Today, international sustainability standard setter GRI announced its newest technology initiative, the Digital Reporting Alliance, on the second day of the 5th GRI Global Conference. The Digital Reporting Alliance will address two key challenges in sustainability reporting: the lack of structured data and the lack of demand for digital reporting. The initiative will create the technical infrastructure for digital reporting by promoting an XBRL taxonomy and a platform for filing digital reports. The founding of the alliance coincides with the release of the first set of exposure drafts of GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards which are now available for public comment.

“Sustainability information from business and government represents a vast amount of data that is currently underutilized. For innovation to take place, this information needs to be liberated and provided in a way that can be analyzed and integrated,” said Michael Meehan, GRI’s Chief Executive. “There is overwhelming public and private sector demand for GRI to provide this data so that these organizations can develop innovative solutions. This was the number one recommendation from the GRI Technology Consortium and the Digital Reporting Alliance will put this recommendation into practice.”

GRI recognizes that collaboration in this space is critical and has also announced a number of other new partnerships with leading technology and innovation organizations: Climate-KIC, RobecoSAM, TCS, WikiRate, and Workiva. These partnerships, in addition to the Digital Reporting Alliance, will help organizations and stakeholders to lead for the next era of corporate disclosure, which will be digital, responsible and interactive.