GRI reporting abandoned and replaced with contextual reporting

Reporting and communicating about Corporate Social Responsibility is not set as such but certainly is related to the spirit of SDG’s 16 and 17. Sioen used to have multiple channels and methodologies, of which GRI was one.

GRI reporting methodology

Sioen knows the methodology and standards of GRI very well. Until a few years ago, GRI reporting was a fixed part of our Annual Financial Report. We’ve dropped it because we chose to communicate according to the triple bottom line methodology, which we publish in the “Declaration in respect of non-financial information” of our annual report.
Today, we communicate through 4 pillars: the 5 P’s, the UN SDGs, focus categories and through certificates and memberships.

What is GRI

GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) is the independent, international organisation that helps businesses and other organisations take responsibility for their impacts, by providing them with the global common language to communicate those impacts. They provide the world’s most widely used standards for sustainability reporting – the GRI Standards. (source)

Benefits

The main benefits Sioen saw in reporting according to the GRI standards, is that sustainability got a systematic approach. It helped us set and improve our sustainability mindset. In addition, the memberships of organisations such as the Shift and the many audits we did for certifications helped us set dedicated sustainability performance indicators and targets. It also strengthened internal data management and reporting systems.

We’ve been able to improve sustainability performance and risk management over the years and reporting according to GRI standards also played its role. It also helped us in investor communications and in engaging stakeholders and in improving stakeholders relations.

Declaration in respect of non-financial information

Until a few years ago, GRI reporting was a fixed part of our Annual Financial Report. The system and methodology is therefore very well known to us.

Here, we’ve chosen to abandon GRI reporting and to communicate contextually about our Corporate Social Responsibility based on the triple bottom line (People, Profit, Planet), which we later extended to the 5 P’s of People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace and Partnerships.

“Declaration in respect of non-financial information” for example about CSR must be published in the same report and at the same time as the financials of the annual report.

A dedicated website about CSR

Today, this dedicated website csr.sioen.com is our flagship when it comes to telling our sustainability story. Here, you’ll find the whole picture of what we stand for. We acknowledge that there’s still plenty of room for improvement on all levels, including on how and what we communicate about Corporate Social Responsibility.

Stakeholders can access what we do in 4 ways:

  1. Through the 5 P’s
  2. Through the UN SDGs
  3. Through categories we set an extra focus for the next 5 years
  4. Through certificates and memberships

The reintroduction of GRI reporting will be reconsidered in 2022.

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