Sustainability disclosure provides a broader view of a company’s performance than financial disclosure alone. When used in integrated reporting, it can reveal value creation across six capitals: financial, manufactured, intellectual, human, social and relationship and natural. ​Powered by a unique collaboration between GRI and the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC), the 2017 GRI Corporate Leadership Group on integrated reporting (CLGir 2017) aims to clarify how the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards and the International <IR> Framework can be used together to provide insights into value creation across the six capitals and drive transparency.

Organizations can struggle to navigate the sometimes confusing landscape of disclosure whereby numerous frameworks and standards exist. GRI and the IIRC have announced a collaboration that will help clarify how companies can use both the GRI Standards and the International <IR> Framework in their integrated reporting – by working with the companies themselves, through the CLGir 2017.
CLGir 2017 participant Solvay started its integrated reporting journey in 2015 but with inconsistencies between the GRI Standards and the International <IR> Framework, the organization is keen to take a deep dive into how the two can work together.

“We don’t know where Solvay’s reporting future is; what we know is GRI will be here to stay,” commented Michel Washer, Solvay’s Deputy Chief Sustainability Officer. “Both the GRI Standards and the <IR> Framework focus on materiality analysis and on a limited number of financial, social, and environmental indicators that will be used together to analyze how we create value in the short, medium, and long term.

“I hope that the CLGir 2017 will help to bridge the current gap that there is between GRI and the IIRC, providing the indicators that are missing for three of the IR capitals and making GRI reporting more future-focused.”

GRI and integrated reporting

Only by capturing the full picture of its value creation can a company thrive, and sustainability reporting is a vital tool in this process. Fed by sustainability disclosures, integrated reporting can be used to break down silos and build this holistic view of performance. As the global standard setter for sustainability reporting, GRI is committed to supporting integrated reporting – including through the CLGir.

Integrated reporting provides companies with a broad perspective on risk, and GRI encourages those that want to do integrated reporting to use the GRI Standards. United by the shared vision that businesses should focus on value creation over the short, medium and longer term, GRI and the IIRC continue to work together, aligning the GRI Standards and the International <IR> Framework to improve corporate reporting.

To strengthen the relationship on a more practical level, GRI and the IIRC are collaborating on the CLGir 2017 bringing together corporate leaders to explore the future of integrated and sustainability reporting.

The Corporate Leadership Group on integrated reporting 2017

The CLGir 2017 will explore how best to leverage the GRI Standards and the International <IR> Framework for integrated thinking and reporting, with the aim of learning together and identifying best practice guidance in reporting.

Coordinated by GRI and in collaboration with the IIRC, the Corporate Leadership Group on integrated reporting will define themes for their explorations of practical topics, including how companies can embed sustainability into the heart of their operations and business strategy by leveraging GRI Standards and the International <IR> Framework, and how a company’s integrated report can have a meaningful influence on investors’ understanding and perception of the business.

CLGir 2017 participants will be central to global discussions, engaging with the world’s leading sustainability and integrated reporting experts and thought leaders through four Leadership Labs. They will also get relevant, direct feedback from their peers on their own reporting, helping them take steps towards more effective integrated reporting. Their work will also be profiled on the GRI website.

If you have robust experience in sustainability reporting and are already working on – or seriously considering – integrated reporting, find out more and apply to join the Corporate Leadership Group on integrated reporting 2017 here (pdf).