Public Agencies play an important role in every society. Direct and indirect impacts touch the lives of all citizens and legal entities and together they often constitute the largest economic force by far. This calls for transparency, a call GRI has responded to by developing the Public Agencies Sector Supplement.  

By providing guidance on how to apply the GRI Reporting Framework in the context of Public Agencies, the Public Agencies Sector Supplement makes a valuable contribution to achieving increased transparency in the public sector.

Background

The Supplement has been designed for general use by Public Agencies operating in the three main tiers of government (national, regional, local). While acknowledging the different functions and responsibilities of Public Agencies (hence the different operational impacts), the GRI Framework creates a common, comparable reporting framework that allows for suitable benchmarking. It provides organisations the unique opportunity to reflect on their sustainability performance individually as well as in comparison with others. The GRI Reporting Framework is voluntary and its flexible structure allows reporting organisations to determine the best way to apply it to their specific situation.

Development process

In September 2003, GRI began developing the Sector Supplement for Public Agencies in response to increased interest for more specific reporting guidance for public sector organisations. In order to remain accountable and transparent, Public Agencies already produce various financial and annual reports as part of their civil service responsibility. However, many Public Agencies are still in early stages of developing sustainability reports on their organisational and operational performance. Such issues may not be fully addressed within the scope of their current reporting practices.

Like all GRI Sector Supplements, this Supplement development process was initiated with the explicit intention of building on the Guidelines as the foundation and to provide guidance on their application to Public Agencies. Therefore, much of the effort in the Supplement development process focused on how best to incorporate public sector elements into the context of the existing Guidelines.

Find out more on the Sector Supplement Development Process

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