GRI Standards Launched in Italian

September 30, 2019 /3BL Media/ More companies in Italy will be supported to disclose their impacts using the world’s leading sustainability reporting framework, following Italian becoming the latest translation of the GRI Standards.

The three universal Standards and all 33 topic-specific Standards have been published in Italian and are now freely available for any Italian speaking organization to download and use.

Most large Italian corporations already use the GRI Standards, including 100% of the 205 businesses required to report under Italy’s application of the EU Directive on Disclosure of Non-Financial Information (Decreto n.254). Providing the Standards in Italian will make them accessible to more companies, especially small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

The Italian translation of the GRI Standards was unveiled at a launch event in Milan today, hosted by Borsa Italiana (the Italian stock exchange) and attended by more than 100 senior representatives from business, policy and civil society.

GRI chief executive Tim Mohin said:

“I am delighted we have added Italian to the translations of the GRI Standards, which we offer as a freely available public good, helping organizations of any size and across all sectors disclose and manage their impacts on the wider world.

GRI is committed to increasing both the uptake and quality of sustainability reporting in Italy, so that more companies benefit from the improved performance and strengthened relationships that can come with transparency.

Now available in 10 languages worldwide, the Italian translation further establishes GRI as provider of the global common language for internationally comparable and comprehensive sustainability disclosures.”

Barbara Lunghi, Head of Equity Primary Markets, Borsa Italiana added:

“The adherence by our listed companies to global sustainability reporting standards is key to achieving comparability of ESG data, as demanded by investors globally, and it’s a competitive advantage for our markets.

“Borsa Italiana is already ranked sixth globally for the quality of ESG disclosure of its listed companies based on research by the UN Sustainable Stock Exchanges initiative, of which Borsa Italiana is a member. We welcome this initiative by GRI as a further step to promote high quality, decision useful ESG disclosures on our market.”

Notes to editors

The Italian translation of the GRI Standards is available to download.

GRI has two upcoming events in Italy for sustainability reporters:

• 16 October - Roundtable on Sustainability Context, Milan
• 12 November - Roundtable on Materiality and Boundary, Rome

This translation was sponsored by Enel, ENI, Etica SGR, Algebra srl, Intesa San Paolo, Banca Popolare Pugliese and TIM. It was made possible by the Associazione Bancaria Italiana and the International Association for Impact Assessment.

The translation was carried out by Eurideas and peer reviewed by:

• Lorenzo Solimene, Senior Manager, Risk Consulting, Sustainability Services, KPMG
• Laura Corazza, Researcher and Editor, University of Turin
• Gaia Giussani, Senior Manager, Sustainability Reporting and Climate Change Services, PwC

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is the independent international organization that helps businesses, governments and other organizations understand and communicate their sustainability impacts. 

The GRI Standards are available in Arabic, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, and Vietnamese. A Portuguese translation is planned to be released in 2020.

The number of organizations accessing non-English translations of the Standards has increased substantially, accounting for 34% of downloads from January-August 2019 (a 30% increase on the same period in 2018).

The Sustainable Stock Exchanges 2018 report on progress ranks Borsa Italiana in sixth place for stock exchanges with the highest ESG disclosure rates.

A 2018 KPMG survey found all 205 companies in Italy reporting ESG data under Decreto n.254 use GRI’s framework.

Media contact:  Tom Whittles – GRI Senior Media Relations Manager