GRI G4 Draft Guidelines on Sustainability Reporting - for consultation

1. Second G4 Public
Comment Period
June 25 – September 25 2012

2. DISCLAIMER
• These slides were used in the OS exclusive webinar on July 3 and 4 2012. They
provide a general overview of the G4 Exposure Draft and can be used for
internal or external consultations by Organizational Stakeholders.
• The key mechanism for GRI to collect feedback on G4 is through the online
platform, which you can access through: goo.gl/ZZnRI.
• GRI is also organizing workshops around the world to collect input. Find out
more and sign up for these workshops on the GRI website:
www.globalreporting.org/reporting/latest-guidelines/g4-
developments/Pages/G4-Workshops.aspx.
• These slides can be used by Organizational Stakeholders to raise awareness of
the G4 Public Consultation Period and to direct people to the online platform.
However, such presentations should not be profiled as GRI workshops or
official parts of the GRI Due Process. Nor should this slide deck be used for
commercial purposes.

3. Agenda
• Background Information G4
• Public Comment Period – When & How to Comment
• Exposure Draft Contents & Questions
– General
– Application Levels
– Governance and Remuneration
– Disclosure on Management Approach
– Boundary
– Supply Chain Disclosures
– References
• Questions

4. G4 Objectives
• To be user-friendly for beginners and experienced
reporters
• To improve technical quality, with clearer definitions
• To align with other reporting frameworks
• To offer guidance which leads to material reports
(“materiality”)
• To offer guidance on how to link sustainability reporting
and integrated reporting - aligned with IIRC
• To provide support to improve data searching (XBRL)

5. G4 – Six main work streams
1. Technical standardization
2. Profound revision of parts of G3(G3.1) or new
content proposals
3. Harmonization
4. G4 online
5. XBRL – GRI Taxonomy for G4
6. Sector guidance in G4

6. G4 Timeline

7. Second Public Comment Period
• Open for Comment 25 June – 25 September 2012
• Download the G4 Exposure Draft
– Overview
– Questions
• GRI invites the public to provide:
– General comments in response to questions about the entire set of changes
– General comments in response to questions about specific proposed content
– Comments on the text in the G4 Exposure Draft
• Submit comments via the G4 Consultation Platform

8. General
• Editorial review to improve clarity and
technical quality including:
– Split of standard disclosures and guidance
– Changes to the format of the Guidelines
• Integrated Reporting
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9. Application Levels
GRI encourages the use of the GRI Guidelines by all organizations, regardless
of their size, sector or location.
Organizations may wish to indicate that their report has been prepared in
accordance with the GRI Guidelines. In order to do so, the report must
include:
1. All of the Profile Disclosure Items.
2. Disclosures on Management Approach and Core Indicators related to all of
the material Aspects identified by applying the Technical Protocol: Defining
Report Content and Boundaries.
3. All disclosures identified in any applicable GRI Sector Supplement(s).
4. A GRI Content Index as specified in the GRI Guidelines.
5. A statement, signed by the highest governance body or Chief Executive
Officer (CEO), that the report has been prepared in accordance with the GRI
Guidelines and that it is a balanced and reasonable presentation of the
organization’s economic, environmental and social impacts.

10. Application Levels
The unavailability of data or specific legal prohibitions may result in an
inability to disclose certain information required by points 1-3 above. If such
information is not disclosed, the statement required by point 5 above must
also clearly:
I. Indicate what information has been omitted,
II. Explain the reasons why the information has been omitted, and
III. In the case of the unavailability of data, identify the steps being taken to
obtain the data and the expected timeframe for doing so.
First time reporters who wish to incrementally apply the GRI Guidelines may,
for the first two reporting periods, state that their report is in accordance
with the GRI Guidelines if the statement required by point above also clearly:
I. Identifies what information has been omitted, and
II. State the organization’s commitment for the report to fully be in
accordance with the GRI Guidelines once the transition period is over.

11. Application Levels
1. Do you agree with the proposal to discontinue with the Application Levels and to
replace them with criteria that define when a report has been prepared “in
accordance with” the G4 Guidelines?
2. Do you support the introduction of transitional provisions to allow new reporters
two reporting periods in order for their reports to gradually be in accordance with
the G4 Guidelines?

12. Governance and Remuneration
• Current Governance Disclosures 4.1 – 4.10 replaced by new
disclosures
• New disclosures fall into seven sub-sections:
1. Highest Governance Body’s Role in Setting Purpose, Values, and Strategy
2. Governance Structure and Composition
3. Highest Governance Body’s Competencies and Performance Evaluation
4. Highest Governance Body’s Role in Risk Management
5. Highest Governance Body’s Role in Sustainability reporting
6. Highest Governance Body’s Role in Evaluating Economic, Environmental,
and Social Performance
7. Remuneration and Incentives

13. Governance and Remuneration
• New disclosures are aimed to be universally applicable to
all regions and all types of organizations
• New disclosures aim not to repeat governance
disclosures in other reporting mechanisms (such as
annual reports) but to, instead, focus on sustainability-
related information only

14. Governance and Remuneration
1. Do you consider the proposed disclosures related to Governance & Remuneration
disclosures appropriate and/or complete?
2. Do you have other general comments related to Governance & Remuneration?

15. Disclosure
on Management Approach
• Management Approach disclosures separated into ‘Disclosure’
and ‘Guidance’ sections
• All ‘Standard’ disclosures are placed into the ‘Generic’ section,
hence reporting for each Category and Aspect can be done by
using the same elements

16. Disclosure
on Management Approach
[Disclosure] Disclosure 2
Report why the topic is material. Report impacts that relate to the material
topic.
[Guidance] Explain why the topic is material. As a minimum, this includes
information on an organization’s impacts, whether positive or negative.
When explaining why the topic is material, include information on how the
topic was identified as material.
When reporting on assessments used to identify a material topic, include a
description of each assessment’s boundary, frequency, assessment criteria,
and stakeholders engaged. The boundary of these assessments extends to an
organization’s relationships with other parties such as workers, trade unions,
suppliers, business partners, and governments.

17. Disclosure
on Management Approach
• Management Approach disclosures separated into ‘Disclosure’
and ‘Guidance’ sections
• All ‘Standard’ disclosures are placed into the ‘Generic’ section,
hence reporting for each Aspect can be done by using the
same elements

18. Current Structure

19. New Structure
Four basic disclosures of the proposed Management
Approach:
1. Report the material topic.
2. Report why the topic is material. Report impacts that relate to
the material topic.
3. Report how the organization manages the impacts related to
the material topic.
4. Report how the effectiveness of the management approach is
monitored and evaluated. Report the results and the related
adjustments to the management approach.
[G4 Exposure Draft pp. 42 - 46]

20. Purpose
Disclosure on Management Approach provides narrative
information on how an organization analyzes and responds to its
actual and potential material economic, environmental, and
social impacts. Disclosure on Management Approach also
provides context for the performance reported by an
organization, including Indicators if applicable.

21. Purpose
Disclosure on Management Approach enables an organization to
make explicit:
1. What the material topic is
2. Why the topic is material
3. How the topic is managed
4. How management approach is monitored, evaluated, and
adjusted

22. Disclosure on Management
Approach
1. Do the requirements for Disclosures on Management Approach offer sufficient
flexibility to enable organizations to provide answers that will add value without
making the report unduly repetitive and lengthy?
2. Do you consider the proposed Disclosures on Management Approach an
improvement over the current approach?
3. Do you consider the proposed disclosures related to Disclosures on Management
Approach appropriate/ and or complete?
4. Do you consider the proposed guidance provided to support the Disclosures on
Management Approach appropriate and/or complete?
5. Do you have other general comments about the Management Approach
Disclosures?
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23. Boundary
Boundary: the range of value chain elements covered in
the report for each material topic. Boundaries may vary
based on the topics being reported.

24. Boundary
• WG recommended merging Boundary Guidance with the
existing ‘Technical Protocol – Applying the Report Content
Principles’ and updating the summary within the Guidelines
to reflect this change
• Boundary decisions are based on impact considerations and
not legal ownership or control
• New step recommended in the ‘Define Report Content’
process flow: Map Value Chain.
• Value chain becomes a key notion in defining boundaries

25. Boundary
• Recommendation to expand to a four step process

26. Boundary
1. Do you think that the new version of the Technical Protocol helps organizations to
express better the relationship between material topics and value chain?
2. Do you think mapping the value chain is a helpful exercise for defining boundaries
of material topics?
3. Is the difference between the term “Aspect” and “Topic” clear when each term is
used in the Technical Protocol?
4. Do you have other general comments related to the approach for setting
boundaries proposed in the Technical Protocol?
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27. Supply Chain
Definitions
SUPPLY CHAIN (page 315)
The part of the value chain which consists of the sequence of suppliers and
activities that provides materials, products or services to an organization.
SUPPLIER (pages 314 - 315)
An organization or person that provides materials, products or services directly or
indirectly to another organization. In GRI’s Framework, the term ‘supplier’
includes but is not limited to:
• Brokers • Independent contractors
• Consultants • Primary producers
• Contractors • Sub-contractors
• Distributors • Wholesalers
• Home workers

28. Supply Chain
Profile Disclosure
[Disclosure]
Describe the organization’s supply chain.
[Guidance]
A description of the supply chain may include but is not limited to:
• Total number of suppliers
• Total monetary value and/or volume of materials, products and services purchased directly
from suppliers, broken down by:
– The types of materials, products and services provided by suppliers that are used for the
organization’s primary brands, products and/or services, as reported under DI 4
– Types of suppliers
– Location of suppliers by country and/or region. Where it will provide appropriate
context on relevant risks and impacts, identify the location of suppliers within a country.
List those suppliers that are located in weak governance zones and Export Processing
Zones (also called Special Economic Zones or Free Trade Zones)

29. Supply Chain
Disclosures on Management Approach
• Generic Disclosure on Management Approach Guidance
– It includes guidance on disclosing practices for supplier selection, management and
termination, product and service design and certification and audit of suppliers
• Aspect-specific Disclosure on Management Approach:
– Economic Aspect: Procurement Practices (pages 48 - 49)
» It includes disclosures on selecting locally-owned suppliers, promoting economic
inclusion through procurement, long-term relationships, adjustment of
procurement practices that affect suppliers’ compliance and traceability
– Labor Aspect: Employment (pages 66 - 67)
» It includes disclosures on suppliers’ workers regarding their working conditions,
social and labor protection, remuneration, employment relationship and work
performed at home

30. Aspects
Category Economic Environmental
Aspects • Economic performance • Materials
• Market presence • Energy
• Indirect economic impacts • Water
• Procurement practices • Biodiversity
• Emissions, effluents, and waste
• Products and services
• Compliance
• Transport
• Overall
• Screening and assessment
• Remediation
Category Social
Sub-category Labor Practices and Decent Human Rights Society Product
Work Responsibility
Aspects • Employment • Investment • Local communities • Customer health and
• Labor/management • Non-discrimination • Corruption safety
relations • Freedom of association • Public policy • Product and service
• Occupational health and and collective bargaining • Anti-competitive labeling
safety • Child labor behavior • Marketing
• Training and education • Forced and compulsory • Compliance communications
• Diversity and equal labor • Screening and • Customer privacy
opportunity • Security practices assessment • Compliance
• Equal remuneration for • Indigenous rights • Remediation
women and men • Screening and
• Screening and assessment
assessment • Remediation
• Remediation

31. Indicators: Procurement Practices
Category Economic
Aspect Procurement CORE EC6 Spending on locally-owned suppliers broken down by
Practices other forms of economic inclusion, at significant
locations of operation
CORE G4 1 Spending on suppliers with which long-term
agreements exist
CORE G4 2 Percentage of suppliers with which orders were placed
for the first time during the reporting period
CORE G4 3 Time taken to pay suppliers
ADD G4 4 Percentage of monetary value of each type of
materials, products and services purchased that have
been verified or certified as being in accordance with
credible, widely-recognized economic, environmental
and social standards

32. Indicators: Screening and
Assessment / Remediation
Aspect Category
Labor Practices and Decent
Environmental Human Rights Society
Work
Screening and CORE G4 5 Percentage of CORE G4 8 Percentage of CORE HR2 Percentage of CORE G4 12 Percentage of
assessment new suppliers and other new suppliers and other new suppliers and other new suppliers and other
business partners business partners screened business partners business partners screened
screened for for labor practices, and screened for human rights for society-related
environmental actions taken performance, and actions performance, and actions
performance, and actions taken taken
taken
CORE G4 6 Percentage of CORE G4 9 Percentage of CORE G4 11 Percentage of CORE G4 13 Percentage of
existing suppliers and existing suppliers and other existing suppliers and existing suppliers and other
other business partners business partners identified other business partners business partners identified
identified as having actual as having actual and identified as having actual as having actual and
and potential adverse potential adverse impacts and potential adverse potential adverse impacts
impacts on the for labor practices assessed human rights impacts on society assessed on
environment assessed on on labor practices, and assessed on human rights society-related
environmental actions taken performance, and actions performance, and actions
performance, and actions taken taken
taken
Remediation CORE G4 7 Number of CORE G4 10 Number of CORE HR 11 Number of CORE G4 14 Number of
grievances about grievances about labor grievances about human grievances about society-
environmental impacts practices filed, addressed, rights impacts filed, related impacts filed,
filed, addressed, and and resolved through addressed and resolved addressed, and resolved
resolved through formal formal grievance through formal grievance through formal grievance
grievance mechanisms mechanisms mechanisms mechanisms

33. Supply Chain
1. Do you consider the proposed definitions of “supply chain” and “supplier”
appropriate and complete?
2. Do you consider the proposed supply chain-specific Indicators to be effective
measures for performance and feasible to report?
3. Do you consider the proposed disclosures related to supply chain appropriate
and/or complete?
4. Do you consider the proposed guidance provided to support disclosure on supply
chain related issues appropriate and/or complete?
5. Do you consider the proposed supply chain-related references appropriate and
complete?
6. Do you have other general comments related to the Supply Chain Disclosures?

34. General Questions
1. Do you believe that the greater focus on materiality introduced in the G4 Exposure
Draft will assist organizations in better defining report content, boundaries and
issues so as to contribute to better and more relevant reports (as opposed to
longer reports)?
2. Is the G4 Exposure Draft (including the new structure) clear and understandable in
terms of what is expected of organizations for the sustainability report to be in
accordance with the guidelines?
3. Does the G4 Exposure Draft clearly explain the interaction between the guidelines,
the technical protocols and the sector supplements?
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35. General Questions
4. Do you think that the G4 Guidelines can apply to organizations of various sizes in
your region?
5. Do you believe that the G4 Guidelines will drive the cost effective preparation of a
sustainability report for all organizations?
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36. External References
GRI invites suggestions for the names of recent and useful documents that can assist
organizations in either understanding more about the topics listed in the Guidelines,
or help them to manage and report on topics.
GRI has strict criteria for assessing if a reference should be listed in its Guidelines.
– The organization provides publicly-available information about the development process
of this reference
– The reference was developed using a collaborative, representative, robust, and
transparent process; or developed in an inter-governmental setting
– The reference is generally applicable
– The reference is applicable to all organizations regardless of size or sector
– The reference is available in English
– The reference is available free of charge
– The reference is current and in use
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37. Questions?
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38. Thank you!
www.globalreporting.org