The most material topic for stakeholders of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is the development of standardised impact reporting. GRI’s annual sustainability report 2022 features a survey with 4,000 of its stakeholders on what should be its most material topics going forward. Standardised impact reporting came out on top, followed by GRI Standards development and driving reporting uptake. Qualitative surveying found stakeholders were keen to develop standards on new topics such as the transfer of wealth by corporations, data security, data privacy and social capital. It also found stakeholders were concerned that the GRI standards and sustainability reporting in general can be used by the organisations as a greenwashing and cherry-picking tool. They said GRI should establish clear criteria for distinguishing between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ reports. In March, the GRI signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the IFRS Foundation, committing both organisations to coordinate work programmes for sustainability-related standard setting activities. It is also working jointly with the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) on the development of European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS).
