Empowering sustainable decisions

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is an international independent organisation that has been conducting corporate sustainability reporting since 1997. GRI helps businesses, governments and other organisations understand and communicate the impact of business on critical sustainability issues such as climate change, human rights, corruption and many others. With thousands of sustainability reporters in over 90 countries, GRI provides the world's most trusted and widely used standards on sustainability reporting, enabling organisations and their stakeholders to make better decisions based on information that matters. Currently, 38 countries and regions reference GRI in their policies.
GRI is built upon a unique multi-stakeholder principle, which ensures the participation and expertise of diverse stakeholders in the development of its standards. GRI's mission is to empower decision-makers everywhere, through its standards and multi-stakeholder network, to take action towards a more sustainable economy and world.
The 5th GRI Global Conference will be held from May 18 to 20,  2016 at RAI Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Around 1,500 sustainability leaders from around the globe will attend the conference to exchange leading-edge knowledge on best practices, innovations and trends that are empowering sustainable decisions and changing the world.
The conference will be an inclusive platform to inspire and engage a truly global network of sustainability leaders. As we move towards a new era of sustainability, it is clear that for information to truly empower decision making it must be more accessible, comparable and available in real time.
GRI pioneered sustainability reporting in the late 1990's and today provides the architecture for sustainability information through GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards. GRI Standards are foundational to the organisation's work towards its vision of a future where sustainability is integral to every organisation's decision-making process. This enables business, governments and other organisations to understand and communicate their impacts on critical sustainability issues.
The focus of the GRI 2016 Conference is to embrace this new era and accelerate progress by delivering innovative sustainability content and by building capability. The 5th GRI Conference will create an inclusive platform to inspire and engage a truly global network of sustainability leaders. The three-day conference will include plenary sessions which will be addressed by experts in the field. There will be six themed tracks with 20 breakout sessions, including two academic sessions. In addition, there will be eight regional and three breakfast sessions, all to consider new ways to approach innovative solutions. It will create a meeting place to exchange leading-edge knowledge on best practices, innovations and trends that are empowering sustainable decisions and changing the world.
The conference will be an inclusive platform to inspire and engage a truly global network of sustainability leaders. As we move towards a new era of sustainability, it is clear that for information to truly empower decision making it must be more accessible, comparable and available in real time.
 To catalyse this new era of sustainability, the 2016 Conference will focus on innovations and trends that are enabling sustainable decisions. The conference will deliver inspiring content to help us tackle the biggest sustainability challenges and accelerate progress.
"Today, information from the sustainability reporting process is being used in more ways than ever before, to increase transparency and build trust in businesses and governments. GRI envisions a future beyond reports, where information from sustainability reporting empowers decision making throughout organizations," said GRI's Chief Executive Michael Meehan. "We will further develop our role as a launch pad for innovation - enabling others to succeed by building on our standards as the foundation. GRI will also work in collaboration with the world's leading technology companies to explore ways to make sustainability information more accessible, comparable and available in real-time."
Looking ahead, GRI will prioritise four strategic areas. The first is 'Enabling Smart Policy' to support sustainability reporting and disclosure around the world. "For more than a decade, GRI has engaged with governments, capital markets and international organisations, who increasingly look to us for guidance on sustainability policy," said GRI's Deputy Chief Executive Teresa Fogelberg. "We will intensify our efforts to enable smart policy that can address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. These include climate change, human rights, corruption and many others."
GRI's second strategic priority is to continue building its global community of 'More Reporters and Better Reporting'. The aim is to encourage more organisations to begin sustainability reporting and for those that already do report, to strive for a better quality. In addition, GRI will work with leading organisations to explore big picture challenges such as the future of sustainability reporting. This work will remain an integral part of GRI but in order to inspire a new era where all businesses and governments make decisions with important sustainability issues in mind, GRI will amplify its role in two other strategic areas.
'Moving Beyond Reports' is the third priority. GRI wants to ensure decision makers have access to the high-quality and reliable information they are increasingly demanding. GRI recognises that while the sustainability report will remain a valuable output, there is much more value to be captured from the sustainability reporting process.
In order to fulfil the first three strategic priorities, GRI will cultivate a new spirit of collaboration and inclusiveness in the reporting field through its fourth strategic priority: 'Innovation & Collaboration'. GRI's Standards are a free, open public good, which has already served as a launch pad for innovation in sustainability. During this next phase, GRI will leverage technology and big data to enable others to succeed based on its standards.
"Over the course of its 18-year history, GRI has continually evolved as the collective understanding of sustainability issues have developed," said GRI's Chairman of the Board Christianna Wood. "The Board recognises that as the cornerstone of sustainability reporting, GRI has a responsibility to work with its global community to innovate for a future where sustainability is integral to every decision-making process."
The focus of GRI's upcoming fifth annual global conference, 'Empowering Sustainable Decisions', is to accelerate progress on sustainability reporting by delivering innovative sustainability content and by building capability.
The writer is Deputy Managing Director & Chief Business Officer of Prime Bank. He is a participating member of the 5th GRI Global Conference.
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