Companies can publish reports as often and as methodically as they wish by utilizing different reporting methods and different standards during the sustainability report preparation phase.
There are 3 different standards in terms of corporate sustainability reporting:
- United Nations Global Compact (UN Global Compact) (UNGC)
- Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
- Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) standard.
Today, the most preferred reporting standard worldwide is the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standard, as in Turkey.
How is GRI Sustainability Reporting Done?
By using the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standard, reporting can be chosen by companies, organizations and governments. In reporting, they can gain guidance to understand their own impact on human rights, anti-corruption and climate change issues and develop their own sustainable methods.
In these independent agency reports, companies are encouraged to manage risks and make improvements in the context of the impacts of different actions such as energy use, urbanization, population growth, industrialization. Institutions and organizations of varying regions and sizes get a reliable, transparent and understandable method.
Within the scope of the GRI reporting standard, businesses can prepare many standards under the main headings of environmental, economic and social, and as a result of the report, a measurable level is achieved for company sustainability.
Which Standards are included in GRI Sustainability Reports?
GRI standards provide the most preferred sustainability reporting system worldwide. While the system has been updated according to conditions and technologies over the years, today there are 4 main scopes among the headings of the system, i.e. standard items.
Universal Standards (GRI 101-103)
These rules apply to all organizations, collecting data on different topics and examining how they are managed. Topics include:
- GRI 101: Foundation
- GRI 102: General Disclosures
- GRI 103: Management Approach
Economic Standards (GRI 201-206)
While examining the most sensitive impacts of the organization in the economic framework, it provides assessment under the following headings.
- Market Presence
- Purchasing Practices
- Anti-Competitive Behavior
- Economic Performance
- Indirect Economic Impacts
- Anti-Corruption
Environmental Standards (GRI 301-308)
It examines the most sensitive impacts of the organization in the environmental framework and evaluates the following topics.
- Energy
- Biodiversity
- Wastes
- Supplier environmental assessment
- Ingredients
- Water and waste
- Emissions
- Environmental adaptation
Social Standards (GRI 401-419)
When examining the most sensitive impacts of the organization in the social framework, assessment is made under the following headings.
- Labor/management relations
- Education and training
- Prohibition of discrimination
- Child labor
- Security applications
- Human rights assessment
- Supplier social assessment
- Customer health and safety
- Customer privacy
- Employment
- Occupational health and safety
- Diversity and equal opportunity
- Freedom of association and collective bargaining
- Compulsory work
- Indigenous peoples’ rights
- Local communities
- Public policy
- Marketing and labeling
- Socioeconomic cohesion
What are the Characteristics of a Good Sustainability Report?
When a good sustainability report is prepared, the following items should be among the features of this report.
- The report should be in integrity.
- After prioritizing the report, detailed data should be collected.
- Each successive report should provide consistency and further improvements should be achieved in each report.
- Reports should provide innovative approaches.
- Each report should be comparable, understandable and always transparent.
- The report should examine the company’s performance in the sustainability framework very broadly in the assessment.
- Reporting should be conducted annually or every 2 years for continuity and change tracking.
- The report should describe the organization’s social, environmental and economic performance and include a target for improvement.
- The report should provide a response to risk management needs.
What to Avoid in Sustainability Report Preparations?
While carrying out sustainability reporting, some points should be avoided.
- A sustainability report should not be prepared as an additional study for corporate social responsibility. It should be considered as a main strategy of the company.
- The scope of the sustainability report should not be low, and it should be large enough to evaluate sustainability performance in a very broad way. Otherwise, the quality of the company will decline, trust in the organization will decrease and the company will fall into a comparable position.
- It is a big mistake to see the report as a marketing element. Because the concept of sustainability must be accepted realistically in companies and organizations. Otherwise, it is not possible to make any progress and a sincere belief will disappear.
- The report should not be prepared only to gain prestige.
