What we looked for

We studied 40 international organizations that use the GRI Guidelines. We were not trying to make subjective assessments of “good” or “bad” reports – the idea was to take a factual snapshot of current reporting practices.

We collected data on 35 variables and criteria for each of the 40 reports we reviewed. From this, we identified five key trends:

Where is the report?
How are organizations directing users to their reporting content - including the standardised disclosures required by GRI?

Digital reporting formats
How are organizations choosing to present their reporting content?

Digital reporting functionality
What digital functionalities are being used to enhance reporting?

How technology impacts trust
How is digital technology influencing the clarity and accessibility of sustainability reporting?

From reporting to dialogue
An exploration of the internet’s capacity to facilitate interaction, including a discussion on how we think this might change over time.

We also created short profiles of each report we reviewed to illustrate how organizations are employing online reporting techniques in practice. These report profiles can be searched by company, region, sector and GRI application level.

Keep reading: What we found