Voices

GRI opens new NY office to promote sustainability

The Global Reporting Initiative, which provides widely-used framework for sustainability reporting has opened a New York-based office in an effort to boost the number of U.S. companies reporting on sustainability and to improve the quality of those reports.

In 2008, 80 percent of the world’s largest 250 companies issued sustainability reports – compared to 50 percent in 2005.

GRI’s framework enables large and small companies, nonprofits, and government bodies worldwide to assess their sustainability and disclose the results in a similar way to financial reporting. One of GRI’s goals is to make sustainability reporting mainstream.

The new office, dubbed “Focal Point USA” aims to boost the number of U.S. companies reporting on sustainability in a consistent manner, improve the quality of those reports and to increase U.S. organizations’ input into developing new guidelines for sustainability reporting.

Each of the Big Four firms has agreed to provide donations to sponsor GRI’s new Focal Point USA for the first two years.

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