The last decade has seen a proliferation of tools to help organisations, especially businesses, manage their economic, environmental, and social performances. These tools appeared in a number of forms, ranging from codes of conduct to management systems to internal performance assessment methodologies.

GRI, in contrast, is an external reporting framework that enables organisations to communicate: 1) actions taken to improve economic, environmental, and social performance; 2) the outcomes of such actions; and 3) future strategies for improvement.

The Guidelines do not govern an organisation's behaviour. Rather, they help an organisation describe the outcome of adopting and applying codes, policies, and management systems.

GRI complements and incorporates other tools and practices used by organisations to manage their sustainability performance.

Use of the GRI Guidelines is voluntary. They are intended to be applicable to organisations of all sizes and types operating in any location. The core guidelines embodied in this document are not specific to any single industry sector.

There are various ways to use the GRI Guidelines. Options range from adherence to a set of conditions for preparing a report in accordance with the Guidelines to an informal approach. The latter begins with partial adherence to the reporting principles and incrementally moves to fuller adoption.

Please read the BSD document with general information about the GRI Guidelines (in *.pdf).

Visit the GRI - Global Reporting Initiative website: www.globalreporting.org