GRI 103: Energy 2025 contains disclosures for organizations to report information about their energy-related impacts, and how they manage these impacts.
The Standard is structured as follows:
The rest of the Introduction section provides a background on the topic, an overview of the system of GRI Standards, and further information on using this Standard.
Background on the topic
This Standard addresses the topic of energy.
The use of energy leads to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that contribute to climate change.
Most countries worldwide have committed to combating climate change, as outlined in the Paris Agreement [2]. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) [1], global warming should be limited to 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels. This is not possible without rapid and deep reductions in energy system GHG emissions by 2050. Organizations will, therefore, be required to make significant changes in how they consume energy, including transitioning to renewable energy, electrifying end-use sectors, and phasing out fossil fuels.
Organizations consume energy in various forms, such as fuel, electricity, heating, cooling, or steam. Energy can be self-generated or purchased from third parties and come from renewable or non-renewable sources. Energy consumption also occurs throughout activities upstream and downstream of organizations’ operations. This can include consumers’ use and the end-of-life treatment of organizations’ products.
Energy consumption and the transition to renewable energy can have negative or positive impacts on the environment and people, including their human rights. As such, measures are required across the value chain that support workers, local communities, and other stakeholders, and ensure the protection of the environment.
Negative environmental impacts can include climate change, driven by GHG emissions from energy consumption, biodiversity loss due to energy infrastructure affecting soil and other natural resources, and pollution from waste, such as exhausted batteries. Negative impacts on people can occur throughout the value chain and include job losses and limited access to affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy. Positive impacts include improving quality of life through energy access and enhancing employment opportunities through training and reskilling workers.
System of GRI Standards
This Standard is part of the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards (GRI Standards). The GRI Standards enable an organization to report information about its most significant impacts on the economy, environment, and people, including impacts on their human rights, and how it manages these impacts.
The GRI Standards are structured as a system of interrelated standards that are organized into three series: GRI Universal Standards, GRI Sector Standards, and GRI Topic Standards (see Figure 1 in this Standard).
Universal Standards: GRI 1, GRI 2 and GRI 3
GRI 1: Foundation 2021 specifies the requirements that the organization must comply with to report in accordance with the GRI Standards. The organization begins using the GRI Standards by consulting GRI 1.
GRI 2: General Disclosures 2021 contains disclosures that the organization uses to provide information about its reporting practices and other organizational details, such as its activities, governance, and policies.
GRI 3: Material Topics 2021 provides guidance on how to determine material topics. It also contains disclosures that the organization uses to report information about its process of determining material topics, its list of material topics, and how it manages each topic.
Sector Standards
The Sector Standards provide information for organizations about their likely material topics. The organization uses the Sector Standards that apply to its sectors when determining its material topics and when determining what to report for each material topic.
Topic Standards
The Topic Standards contain disclosures that the organization uses to report information about its impacts in relation to particular topics. The organization uses the Topic Standards according to the list of material topics it has determined using GRI 3.
Using this Standard
This Standard can be used by any organization – regardless of size, type, sector, geographic location, or reporting experience – to report information about its energy-related impacts. In addition to this Standard, disclosures that relate to this topic can be found in GRI 101: Biodiversity 2024 and GRI 102: Climate Change 2025.
An organization reporting in accordance with the GRI Standards is required to report the following disclosures if it has determined energy to be a material topic:
See Requirements 4 and 5 in GRI 1: Foundation 2021.
Reasons for omission are permitted for these disclosures.
If the organization cannot comply with a disclosure or with a requirement in a disclosure (e.g., because the required information is confidential or subject to legal prohibitions), the organization is required to specify the disclosure or the requirement it cannot comply with, and provide a reason for omission together with an explanation in the GRI content index. See Requirement 6 in GRI 1 for more information on reasons for omission.
If the organization cannot report the required information about an item specified in a disclosure because the item (e.g., committee, policy, practice, process) does not exist, it can comply with the requirement by reporting this to be the case. The organization can explain the reasons for not having this item or describe any plans to develop it. The disclosure does not require the organization to implement the item (e.g., developing a policy), but to report that the item does not exist.
If the organization intends to publish a standalone sustainability report, it does not need to repeat information that it has already reported publicly elsewhere, such as on web pages or in its annual report. In such a case, the organization can report a required disclosure by providing a reference in the GRI content index as to where this information can be found (e.g., by providing a link to the web page or citing the page in the annual report where the information has been published).
Requirements, guidance and defined terms
The following apply throughout this Standard:
Requirements are presented in bold font and indicated by the word 'shall'. An organization must comply with requirements to report in accordance with the GRI Standards.
Requirements may be accompanied by guidance.
Guidance includes background information, explanations, and examples to help the organization better understand the requirements. The organization is not required to comply with guidance.
The Standards may also include recommendations. These are cases where a particular course of action is encouraged but not required.
The word ‘should’ indicates a recommendation, and the word ‘can’ indicates a possibility or option.
Defined terms are underlined in the text of the GRI Standards and linked to their definitions in the Glossary. The organization is required to apply the definitions in the Glossary.
An organization reporting in accordance with the GRI Standards is required to report how it manages each of its material topics.
An organization that has determined energy to be a material topic is required to report how it manages the topic using Disclosure 3-3 in GRI 3: Material Topics 2021. The organization is also required to report any disclosure from this section (Disclosure 103-1) that is relevant to its energy-related impacts.
This section is therefore designed to supplement – and not replace – Disclosure 3-3 in GRI 3.
The organization shall:
Guidance to 103-1-a
This requirement covers policies and commitments that apply to the organization’s activities and its upstream and downstream value chain.
Examples of energy-related policies that contribute to energy efficiency and the transition to renewable energy sources include policies on:
The organization should explain how its energy-related policies and commitments relate to applicable country, regional, or industry-level energy regulations.
In addition, the organization should report whether and how its energy-related policies and commitments are in line with the latest scientific evidence on the effort needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
The organization should report its short-, medium-, and long-term targets aimed at:
The organization should also describe how engagement with stakeholders informs its energy-related policies and commitments, including:
Disclosure 2-29 in GRI 2: General Disclosures 2021 covers the organization’s approach to engaging with its stakeholders. If the organization has described how engagement with its stakeholders has informed the development and implementation of its energy-related policies and commitments under Disclosure 2-29, it can provide a reference to this information.
The organization should report any investments allocated for energy consumption reduction, energy efficiency (e.g., heating, refrigeration, and air conditioning improvements), and the transition to renewable energy sources (e.g., investment in energy transition technologies, renewable energy, and redesign of products, processes, or services).
Guidance to 103-1-b
This requirement enables the organization to describe the impacts on the economy, environment, and people that may result from its energy consumption and the transition to renewable energy sources across its activities and business relationships. These impacts can be the result of energy generation.
In the case of self-generation, the impacts are the result of an organization’s activities. In the case of purchased energy, the impacts are the result of an organization’s business relationships with suppliers (e.g., energy providers).
Impacts on people include those on workers, local communities, and vulnerable groups, such as Indigenous Peoples. Positive impacts on people can include improving quality of life through providing heat, light, and mobility, recruiting workers, or creating skills by training workers to support the transition to renewable energy consumption. Negative impacts can include job loss from the shift to renewable energy, health and safety risks from air pollution caused by burning fossil fuels, and land rights violations during land acquisition for energy generation.
Impacts on the environment can include those on biodiversity and pollution. Positive impacts can include energy-related infrastructure, such as offshore wind farms, acting as refuges for fish and marine mammals. Negative impacts of energy-related infrastructure development can include damage to species’ habitats due to land and sea use changes and pollution – including dust, waste, noise, and light – from construction, decommissioning, and repowering of infrastructure, such as solar plants.
For further information on impacts on biodiversity, see reference [3] in the Bibliography.
The organization should describe actions taken to manage impacts that may result from its energy consumption and the transition to renewable energy sources.
Examples of actions taken by the organization to manage impacts that are a result of energy generation include:
Examples of actions to manage impacts on biodiversity include:
The organization can use Disclosure 101-2 in GRI 101: Biodiversity 2024 to report the actions taken to manage its impacts on biodiversity.
An organization reporting in accordance with the GRI Standards is required to report any disclosures from this section (Disclosure 103-2 through Disclosure 103-5) that are relevant to its energy-related impacts.
The organization shall:
Throughout this guidance, electricity, heating, cooling, and steam are collectively referred to as ‘electricity’ in alignment with the GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance [5]. In other frameworks, ‘electricity’ can be referred to as ‘non-fuel’.
An organization can consume energy in the form of fuel (103-2-a) or electricity, whereby an organization separately reports energy consumption from electricity purchased (103-2-b) and electricity self-generated from renewable sources (103-2-c).
Energy can be purchased from third parties or produced by the organization (self-generated). Energy can come from renewable or non-renewable sources.
For an example of how to present information on requirements in Disclosure 103-2, see Table 1 and Table 2.
The organization can report the total energy consumption within the organization as the sum of 103-2-a, 103-2-b, and 103-2-c. The organization can also report the total net energy consumption by subtracting the electricity sold (103-2-d) from the total energy consumption within the organization (103-2-a + 103-2-b + 103-2-c).
Organizations can also store or purchase energy through specific energy carriers (e.g., hydrogen) and energy storage systems (e.g., batteries). When the organization consumes energy from energy carriers or storage systems, this consumption is reported under 103-2-a, 103-2-b, or 103-2-c. If the organization sells electricity from energy carriers or storage systems, this is reported under 103-2-d. When the organization consumes or sells energy from energy carriers or storage systems, it reports the information required in this disclosure as per their primary energy source. For example, if a carrier’s primary energy source is natural gas and the carrier is consumed as fuel, energy consumption from the carrier will be reported as fuel consumption from non-renewable sources. The organization should report any contextual information on the energy carriers’ primary energy source, for example, governmental programs (e.g., subsidies for hydrogen production) that supported its production or associated contractual instruments.
Where it aids transparency or comparability over time, the organization can provide a breakdown of the energy consumption by, for example:
Guidance to 103-2-a
This requirement covers fuel consumption from fuels purchased by the organization and fuels self-generated, such as coal mined, oil and gas extracted, or biofuel produced. The organization can report the consumption of fuel purchased and fuel self-generated separately.
Fuel consumption from non-renewable energy sources usually contributes to the organization’s Scope 1 GHG emissions, which are reported under Disclosure 102-5 in GRI 102: Climate Change 2025.
Self-generated electricity consumption from fuel is counted under fuel consumption (103-2-a). For example, if an organization has a co-generator that burns non-renewable fuels to produce electricity and then consumes the generated electricity, this is counted once under fuel consumption.
Guidance to 103-2-a-i
Fuel consumption from renewable sources can include biofuels purchased or self-generated from biomass owned or controlled by the organization (also comprising industrial waste of biological origin).
Fuel consumption from non-renewable sources can include gasoline and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) used for combustion in boilers, furnaces, heaters, turbines, flares, incinerators, generators, and vehicles owned or controlled by the organization.
Guidance to 103-2-a-ii
This requirement aims to identify the main drivers of fuel consumption within the organization. To comply with this requirement, the organization can, for example, report a breakdown of the top five fuel-consuming activities and combine the remaining activities into an ‘other’ category.
Examples of activities where fuel is consumed include manufacturing processes, operating office equipment, operating a car fleet, heating buildings, and conducting research and development.
Guidance to 103-2-b, 103-2-c, and 103-2-d
In line with the GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance [5], definitions of electricity, heating, cooling, and steam can include:
Electricity consumption from renewable sources can include wind and solar. Electricity consumption from non-renewable sources can include coal, oil, and natural gas.
Guidance to 103-2-b
This requirement covers purchased electricity consumption from renewable and non-renewable energy sources.
In this requirement, consumption of purchased electricity also refers to circumstances where the organization indirectly acquires and consumes electricity (e.g., as a tenant of a property).
Contractual instruments can provide information on the breakdown of purchased electricity by renewable and non-renewable sources under 103-2-b-i. Examples of contractual instruments include energy attribute certificates (EACs), renewable electricity certificates (RECs), power purchase agreements, and green electricity products. This can be helpful when variations in accounting methods across countries make it difficult to report this breakdown consistently.
The organization should report whether the consumption of purchased electricity from renewable sources was calculated based on grid-average data (location-based data) or contractual instruments (market-based data). The organization should report how it purchases electricity from the grid (e.g., from a utility, retail service provider, or wholesale procurements). In addition, the organization should report the percentage of energy sources in the grid mix in which they are purchasing electricity, for example, 50% from wind and 50% from natural gas. If applicable, the organization should report which types of contractual instruments it uses (e.g., power purchase agreements, utility green tariffs, or unbundled certificates) and the amount and percentage of the total purchased electricity covered by each instrument.
Based on the GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance [5], quality criteria apply to all contractual instruments to ensure accuracy and consistency of reporting (see Guidance to 102-6-a for further information).
The organization can report additional information on the contractual instruments, for example:
Consumption of purchased electricity contributes to the organization’s Scope 2 GHG emissions, which are reported under Disclosure 102-6 in GRI 102: Climate Change 2025.
Guidance to 103-2-c
This requirement covers self-generated electricity consumption from renewable energy sources (e.g., wind, solar).
When the organization generates electricity from fuel consumed and then uses the generated electricity, the energy consumption is counted once under 103-2-a.
Self-generated renewable electricity consumption does not include electricity whose contractual instruments have been sold off.
The required breakdown by activity aims to identify the main drivers of electricity consumption within the organization. To comply with this requirement, the organization can, for example, report a breakdown of the top five electricity-consuming activities and combine the remaining activities into an ‘other’ category.
Examples of activities where electricity is consumed include manufacturing processes, operating office equipment, operating a car fleet, heating buildings, and conducting research and development.
Guidance to 103-2-d
When the organization sells self-generated renewable electricity, it should report whether it has sold off any linked contractual instruments. The organization should also report a breakdown of self-generated renewable electricity sold with:
Table 2 offers an example of how to present information on self-generated electricity sold. The organization can amend the table according to its practices.
Guidance to 103-2-e
The following quality criteria, built on the GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance [5], apply to contractual instruments (e.g., EACs):
The organization should also describe how it strives for the temporal and physical connection between contractual instruments and their associated energy consumption. For example, the contractual instrument can be sourced from the same grid or country where it is applied, and the contractual instrument can be issued with hourly matching.
If the organization uses data from contractual instruments (e.g., EACs) to report self-generated electricity sold, it should report how it ensures that contractual instruments adhere to applicable quality criteria.
For further information on the quality criteria and how to support accurate accounting if an organization cannot meet them, see reference [5] in the Bibliography.
Guidance to 103-2-f
The organization should explain why the standards, methodologies, assumptions, and calculation tools used were chosen.
The organization should:
Table 1 offers an example of how to present information on energy consumption within the organization. The organization can amend the table according to its practices.
The organization shall:
This disclosure covers energy consumption from activities outside the organization and includes the upstream and downstream value chain.
Consumption of non-renewable energy sources upstream and downstream in the organization’s value chain contributes to the organization’s Scope 3 GHG emissions, which are reported under Disclosure 102-7 in GRI 102: Climate Change 2025.
Guidance to 103-3-a
To compile the information required under 103-3-a, the organization can use the following steps:
The organization should provide a breakdown of the total significant energy consumption in its upstream and downstream value chain by upstream and downstream categories in which significant energy consumption occurs. To compile this information, the organization can use the following steps:
The organization can identify which activities in its upstream and downstream value chain have significant energy consumption by assessing whether an activity’s energy consumption:
The significant energy consumption in the organization’s upstream and downstream value chain includes the significant energy consumption for each of the following upstream and downstream categories from the GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard [4]:
Upstream categories
1. Purchased goods and services
2. Capital goods
3. Fuel- and energy-related activities (not included in Disclosure 103-2)
4. Upstream transportation and distribution
5. Waste generated in operations
6. Business travel
7. Employee commuting
8. Upstream leased assets
Downstream categories
9. Downstream transportation and distribution
10. Processing of sold products
11. Use of sold products
12. End-of-life treatment of sold products
13. Downstream leased assets
14. Franchises
15. Investments
The organization should use all reasonable and supportable information at the reporting date to measure upstream and downstream energy consumption.
The organization should report upstream and downstream energy consumption separately for renewable and non-renewable energy sources.
If the organization cannot use primary data to calculate significant upstream and downstream energy consumption, it can estimate the consumption. Primary data is obtained from suppliers or other value chain entities related to the organization’s activities. The organization should report for which upstream and downstream categories estimations are used and the percentage of data estimated for each category.
Guidance to 103-3-b
The organization should explain why the standards, methodologies, assumptions, and calculation tools used were chosen.
The organization should:
The organization shall:
Energy intensity ratios are obtained by dividing the energy consumption (the numerator) by an organization-specific metric (the denominator). Many organizations track environmental performance with intensity ratio(s).
Energy intensity ratios express the amount of energy consumed per unit of activity, output, or any other organization-specific metric.
Energy intensity ratios can help stakeholders and the organization understand energy efficiency in relation to other organizations while supporting investment decisions for energy reduction and efficiency.
The organization should use data on energy consumption reported under Disclosures 103-2 and 103-3 to calculate the energy intensity ratio(s).
The organization should select a consistent organizational boundary for the numerator and denominator in the energy intensity ratio.
For an example of how to present information on requirements in Disclosure 103-4, see Table 3.
Guidance to 103-4-a
Examples of energy intensity ratios can include:
Types of organization-specific metrics (denominators) can include:
Relevant denominators differ between industries or business units within an organization. Therefore, the organization should choose a denominator relevant to its industry and aligned with current industry standards. For example, the energy intensity of building performance according to a recognized standard or the energy intensity of a given process per the process’ output, such as crude refining or cement production. When using recognized industry standards to calculate energy intensity ratio(s), the organization should report the industry standards according to which it calculated the ratio(s) and provide details on the methodologies used and assumptions made.
Where it aids transparency or comparability over time, the organization should provide a breakdown of the energy intensity ratios by:
Guidance to 103-4-b
This requirement aims to report what the energy intensity ratio covers, allowing the organization to select the scope of the energy consumption data.
The organization shall:
Reductions in energy consumption can be related to target setting. For further information on energy target reporting, see Guidance to 103-1-a.
Guidance to 103-5-a
The reduction in energy consumption can be calculated by comparing the energy consumption in the reporting period to:
Energy conservation and efficiency initiatives can include:
Examples of other factors include reduced production capacity or outsourcing, changes in organizational boundaries, and weather fluctuations that affect energy supply.
The organization should report the percentage of the reduction in energy consumption compared to the energy consumption in the base year or baseline.
The organization can provide a breakdown of the reduction in energy consumption by individual conservation and efficiency initiatives.
Guidance to 103-5-b
The organization can provide a breakdown of the reduction in energy consumption by energy type: fuel, electricity, heating, cooling, and steam.
Guidance to 103-5-c
This requirement aims to report what the energy consumption reduction covers, allowing the organization to select the scope of the energy consumption data included.
The reduction in energy consumption achieved in the organization’s upstream and downstream value chain includes the reduction achieved for each of the following upstream and downstream categories from the GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard [4]:
Upstream categories
1. Purchased goods and services
2. Capital goods
3. Fuel- and energy-related activities (not included in Disclosure 103-2)
4. Upstream transportation and distribution
5. Waste generated in operations
6. Business travel
7. Employee commuting
8. Upstream leased assets
Downstream categories
9. Downstream transportation and distribution
10. Processing of sold products
11. Use of sold products
12. End-of-life treatment of sold products
13. Downstream leased assets
14. Franchises
15. Investments
The organization should provide a breakdown of the reduction in energy consumption achieved in the organization’s upstream and downstream value chain by upstream and downstream categories in which the reduction was achieved.
The organization should consider the whole life cycle of their products and services when assessing energy consumption reduction. This is particularly important for products and services with high energy consumption during their use phase due to their potential to affect energy demand, such as electronic equipment and vehicles.
If applicable, the organization can report reductions in energy requirements during the use phase of products and services, for example, a product that consumes 10% less energy per hour.
Guidance to 103-5-f
The organization should explain why the standards, methodologies, assumptions, and calculation tools used were chosen.
The organization should describe any changes in standards, methodologies, assumptions, and calculation tools used compared to the previous reporting period(s), including the updates of the energy consumption models developed to keep up with technological improvements.
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This glossary provides definitions for terms used in this Standard. The organization is required to apply these definitions when using the GRI Standards.
The definitions included in this glossary may contain terms that are further defined in the complete GRI Standards Glossary. All defined terms are underlined. If a term is not defined in this glossary or in the complete GRI Standards Glossary, definitions that are commonly used and understood apply.
historical datum (a specific year or an average over multiple years) against which a measurement is tracked over time
starting point used for comparisons
entity with which the organization has some form of direct and formal engagement for the purpose of meeting its business objectives