The June 2000 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines are now available. A professionally designed version will be available in both paper form and on the GRI website in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) form in mid-July. Translations into several languages will be completed by Fall 2000.
The June 2000 Guidelines reflect the contributions of hundreds of individuals and organizations worldwide that have generously donated their time and wisdom in the months since the release of the March 1999 GRI Exposure Draft Guidelines. During that time, representatives from business, NGOs, and government have provided a voluminous quantity of comments and suggestions for improving the draft version. Two dozen companies formally pilot tested the 1999 Guidelines, many more provided feedback, and several already have published GRI reports. The June 2000 release also has benefitted from the thinking of labor, human rights, environmental and investor groups, as well as governments and business associations from around the world. The process has been intensive, multi-stakeholder, and international.
Thanks to the breadth and depth of this consultative process, we believe the June 2000 Guidelines represent a major step toward a generally accepted, global framework for sustainability reporting at the organizational level. Of course, even with this progress, we are at the very earliest stages of a long journey. To achieve its vision of a generally accepted reporting framework, GRI must build a permanent institution that is truly global, multi-stakeholder, independent, continuously learning, and one which operates with the highest level of integrity.
Thus, in addition to strengthening its engagement with stakeholders worldwide and continuing to test and refine the June 2000 Guidelines, GRI has begun work toward building a permanent institution to carry on its mission. We invite all individuals and organizations to participate in both strengthening the Guidelines and building the GRI institution for the future.
