Guidelines

• Overview of Sustainability Reporting
• Overview of the Guidelines
• Part 1: Report Content, Boundary, and Quality
• Guidance for Defining Report Content
• Principles for Defining Report Content
• Setting the Report Boundary
• Quality of Reported Information
• Part 2: Standard Disclosures
• Disclosure Items
• 1: Strategy and Analysis
• 2: Organizational Profile
• 3: Report Parameters
• 4: Governance, Commitment & Engagement
• Disclosures on Management Approach and Performance Indicators
• Economic Performance Indicators
• Environmental Performance Indicators
• Social Performance Indicators
• Part 3: Guidelines use and report compilation
• Glossary

16 of 16

Glossary

Additional indicators
Additional indicators are those indicators identified in the GRI Guidelines that represent emerging practice or address issues that may be material in the context of specific organizations but are not generally material for a majority.

Boundary
The boundary for a sustainability report refers to the range of entities’ performance that is covered in the organization’s sustainability report.

Content index
A GRI content index is a table or matrix that lists all of the standard disclosures and where responses to the disclosures can be found (page number or URL). Reporting organizations can also add reference to organization-specific (non-GRI Guidelines) indicators. The content index provides users with a quick overview of what has been reported and increases ease of report use. A content index is especially important if some of the disclosures appear in other reports - such as the financial report or previous sustainability reports. 

Core indicator
Core indicators are those indicators identified in the GRI Guidelines that are of interest to most stakeholders and assumed to be material unless demonstrated not to be on the basis of the GRI Reporting Principles.

Disclosure item
The numbered information requirements in Part 2 of the Guidelines that set the overall context for reporting and understanding organizational performance. (e.g., 2.1, 3.13)

Global Reporting Initiative
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is a multi-stakeholder process and independent institution whose mission is to develop and disseminate globally applicable Sustainability Reporting Guidelines.

GRI Reporting Framework
The GRI reporting framework is intended to provide a generally accepted framework for reporting on an organization’s economic, environmental, and social performance. The Framework  consists of the Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, the Technical Protocols and the Sector Supplements.

Independent Board Member
Definitions for “independent” can vary between legal jurisdictions. Independent usually implies that the member has no financial interest in the organization or other potential benefits that could create a conflict of interest.  Organizations using the Guidelines should state the definition used for “independent.”

Indicator categories
Broad areas, or groupings, of sustainability issues. The categories included in the GRI Guidelines are: economic, environmental, or social. The social grouping is categorized in terms of labour practices, human rights, society, and product responsibility. A given category may have several htmlects.

Indicator htmlects
The general types of information that are related to a specific indicator category (e.g., energy use, child labor, customers).

Performance Indicator
Qualitative or quantitative information about results or outcomes associated with the organization that is comparable and demonstrates change over time.

Reporting Principle
Reporting principles are concepts that describe the outcomes a report should achieve and guide decisions made throughout the reporting process, such as which indicators to respond to, and how to respond to them.

Sector supplement
A Sector Supplement is a complement to the Guidelines with interpretations and guidance on how to apply the Guidelines in the context of a given sector, and include sector-specific performance indicators. Supplements (where available) are used in addition to, not in place of, the Guidelines.

Stakeholder
Stakeholders are defined broadly as those groups or individuals that: (a) can reasonably be expected to be significantly affected by the organization’s activities, products and/or services;  or (b) whose actions can reasonably be expected to affect the ability of the organization to successfully implement its strategies and achieve its objectives.

Standard disclosures         
The Guidelines present issues for and information to report that are material to most organizations and of interest to most stakeholders are captured in two types of standard disclosures:

• Disclosures items that set the overall context for reporting and for understanding organizational performance such as its strategy, profile, governance, and management approach.
• Indicators that elicit comparable information on the economic, environmental, and social performance of the organization.

Sustainability report
Sustainability reporting is the practice of measuring, disclosing, and being accountable for organizational performance towards the goal of sustainable development. A sustainability report provides a balanced and reasonable representation of the sustainability performance of the reporting organization - including both positive and negative contributions.

Technical protocol
A technical protocol provides definitions, compilation guidance, and other information to assist report preparers and ensure consistency in the interpretation of the performance indicators. There exists a technical protocol for each of the performance indicators contained in the Guidelines.

Unitary Board
Refers to a board structure that has only one governing body responsible for the organization.

For definitions of words or concepts contained directly in the wording of the indicators, see the Technical Protocols.

16 of 16