Background
I selected GRI reporting framework because, besides providing services, tools, and training, the framework also provides materiality assessment services. For example, companies may disclose their climate change effects to investors and customers using the GRI Standards. It is therefore a good concept to learn since it is useful in day-to-day life. Due to the Balanced Scorecard approach, GRI reporting is gaining global acceptance as a leader in standardizing sustainability reporting. GRI was created in 1997 in response to popular outrage after the Exxon Valdez oil disaster. GRI’s purpose was to build an accountability structure that would guarantee firms adhered to responsible environmental activity. GRI expanded its reporting methodology to include environmental, economic, and governance challenges.
Advantages And Disadvantages
Sustainability reports founded on GRI Standards may be used to measure corporate performance against laws, conventions, codes, performance standards, and voluntary efforts and compare organizational performance over time. GRI encourages and develops this standardized reporting strategy to increase demand for sustainability information, benefiting both reporting companies and users (Yusof, p 185). The GRI framework is designed to assist firms in auditing their operations. However, it implies some degree of extended accountability along the supply chain, at which obligation ends is left up to the particular company. A corporation engages closely with partners to define suitable reporting parameters for their expanded footprint (i.e., extended supply chain) (Belkhir et al., p 151). Given how many major ethical and environmental infractions occur in a company’s worldwide supply chain, this is a critical concern.
Application of GRI Reporting Framework by Tesco
Tesco uses the GRI Reporting Framework to define its social obligations, including food management, the food system, and all components of a safe, healthy, and ecologically sustainable food system. 31 of the world’s top retailers signed CSR pledges supporting and encouraging sustainable and healthy diets. Sustainable ingredient sourcing, food safety governance, and increasing own-brand items were among supermarkets’ initiatives to exhibit good corporate citizenship. Despite some success in reducing food waste, ensuring quality and food safety, and promoting healthy food choices, the world’s major supermarkets might do more to assist public health.
Works cited
Belkhir, Lotfi, et al. “Does GRI reporting impact environmental sustainability? A cross-industry analysis of CO2 emissions performance between GRI-reporting and non-reporting companies”. Management Of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, vol 28, no. 2, 2017, pp. 138-155. Emerald, Web.
Yusof, Suzila Mohamed. “Social environmental disclosure between GRI-sustainability reporting and IIRC – integrated reporting among European companies”. International Business Research, vol 11, no. 6, 2018, p. 185. Canadian Center of Science and Education, Web.