G3 & supplements

The G3 or third generation of the GRI guidelines was launched at a major conference in Amsterdam in 2006. Leaders from the private and public sector and civil society convened to discuss the latest trends in sustainability reporting and the role of the G3 framework in promoting social responsibility.

The release of the G3 Sustainability Framework, with at its core the 2006 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, follows an extensive consultative and expert process started in 2003. This included a structured feedback process, involving survey feedback and regional meetings held in 2003-2004. During 2005 UNEP joined others in multistakeholder, technical working groups to draft and revise text.

The 2006 Guidelines provide an improved, practical and more user-friendly tool for use by reporting organisations. While the 2002 Guidelines included 11 reporting principles, reporting elements and 97 reporting indicators, the 2006 Guidelines include:

• 10 reporting principles;
  
• disclosure items; and
  
• 79 reporting indicators (of which 47 are core).

Sector Supplements

The general guidelines set out the principles and indicators that organizations can use to measure and report their economic, environmental, and social performance. A Sector Supplement is a tailored version of the G3 Guidelines which contains integrated commentary and new disclosure items specifically for a given sector. These supplements address the fact that some sectors face unique sustainability challenges and reporting needs that require specialized guidance, in addition to the universally applicable G3 Guidelines. The development of a Sector Supplement responds to these needs, and provides a platform for collaboration between those working in a sector and their stakeholders to define the new reporting guidance. Sector supplements are available for 15 sectors, including: Automotive, Financial Services, Mining and Metals, Public Agencies, Tour Operators, Telecommunications, Logistics and the Apparel and Footwear.

Resource documents

Resource documents provide additional information or examples on specific topics of interest to GRI users. These include topics, such as HIV/AIDS, where some reporters have a strong interest in disclosure beyond the material captured in the Guidelines. It may also include support for specific user-groups seeking to apply the GRI reporting framework to their organisations. Resource documents are a source of additional ideas, expertise, and knowledge to inspire both individual users and future GRI working groups.

These supplementary documents are available on the GRI website. UNEP DTIE encourages business organisations to join the GRI in developing supplementary documents in multistakeholder process.