Policies and regulation
Policies that enable corporate transparency
Sustainability reporting creates transparency and helps markets function more efficiently. It also helps governments hold organizations accountable for their impacts and initiate dialogue to drive corporate contribution to national sustainable development efforts.
GRI provides vital support to governments and market regulators in the development of sustainability reporting policies and regulations to stimulate corporate transparency and accountability. Around the world, more than 160 policies in over 60 countries and regions reference or require GRI for reporting.
Non-financial reporting in the EU
GRI has been actively engaged in the process to advance the European Union’s Directive on the disclosure of non-financial and diversity information, also widely known as the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD).
In addition to providing its input to the EU, GRI has published a linkage document between the GRI Standards and the NFRD (download from the related documents section below), as well as several publications to support the implementation of the NFRD and the EU Strategy for Corporate Social Responsibility.
In December 2019, the European Commission issued a Communication on the European Green Deal, in which it committed to reviewing the NFRD in 2020. GRI has contributed to the public consultation and continues to engage with the Commission to ensure that the outcome of this process strengthens sustainability reporting in the EU and lays the foundation for sustainable investment.
Siobhan Cleary, GRI Director of Capital Markets Engagement, is a member of the European Commission's Platform on Sustainable Finance expert group, which is advising on the development of EU sustainable finance taxonomy.
Carrots & Sticks
Launched in 2006, Carrots & Sticks (C&S) is the flagship publication and online resource on non-financial or sustainability reporting provisions including policy, regulation, guidance, frameworks and standards.
The latest Carrots & Sticks report was published in July 2020. This fifth edition covers 614 reporting instruments (a substantial increase on the 383 assessed in 2016) across over 80 countries, including the world’s 60 largest economies. C&S 2020 has the addition of in-depth interviews with policy and other decision-makers, covering 13 countries and regions, inclusive of regulators, national governments and stock exchanges.
C&S is delivered as a partnership between GRI and the University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB), with contribution provided by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
You can download C&S 2020 - in Spanish as well as English - under related documents at the foot of this page.
- View the press release launching C&S 2020 (July 2020): Upward trajectory for ESG disclosure requirements
- Read the Medium article (September 2020): The carrot or the stick? Trends towards better ESG disclosure
Rio+20 and Group of Friends of Paragraph 47
GRI participated at the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development – Rio +20 – and contributed to the development of the Group of Friends of Paragraph 47 (GoF47), formed by leading governments from around the world to advance sustainability reporting policies and practices.
The group was inspired by the Rio+20 outcome document The Future We Want encouraging governments to facilitate action towards advancing corporate sustainability reporting.
GoF47 is supported by the UN Environment Programme, and currently counts Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Norway and Switzerland among its members, in addition to the four founding members Brazil, Denmark, France and South Africa.
Market regulators and operators
GRI collaborates with market regulators and operators on several multilateral initiatives to promote sustainability reporting by listed companies and create more transparent and sustainable capital markets.
Find out more about GRI’s capital market engagements.