Amsterdam, 5 October 2006.

Global Reporting Initiative G3 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines launched

A new global reporting standard – business and investors call for widespread use

The next generation framework for businesses and other organizations to report on tough issues like climate change, corporate governance, and child labor is launched today by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).

GRI’s third iteration (“G3”) Sustainability Reporting Guidelines (previous releases in 2000 and 2002) are a landmark in the ongoing history of sustainability reporting and corporate social responsibility. The G3 Guidelines build upon the tried and proven 2002 Guidelines, which are in use by upwards of 1000 organizations, including Microsoft, ABN Amro, Anglo American, Nike, Gap, Petrobras and Novartis.  The Guidelines are widely recognized for bringing sustainability reporting into the business mainstream.

The new G3 Guidelines are simpler, help organizations focus on material issues and support improved sustainability performance.  They are harmonized with the UN Global Compact, are more useful for investors and analysts, and bring corporate governance into sharp focus.

Senior business leaders say the time has now come for all businesses to report their sustainability and use the G3 Guidelines. 

Sir Mark Moody Stuart, Chair of Anglo American, and GRI Board Member, says that the G3 Guidelines are the global framework for sustainability reporting, and businesses and other organizations now have no excuse to not report.

“GRI’s G3 Guidelines capitalize on reporting experience at some of the world’s leading companies.  They are technically strong and trusted.  The time has now come for all businesses to use the G3 Guidelines”, Stuart says.

Business leaders now see a clear business case for sustainability reporting, which reduces risk and the cost of capital, helps attract and retain customers and staff, supports stakeholder engagement and creates new business opportunities.

On Thursday 5 Oct., at 1600 CET, Sir Mark Moody-Stuart will join with Sean Harrigan, former President of CALPERS, and Mervyn King, Institute of Directors, in a media conference to call for widespread use of the G3 by all businesses.  All three will be taking part in GRI’s global conference in Amsterdam on sustainability and reporting.

Already 69% of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index use the GRI Guidelines, and 60% of the S&P 100.  The push to get all businesses onboard will be helped by the G3’s consolidated indicators, which have been refined and reduced to simplify reporting. 

Especially useful for investors and analysts is the new high level Strategy and Analysis section, which discloses the approach to sustainability management, and the Disclosure on Management Approach, which shows how policies, procedures and goals affect issue management and performance.  Further enhancing transparency, G3 reporters declare their application levels, showing how much of the reporting framework they have used.

Harmonization with the UN Global Compact means that UNGC Communication on Progress can now take the form of a G3 report.  G3 reports also satisfy the UNGC disclosure requests on Commitment, Systems, Action and Performance. 

Today’s G3 launch is the centerpiece of GRI’s global conference in Amsterdam on sustainability and reporting, where 1000 opinion leaders and experts from around the world have gathered.  It represents the pinnacle of a three-year intensive development process which engaged thousands of stakeholders in business and civil society worldwide.

GRI Chief Executive, Ernst Ligteringen, says that sustainability reporting on economic, environmental, and social performance must become as routine and comparable as financial reporting.  “The G3 Guidelines were hewn from the practical experience of companies that pioneered reporting, and from the needs of their report users – including investors, consumers, civil society, and employees. The Guidelines are trusted, credible, and relevant because of the way they were created”, Ligteringen says.

NOTES

1. Contact for information: Andrew Coogan, GRI, Tel: + 31 625 080 698

2. Media Conference Thu 5 Oct 1600 Amsterdam with telephone dial-in facility
1600 - 1700 local CET (1500 GMT, 1000 ET USA and Canada), Okura Hotel, Ferdinand Bolstraat 333, Amsterdam.  Journalists can dial-in to the conference by telephone.
Dial +31 20 531 5846, reference code 500 2066

Leading business speakers will say the time has come for all businesses to report their sustainability and to use the GRI Guidelines. Speakers will include:

• Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, Chairman, Anglo American, former Chair Shell;
• Sean Harrigan, former President CALPERS;
• Achim Steiner, Executive Director, UN Environment Program
• Mervyn King, Institute of Directors, King 2 corporate governance standard;
• Dr. Judy Henderson, Board Chair, Global Reporting Initiative; and
• Ernst Ligteringen, Chief Executive, Global Reporting Initiative.

3. GRI Conference is being held in Amsterdam 4-6 October 2006, at the Okura Hotel, 333 Ferdinand Bolstraat.  See the conference website for information, speakers include:

• Al Gore, former Vice President USA, Chairman Generation Investment Management
• Achim Steiner, Executive Director UNEP
• Margot Wallström, Vice President European Commission
• Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, Chairman of Anglo American and GRI board member
• Gerd Leipold, Executive Director, Greenpeace International
• Stuart Hart, Samuel Johnson Professor, Cornell University
• Björn Stigson, President, World Business Council for Sustainable Development
• Hugh Y. Scott-Barrett, Chief Financial Officer, ABN AMRO
• Jeremy Hobbs, Executive Director, Oxfam International
• Richard Edelman, Edelman, USA
• Gerard Kleisterlee, CEO Royal Philips Electronics
• Mervyn King, First Vice President, Institute of Directors, South Africa
• Ricardo Young, President of the Board of Directors, Instituto Ethos, Brazil
• N. Singh, Deputy Managing Director, Corporate Services, Tata Steel, India
• Ricky Fukada, Chair, Keidanren - Council for Better Corporate Citizenship, Japan
• Dan Gagnier, Senior Vice President, Alcan, Canada

4. About the Global Reporting Initiative.  GRI is a not-for-profit organization responsible for creating the global, trusted and voluntary sustainability reporting framework.  It convenes businesses, civil society, labor, and other professional institutions in a consensus-based dialogue to develop the framework.  GRI’s vision is to make sustainability reporting as routine as financial reporting.  See the GRI website.