GRI Sustainability Taxonomy

GRI is built around three types of standards: Universal Standards, Sector Standards and Topic Standards. Together they form a modular system. You start with the Universal Standards, then add Sector and Topic Standards based on what is material to your business.

The purpose of GRI is to give organisations a consistent, structured way to report on sustainability, so disclosures are comparable across companies and industries.

Start with the Universal Standards (GRI 1, 2, and 3), they apply no matter your industry. From there, run a materiality assessment to identify your key topics, then select the matching Topic Standards and any relevant Sector Standard for your industry.

GRI applies to any organisation that wants to report on its sustainability impact, large or small, public or private, across any industry. It’s especially useful for companies facing investor, regulatory, or customer pressure to disclose ESG performance.

GRI itself is voluntary. It’s a globally recognised framework, not a law. That said, some regulations reference or align with it; for example, the EU’s CSRD draws on GRI concepts, and a handful of countries have made GRI-based reporting mandatory for certain company sizes.

GRI’s structure is voluntary and impact-focused. It uses single materiality, meaning a topic counts if it matters to people or the environment, regardless of financial impact. ESRS, the EU’s mandatory framework under CSRD, uses double materiality and requires assured, machine-readable digital disclosures.

GRI is voluntary and broad, covering any topic with real-world impact on people, the economy, or the environment, aimed at a wide range of stakeholders. The IFRS Sustainability Taxonomy (built on ISSB’s IFRS S1 and S2) is narrower and investor-focused, covering only sustainability issues that are financially material, meaning they affect enterprise value, cash flow, or access to capital. In short: GRI asks “what’s our impact on the world,” IFRS asks “what affects our bottom line.”