Impact reporting · voluntary in the UK
GRI Standards: what they require, and what a GRI claim means
The GRI Standards are a three-tier system of Universal, Sector and Topic Standards for reporting an organisation’s most significant impacts on the economy, environment and people.
The 2021 Universal Standards are current, the numbers 101, 102 and 103 have been reassigned to new Topic Standards, and no UK instrument requires any of it.
This page sets out the nine requirements for an “in accordance” claim, the eight principles, and where GRI meets UK SRS, the ISSB and the ESRS.
The system
Three series, one board, a private foundation
The Standards are set by the Global Sustainability Standards Board; the organisation behind them is Stichting Global Reporting Initiative, a Dutch foundation — a private standard-setter, not a government or intergovernmental body.
GRI 1 sets out the principles and the requirements for using the Standards; GRI 2 covers organisational details, governance, strategy and stakeholder engagement; GRI 3 sets out how to determine and report material topics.
All three Universal Standards apply to every organisation regardless of sector.
The 2021 revision was published in October 2021 and came into effect for reporting on 1 January 2023, replacing GRI 101: Foundation 2016, GRI 102: General Disclosures 2016 and GRI 103: Management Approach 2016.
Published and effective are separate dates in GRI’s own sentence, roughly fifteen months apart, and the same gap recurs with every new Topic Standard.
Sector Standards give a sector a starting list of likely material topics; Topic Standards are reported only for the topics an organisation actually determines are material.
| Series | What it is | Who uses it |
|---|---|---|
| Universal | GRI 1: Foundation 2021 · GRI 2: General Disclosures 2021 · GRI 3: Material Topics 2021 | Every reporting organisation |
| Sector | GRI 11–14, with more in development | Organisations in a covered sector |
| Topic | One standard per topic — GRI 101 Biodiversity, 102 Climate Change, 103 Energy, 200-, 300- and 400-series | For each topic determined to be material |
The number trap
GRI 101, 102 and 103 mean something different now
The same three numbers have carried two different sets of standards, and a bare citation to any of them is now ambiguous.
Before 2024, GRI 101, 102 and 103 were the Universal Standards: Foundation, General Disclosures and Management Approach, all 2016.
The reassignment came in two steps: GRI 101: Biodiversity 2024 in January 2024, then GRI 102: Climate Change 2025 and GRI 103: Energy 2025 in June 2025.
GRI 101: Biodiversity 2024 has been in effect since 1 January 2026 and replaces GRI 304: Biodiversity 2016.
GRI 102 and 103 are published but not effective until 1 January 2027.
When GRI 102 takes effect, GRI 305: Emissions 2016 (disclosures 305-1 to 305-5) and disclosure 201-2 are withdrawn; when GRI 103 takes effect, GRI 302: Energy 2016 is withdrawn.
The rule is simple: never write “GRI 101” without its title and year.
The decoder gives the likely meaning for a document of any date.
Decode a GRI number
Answer both.
A bare number is ambiguous without its year.
GRI Standards (globalreporting.org): the Universal Standards panel; GRI 101: Biodiversity 2024, GRI 102: Climate Change 2025 and GRI 103: Energy 2025, each with its effective date on its cover.
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The claim
Nine requirements for “in accordance” — three for “with reference”
GRI 1 sets nine requirements an organisation must meet to claim its report is prepared in accordance with the GRI Standards.
Apply the reporting principles; report the GRI 2 disclosures; determine material topics; report the GRI 3 disclosures; report Topic Standard disclosures for each material topic.
Then give reasons for any omission; publish a GRI content index; provide a statement of use; and notify GRI.
GRI 2 is reported in full; it is not filtered by materiality.
GRI 3 carries three disclosures: 3-1 the process used to determine material topics, 3-2 the list of material topics, and 3-3 how each is managed.
There is no minimum number of Topic Standard disclosures: requirement 5 depends on what the materiality process actually surfaced.
Omission is permitted only with a stated reason, and GRI 1 gives four: not applicable, legal prohibitions, confidentiality constraints, and information unavailable or incomplete.
The notification goes to GRI by email, a step separate from publishing the report.
An organisation that cannot meet all nine can still claim to report “with reference to” the GRI Standards, provided it publishes a content index, provides a statement of use and notifies GRI.
Tick what your report does and the check beside this text returns the claim it supports.
In accordance, or with reference?
Neither claim is available yet
GRI 1: Foundation 2021, section 3 (requirements 1–9, and “Reporting with reference to the GRI Standards”).
The with-reference content index and statement of use carry their own wording, set out in GRI 1.
Nothing is stored or sent.
The principles
Eight principles, not seven
Section 4 of GRI 1 sets eight reporting principles, and applying all of them is a condition of the “in accordance” claim.
GRI 1 says an organisation “is required to apply the reporting principles to be able to claim that it has prepared the reported information in accordance with the GRI Standards”.
Lists of seven are common and they drop verifiability, which is the principle that makes a report assurable.
GRI lists the eight alphabetically; it does not group them into “content” and “quality” principles.
The principles govern how every disclosure is prepared, not which disclosures are made.
| Principle | What GRI 1 requires, in short |
|---|---|
| Accuracy | Correct and sufficiently detailed information |
| Balance | Unbiased; negative and positive impacts fairly represented |
| Clarity | Accessible and understandable |
| Comparability | Consistent, so change over time and against others can be analysed |
| Completeness | Enough to assess impacts during the reporting period |
| Sustainability context | Impacts set in the wider context of sustainable development |
| Timeliness | On a regular schedule, in time for decisions |
| Verifiability | Gathered and recorded so its quality can be examined |
Materiality
Impact, not finance — and not “double”
GRI’s test is the significance of the organisation’s own impacts; the topics that pass it are its material topics.
The phrase “impact materiality” appears nowhere in the Universal Standards, although GRI uses it freely elsewhere — asking EFRAG to strengthen the impact focus of the ESRS, and recording in a GSSB meeting summary of 20 April 2023 that “impact materiality is a precursor to financial materiality”.
It is wrong to call GRI the double-materiality standard: GRI’s own guide says “The European Union dubbed this concept ‘Double Materiality’” and that its standards represent the impact side.
UK SRS S1 applies a financial test of a different kind; the full comparison is on double materiality.
A UK company using both is answering two different questions, and should say which one each disclosure answers.
GRI 1 §2.2: an organisation “prioritizes reporting on those topics that represent its most significant impacts on the economy, environment, and people, including impacts on their human rights.”
UK SRS S1 ¶¶17–18: whether information could reasonably be expected to influence primary users’ decisions, judged by its effect on cash flows, access to finance or cost of capital.
Neither standard uses the phrase “enterprise value” for its test.
Sector Standards
Four sectors published, aligned to the new Topic Standards
The Sector Program says it is “seeking to develop standards for 40 sectors”; four are published and two are in development.
The two in development are Financial Services — three parallel exposure drafts for banking, capital markets and insurance, which GRI expected to be approved in the third quarter of 2026 — and Textiles and Apparel.
All four published standards have V1.1 versions aligned with GRI 101: Biodiversity 2024, GRI 102: Climate Change 2025 and GRI 103: Energy 2025.
The earlier versions may still be used for climate-change and energy-related impacts until 31 December 2026; GRI encourages early adoption of V1.1 rather than requiring it.
- Oct 2021GRI 11: Oil and Gas Sector 2021
In effect for reporting from January 2023.
- 2022GRI 12: Coal Sector 2022
- 2022GRI 13: Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fishing Sectors 2022
- 2024GRI 14: Mining Sector 2024
Effective January 2026.
- 31 Dec 2026Last date for unaligned versions on climate and energy
V1.1 aligned versions available now.
Against the ISSB and the ESRS
What “interoperable” means, precisely
| Relationship | What exists | What it lets a preparer do |
|---|---|---|
| GRI and the ISSB | MoU 2022; joint statement on interoperability May 2024; GHG equivalence statement June 2025; joint statement 26 May 2026 | Use IFRS S2 Scope 1, 2 and 3 disclosures to meet GRI 102 — from 1 January 2027, under the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, cross-referenced in the content index |
| GRI and the ESRS | GRI-ESRS Interoperability Index V1, 22 November 2024, mapped to the 2023 ESRS | An ESRS report counts as “with reference to” GRI; the index predates the ESRS adopted in 2026 |
| GRI and IFRS S1 / UK SRS S1 | Appendix C of IFRS S1 names the GRI Standards among sources an entity may consider | Use GRI to identify information, where it does not conflict — permissive only |
The market says GRI and the ISSB are “aligned”; the operative mechanism covers greenhouse gas figures only, and it does not bite until GRI 102 takes effect.
The June 2025 equivalence statement, §4: organisations reporting under both “can use the equivalent IFRS S2 disclosures for Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 GHG emissions to meet the corresponding GRI 102 requirements”.
The May 2026 joint statement is plain that the two boards “make decisions separately in accordance with their established standard-setting due processes”.
No disclosure-level mapping between GRI and the ISSB Standards had been published as at 10 September 2026, and none appears in the boards’ own list of current work.
On the EU side, the interoperability index was mapped against the 2023 ESRS, which a Commission delegated act replaced in 2026, so it should not be cited against the new text.
The EU regime against UK SRS is on CSRD vs UK SRS; the investor-focused industry standards are on SASB Standards.
UK status
Where GRI stands in UK law
No UK instrument names GRI.
The UK’s mandatory non-financial reporting runs through Companies Act 2006 section 414CB, the climate-related financial disclosure regulations, SECR under Schedule 7 to SI 2008/410, and — for listed companies in the categories the FCA’s rules reach, from periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027 — UK SRS on a comply-or-explain basis under PS26/19.
None of them references GRI.
The closest GRI comes to UK recognition is permissive: UK SRS S1 Appendix C allows an entity to consider other standard-setters’ pronouncements, the route through which IFRS S1 Appendix C names the GRI Standards.
That is a narrow finding, not a verdict on usefulness: many UK companies report against GRI voluntarily alongside what the law requires.
The GHG Protocol sits underneath both GRI’s emissions disclosures and UK SRS S2, which is why the June 2025 equivalence works at all.
The wider comparison of frameworks a UK company may use is on ESG frameworks in the UK.
Check yourself
Five claims about GRI, true or false
Each statement turns up in summaries of the GRI Standards, and each is settled by GRI’s own documents.
The first two are the errors most often found in published reports’ own GRI references.
GRI Standards: true or false?
GRI 1 sets seven reporting principles.
“GRI 102” in a 2026 document means General Disclosures.
An ESRS report counts as reporting in accordance with GRI.
GRI requires a minimum number of Topic Standard disclosures.
From 2027, IFRS S2 GHG figures can satisfy GRI 102’s emissions requirements.
0 of 5 answered.
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Frequently asked
GRI Standards, answered
What are the three series of GRI Standards?
Universal Standards, used by every reporting organisation: GRI 1: Foundation 2021, GRI 2: General Disclosures 2021 and GRI 3: Material Topics 2021.
Sector Standards, written for a sector’s likely material topics.
Topic Standards, one per topic — emissions, biodiversity, energy, tax and so on — used for the topics an organisation has determined are material.
When did the 2021 Universal Standards take effect?
GRI says they were published in October 2021 and came into effect for reporting on 1 January 2023.
They replaced GRI 101: Foundation 2016, GRI 102: General Disclosures 2016 and GRI 103: Management Approach 2016.
Does GRI 101 mean Foundation or Biodiversity?
It depends on the date.
Before 2024 it meant GRI 101: Foundation 2016.
Now it means GRI 101: Biodiversity 2024, effective from 1 January 2026.
GRI 102 and 103 changed meaning in June 2025, to Climate Change 2025 and Energy 2025, effective from 1 January 2027.
Always cite the number with its title and year.
What does reporting “in accordance with” GRI require?
All nine requirements in GRI 1: apply the reporting principles; report GRI 2 in full; determine material topics; report GRI 3; report Topic Standard disclosures for each material topic; give reasons for omission; publish a GRI content index; provide a statement of use; and notify GRI.
What does “with reference to” GRI mean?
A weaker claim, for an organisation that cannot meet all nine.
It must still publish a GRI content index, provide a statement of use and notify GRI.
Entities reporting under the ESRS are treated by GRI as reporting with reference to the GRI Standards, not in accordance with them.
How many GRI reporting principles are there?
Eight, in GRI 1 section 4: accuracy, balance, clarity, comparability, completeness, sustainability context, timeliness and verifiability.
GRI requires all of them to be applied for an “in accordance” claim.
Lists of seven omit verifiability.
Is GRI double materiality?
No. GRI applies impact materiality: an organisation reports its most significant impacts on the economy, environment and people.
GRI’s own guide says the European Union dubbed the combined concept “double materiality” and that GRI’s standards represent its impact side.
Are GRI and the ISSB interoperable?
In one operative respect.
From GRI 102’s effective date of 1 January 2027, an organisation reporting under both can use its IFRS S2 Scope 1, 2 and 3 disclosures to meet the corresponding GRI 102 requirements, if measured under the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard and cross-referenced in the content index.
No disclosure-level mapping between the two had been published as at 10 September 2026.
Is GRI mandatory in the UK?
No UK instrument names GRI.
The UK’s mandatory reporting runs through Companies Act 2006 section 414CB, the climate-related financial disclosure regulations, SECR and, for listed companies from 2027, UK SRS on a comply-or-explain basis under FCA rules — none of which references GRI.
Many UK companies report against it voluntarily.
Which GRI Sector Standards exist?
Four: GRI 11 Oil and Gas, GRI 12 Coal, GRI 13 Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fishing, and GRI 14 Mining, out of a programme seeking to cover 40 sectors.
All four have V1.1 versions aligned with GRI 101, 102 and 103; earlier versions may be used for climate and energy reporting until 31 December 2026.
Sources
Primary sources
Every figure, date and status on this page traces to the instrument’s owner.
Secondary commentary is never the source for a number.
- GRIThe GRI Standards
Universal, Sector and Topic Standards; Universal Standards published October 2021, effective 1 January 2023.
- GRIGRI 1: Foundation 2021
§2.2 material topics; section 3 the nine requirements and “with reference”; section 4 the eight principles.
- GRIUniversal Standards — development page
The 2021 revision of GRI 101, 102 and 103 (2016).
- GRIGRI Sector Program
40 sectors sought; GRI 11–14 published; V1.1 alignment; earlier versions usable to 31 December 2026.
- GRIGRI Standards — English-language downloads
Current texts, including GRI 101, 102 and 103 Topic Standards.
- GRIGRI 102 and IFRS S2: statement on equivalence for GHG emissions, June 2025 (PDF)
§4: IFRS S2 Scope 1, 2 and 3 disclosures can meet the GRI 102 requirements.
- GRI and IFRS FoundationJoint statement, 26 May 2026 (PDF)
The two purposes; “make decisions separately”.
- GRIDouble materiality: the guiding principle (PDF)
“Its standards represents the impact side of double materiality.”
- GRIThe impact focus of the ESRS must be strengthened
GRI’s use of “impact materiality” outside the Standards.
- GRIApproved summary of the GSSB meeting, 20 April 2023 (PDF)
“Impact materiality is a precursor to financial materiality.”
- IFRS FoundationIFRS S1 — full text
Appendix C: the GRI Standards among the sources an entity may consider.
- Department for Business and TradeUK SRS S1 (PDF)
¶¶17–18 materiality; Appendix C, permissive.
- legislation.gov.ukCompanies Act 2006, section 414CB
The UK’s non-financial and sustainability information statement; GRI not named.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2008/410, Schedule 7
SECR; GRI not named.