Japanese companies will be helped to improve the quality of their sustainability reporting under a new partnership between the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the International Development Center of Japan (IDCJ).
The sustainability advisory partnership will deliver Japanese language services built around the GRI Standards, the world’s most widely used sustainability standards.
This will see the IDCJ deliver GRI content index services for Japanese corporate sustainability reports.
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Companies can submit their reports to the IDCJ, which will complete an assessment and offer feedback on how to improve and align the content index.
The content index is a key requirement for GRI sustainability reports because it enables stakeholders and users to easily access relevant information.
At the global level, GRI delivers an English-language content index service, however, this is the first time the offering is being provided in a local language.
GRI reporting is already common practice by many organisations in Japan.
Sustainability standards
Research from KPMG in October 2022 found 87% of the top 100 companies in Japan use the GRI Standards, with 75% undertaking external assurance of their reports.
The full suite of the GRI Standards can be accessed in Japanese.
John Knight, GRI head of services, said: “Each year we provide content index feedback to more than 500 companies around the world. I am really pleased that, through this new partnership with IDCJ, we will be able to offer tailored support to companies that publish their reports in Japanese.”
The Japanese translation of the latest GRI Standards was released in October 2022, and use of the revised GRI Universal Standards has been mandatory since January 2023.
Hisaaki Mitsui, IDCJ sustainable development goals office manager, added: “We are honored that GRI is working with IDCJ as its sustainability advisory partner in Japan.
“The GRI Reporting Service will be helpful in preparing a GRI Content Index based on the updated version. We hope many Japanese companies will use this service.”
