In an effort to boost transparency in sustainability reporting — and the visibility of reporting companies — the Global Reporting Initiative has launched a membership and engagement program called GRI GOLD Community.The GRI GOLD Community’s members include more than 550 companies and organizations from 69 countries that already use GRI’s sustainability reporting guidelines.
“The GOLD Community is made up of leading organizations that are helping GRI shape the future of sustainability,” said GRI chief executive Michael Meehan in a statement. “With last year’s arrival of the post-2015 Development Agenda and the ambitious agreements made at COP 21, businesses have been called upon to take action toward a more sustainable world. The GRI Gold Community will help its members unlock the real value of sustainability information to support these important goals.”
GOLD Community members are also involved in GRI’s Sustainability and Reporting 2025 project, aimed at promoting an international discussion about the future of sustainability reporting and disclosures.
By participating in the GOLD Community, companies will receive exclusive benefits and opportunities to keep them up to date on the latest insights and reporting trends, GRI says. This includes (and this is what GOLD stands for):
Michel Washer, deputy chief sustainability officer at Solvay, says a benefit to members is the “opportunity to hear and learn from the different points of view that are expressed around the same table — this is how good decisions are made.”
Over the summer, GRI restructured its services and created the GRI Support Suite — a range of tools and services for both report preparers and report users, covering the whole reporting cycle.
The GRI Support Suite’s services are categorized under four sections: Preparation, Alignment, Communication and Analysis.
