How is governance reflected in the GRO and ESRS standards? This question is relevant to two categories of companies. The first comprises companies that fall under the CSRD and are required to report in accordance with the ESRS. For these companies, the ESRS is the mandatory framework. The second category includes companies that do not report directly under the CSRD, but work with large groups, investors, banks or international partners who request ESG information. For these companies, GRI can remain a useful benchmark, particularly if they are part of global supply chains. In terms of governance, GRI and ESRS are not structured in the same way and do not use exactly the same framework.<\/p>\n
The ESRS includes a thematic standard dedicated to business conduct, ESRS G1 Business Conduct. It covers corporate culture, business conduct policies, the prevention and detection of corruption and bribery, the protection of whistleblowers, relationships with suppliers, payment practices, political influence and lobbying activities.<\/p>\n
In the GRI, governance is treated differently. There is no single GRI standard that corresponds directly to ESRS G1. The relevant information is spread across GRI 2 General Disclosures 2021 and several topic-specific standards, such as GRI 205 Anti-corruption, GRI 206 Anti-competitive Behaviour and GRI 207 Tax.<\/p>\n
A company that has previously reported under the GRI cannot assume that its governance section automatically meets the requirements of ESRS G1. A mapping exercise is required between the information already collected and the ESRS requirements.<\/p>\n
The GRI is structured around an organisation\u2019s impacts on the economy, the environment and people. From this perspective, governance is important because it shows how the organisation is run, how its impacts are monitored, how conduct risks are managed and how decisions are made.<\/p>\n
The ESRS applies the principle of double materiality. The company must analyse its impacts on people and the environment, as well as the financial risks and opportunities related to sustainability. In G1, this means that issues such as corruption, bribery, supplier payments, corporate culture or political influence may be relevant both through their impact on others and through their effects on the company (sanctions, loss of contracts, reputational risk, supply chain disruptions or compliance costs).<\/p>\n
For companies required to report under the ESRS, it is not enough simply to describe their governance policies. They must explain why certain issues are material, how they are managed, and what outcomes or incidents arise.<\/p>\n
In the GRI, the starting point is GRI 2 General Disclosures 2021. This requires information on the governance structure, the composition of the highest governance body, the roles and responsibilities of senior management, conflicts of interest, remuneration, the delegation of responsibilities and the oversight of management regarding impacts.<\/p>\n
GRI 2 is useful for understanding how the company is organised and how sustainability issues are addressed at management level. For example, a company may describe who monitors impacts, how critical concerns are communicated, how management performance is assessed, and how responsible conduct policies are integrated.<\/p>\n
In addition to GRI 2, the thematic standards provide specific information. GRI 205 focuses on anti-corruption (risk assessment, communication and training on anti-corruption policies, confirmed incidents and actions taken). GRI 206 covers anti-competitive behaviour. GRI 207 concerns tax policy, tax governance and country-by-country reporting.<\/p>\n
ESRS G1 focuses more on business conduct. The standard is not a general corporate governance standard in the broad sense. Sustainability governance is primarily addressed by ESRS 2, whilst G1 deals with the company\u2019s conduct in its commercial, institutional and internal relations.<\/p>\n
The main topics covered in ESRS G1 are:<\/p>\n
G1 is important because it shifts governance from the realm of general statements to that of verifiable practices. The company must be able to demonstrate its policies, procedures, responsibilities, indicators and results.<\/p>\n
Anti-corruption is one of the areas where the GRI and the ESRS converge. GRI 205 requires information on operations assessed for corruption risks, communication and training regarding anti-corruption policies, and confirmed incidents. The focus is on impact, prevention, transparency and the measures taken by the organisation.<\/p>\n
ESRS G1 requires information on the policies and mechanisms through which the company prevents, detects and manages allegations or incidents of corruption and bribery. Furthermore, the European standard places greater emphasis on mandatory reporting and concrete indicators, such as convictions, fines and remedial actions.<\/p>\n
For a company that has already reported on GRI 205, the existing data may be useful. For the ESRS, it is necessary to check whether there is sufficient information on procedures, training, incidents, investigation mechanisms, internal reporting, and financial or reputational impacts.<\/p>\n
One of the most practical differences between GRI and ESRS concerns the relationship with suppliers. In GRI, suppliers are addressed in several standards, depending on the topic: procurement, environmental assessment, social assessment, human rights, anti-corruption or other relevant impacts. The approach is decentralised and depends on the materiality of the topics.<\/p>\n
In ESRS G1, the relationship with suppliers is explicitly included in the standard of business conduct. Payment practices are a separate requirement and are of particular relevance to the relationship with SMEs. For companies required to report under ESRS, this section may require data that many companies have not previously collected in an ESG format (payment terms, delays, supplier policies, procurement procedures, selection criteria, contractual clauses and mechanisms for managing commercial relationships).<\/p>\n
For SMEs that do not report directly, this requirement may have an indirect effect. Large customers may become more mindful of how they manage their suppliers and the information they collect from the value chain.<\/p>\n
GRI offers greater clarity in the area of taxation, through GRI 207 Tax<\/strong>. This standard covers the tax approach, tax governance, tax risk management and country-by-country reporting. ESRS G1 does not have an equivalent standard for taxation that is as detailed. Tax-related matters may feature in other reports, within the governance section or in the context of the company\u2019s risks and policies, but G1 does not contain a structure comparable to GRI 207.<\/p>\n ESRS G1 explicitly covers political influence and lobbying activities. Companies must examine the policies, procedures and activities through which they engage with the political process and public decision-makers, where this issue is material. In the GRI, information on political contributions and public policy appears within the relevant standards and in impact reporting, but is not organised under a single standard equivalent to G1.<\/p>\n For European companies, this distinction is important because lobbying and political influence are increasingly coming under the scope of ESG transparency. A company needs to understand whether these activities are relevant, who manages them, what policies apply and how they are reported.<\/p>\n For companies subject to the CSRD, the ESRS remains the starting point. The GRI can be helpful, but it does not set out the compliance requirements.<\/p>\n The first step is the double materiality analysis. The company must determine whether the topics in G1 are material (corporate culture, anti-corruption, bribery, suppliers, payments, lobbying or other aspects of conduct).<\/p>\n The second step is to map existing data. If the company has reported using the GRI framework, it can check what information it already has (governance structure in GRI 2, anti-corruption data in GRI 205, anti-competitive behaviour in GRI 206, taxation in GRI 207, information on suppliers from the relevant standards).<\/p>\n The third step is to identify the differences compared with ESRS G1. The most likely gaps relate to payment practices, supplier policies, investigation mechanisms, incident data and the link between business conduct and financial risks.<\/p>\n The fourth step is to integrate the information into the internal reporting system. G1 cannot be prepared by the ESG team alone. Data is required from the legal, compliance, procurement, finance, human resources, internal audit and management departments.<\/p>\n For companies not directly covered by the CSRD, the GRI\u2013ESRS comparison is useful for another reason. They may receive requests for information from major clients, banks or investors.<\/p>\n An SME is not required to submit a full ESRS report. However, it may be asked about anti-corruption policies, codes of conduct, payment terms, employees\u2019 rights, whistleblowing mechanisms, suppliers, incidents or certifications.<\/p>\n For these companies, GRI can be a more accessible starting point, particularly if they wish to voluntarily establish a basic reporting framework. GRI helps to organise information on governance, policies and impacts. At the same time, companies should also take note of the ESRS framework, as many requests from European customers will be influenced by the CSRD.<\/p>\n A practical approach for companies not subject to this requirement would be to start with a minimum set of information:<\/p>\n This information helps the company to be better prepared for market demands.<\/p>\n For companies with experience of GRI, the transition to ESRS may be easier if they already have internal processes in place for data collection.<\/p>\n GRI 2 can support the general governance aspect: structures, roles, responsibilities, monitoring of impacts and remuneration. GRI 205 can support anti-corruption efforts. GRI 206 can assist in the area of anti-competitive behaviour. GRI 207 can supplement tax reporting, even though it is not required in the same way by ESRS G1.<\/p>\n Simply copying the GRI sections into the ESRS report is not recommended. The ESRS has its own requirements, structure and terminology. GRI information may be reused, but it must be checked against the ESRS requirements.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cum este refelctat\u0103 guvernan\u021ba \u00een standardele GRO \u0219i ESRS? \u00centrebarea este relevant\u0103 pentru dou\u0103 categorii de companii. Prima este format\u0103 din companiile care intr\u0103 sub CSRD \u0219i trebuie s\u0103 raporteze conform ESRS. Pentru acestea, ESRS este cadrul obligatoriu. A doua categorie include companiile care nu raporteaz\u0103 direct sub CSRD, dar lucreaz\u0103 cu grupuri mari, investitori, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":9733,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-noutati"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10770"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10805,"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10770\/revisions\/10805"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esghub.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Political influence and lobbying<\/h2>\n
Companies required to report to the ESRS<\/h2>\n
Companies that are not required to report to the ESRS<\/h2>\n
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How can the GRI be used as a basis for the ESRS?<\/h2>\n