Database Will Benchmark Thousands of Reports, GRI Says

Companies will be able to benchmark their sustainability data against information from thousands of other firms, using a database just launched by the Global Reporting Initiative.

GRI said the Sustainability Disclosure Database includes data on the sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG) transparency of over three thousand companies. This information was previously hard to find, but GRI said the new database will make the data easily accessible for companies and investors alike.

Any organization can upload a sustainability report and profile information to the database, which will help them engage with stakeholders and get feedback, GRI said. A global team of 22 GRI “data partners” will also collect information from companies in their regions, to populate the database.

José Luis Blasco Vázquez, the partner in charge of climate change and sustainability services for EMA region at KPMG, said the database will help investors access more robust information and will bring sustainability data into closer alignment with financial reporting data. KPMG Spain and it software provider Baetica provided support for the website, which is available in English and Spanish.

In July, representatives from GRI and the Carbon Disclosure Project told an Environmental Leader webinar that the organizations’ services are evolving to help companies at every stage of their reporting.

One of these services, CDP Analytics, uses SAP software to provide reports that can help with benchmarking performance and showcasing best practice. DuPont is using this software to examine data on leading sustainable companies, and is sharing this data with internal strategy teams.

In September GRI released guidelines tailored for the construction and real estate sector, and in October it proposed a new approach for organizations to examine ecosystems as “service providers.”

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