Integrating ESRS with GRI Standards: Streamlining Sustainability Reporting

Organisations already reporting under the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards are well positioned to implement the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). This is largely due to the close collaboration between GRI and the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) during the development of the ESRS, which ensured a high level of alignment.

Both frameworks share a similar modular structure. The cross-cutting ESRS are comparable to the GRI Universal Standards, applying to all organisations, while the topical ESRS mirror GRI’s Topic Standards. Many definitions, concepts and impact-related disclosures are fully or closely aligned, meaning existing GRI reports already cover a significant portion of ESRS requirements.

A key difference is the adoption of double materiality assessments, a topic that we covered on April 14th in a previous blog article of ours (this is the link, if you have missed it). GRI focuses mainly on impact materiality, whereas the ESRS adopts a double materiality approach, covering both impacts and sustainability-related financial risks and opportunities. However, an organisation’s impact assessment under GRI typically provides a strong starting point for meeting ESRS materiality requirements.

To make this more practical, consider the following questions:

• Have you already conducted a robust impact materiality assessment under GRI?
  If yes, this can serve as the foundation for ESRS impact materiality.
• Have you identified the related risks and opportunities linked to your material impacts?
  This step helps address the ESRS financial materiality perspective.
• Which of your existing GRI disclosures directly map to ESRS data points?
  Using GRI–ESRS Interoperability Index can significantly reduce duplication.
• Are there material topics we report on under GRI that are not covered in ESRS topical standards (e.g. tax)?
  The ESRS explicitly allow the use of GRI Standards in such cases to ensure comparability and completeness.

Key takeaways

• High structural and conceptual alignment reduces reporting burden.
• Existing GRI processes can be leveraged rather than rebuilt.
• Interoperability Index support efficient mapping between disclosures.
• GRI can supplement ESRS where topical coverage is limited.

In short, the ESRS and GRI Standards are designed to work together, enabling organisations to build on established reporting practices while meeting new European sustainability reporting requirements efficiently.