainability reporting requirements into clear reports, data requests, disclosure drafts, and review-ready evidence. For GRI-related work, this can include:
- Choosing the right reporting scope and structure.
- Running or refreshing a materiality assessment.
- Mapping material topics to GRI disclosures.
- Creating data request checklists for internal teams.
- Preparing GHG emissions calculations and supporting methodology.
- Drafting report sections, content indexes, and management approach disclosures.
- Improving consistency between GRI, ESRS, customer requests, and internal sustainability strategy.
If you are preparing a first GRI-aligned report or refreshing an existing report, Keslio's reporting and communications service can help turn the framework into a practical reporting process.
