Current state: The most commonly referenced ESG reporting standards
The most commonly used ESG standards at this moment of ESG maturity include the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), and the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). And while many began as global non-profit organizations, their end goal has been the same — establish, develop, and distribute a common set of ESG standards:
- Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards – GRI has been providing the most widely used sustainability reporting standards for more than 25 years, covering topics that include biodiversity, tax, waste, emissions, health, and safety. Their goal is to “…enable any organization – large or small, private or public – to understand and report on their impacts on the economy, environment and people in a comparable and credible way, thereby increasing transparency on their contribution to sustainable development.”
- Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Standards – Available for more than seventy-seven industries, SASB provides a set of ESG standards that assist in the identification of those environmental, social, and…
