GRI Rings Bell at Nasdaq: Highlighting Growing Investor Demand for Non-financial Reporting
A quarter of a century ago it would have been almost unthinkable for listed companies to feel obliged to report on their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) impacts. Fifteen or 20 years ago, sustainability reporting was a niche topic. This is no longer the case: In 2017, more than half of shareholder resolutions involved ESG information.
GRI, which celebrated its 20 anniversary in 2017, is the leading standard setting organization for ESG information. And its importance to the investment community was again showcased during the bell ringing ceremony. As Evan Harvey, Global Head of Sustainability at Nasdaq pointed out, “GRI is the most comprehensive, practical and effective sustainable reporting standard in the world. It has spent the past 20 years empowering companies to report ESG performance, standardizing the ways that we measure performance and capitalizing data to create social, environmental and economic change, as well as connecting stakeholders together in a public conversation on shared value creation.”
Investors are now demanding that companies engage in sustainability reporting, so they can have useful and reliable information to assess risk beyond the financial, and beyond the short term. And now the question is no longer whether companies should report, to what companies should be reporting on.
But most importantly, as Tim Mohin, GRI’s Chief Executive reminded us all during the ceremony, “It’s not about more reports or more paperwork, it’s about making the world better. It’s about aligning capital with sustainable business practices. It’s about building a better world.”
