This publication helps to relate the social responsibility guidance given in ISO 26000 to the reporting guidance provided by GRI. In particular, this publication provides cross-references between the two documents, which can be useful for all organizations to take advantage of the synergies and complementarities of the two initiatives, for those organizations that have used the ISO 26000 guidance and would like to report on their social responsibility, and for those organizations that follow the GRI Guidelines to prepare their reports to understand how GRI’s Reporting Principles, Standard 

Disclosures and guidance are related to the clauses of ISO 26000:2010.The first ever ISO standard on Social Responsibility, ISO 26000, was published in November 2010. The standard provides guidance on the underlying principles of social responsibility, recognizing social responsibility and engaging stakeholders, the core subjects and issues pertaining to social responsibility and ways to integrate socially responsible behaviour into the organization.

The ISO guidance emphasizes the principle of transparency and the value of public reporting on social responsibility performance to internal and external stakeholders, such as employees, local communities, investors and regulators. This emphasis represents an important level of international attention to the issue of reporting, and is aligned with GRI’s mission to make sustainability reporting standard practice.GRI has actively participated in the international multi-stakeholder ISO 26000 development process from the start, and supports the recognition this guidance gives to the positive contribution that businesses and other organizations can make through improved practices, to ensure a sustainable future for all.

GRI strives for its Guidelines to harmonize with other reporting tools and international sustainability initiatives, including ISO 26000. ISO and GRI signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 5 September 2011, to increase their cooperation for sustainable development. The MoU between ISO and GRI is intended to leverage the activities of  ISO 26000 http://www.iso.org/iso/iso26000 the two organizations related to corporate sustainability by sharing information on ISO standards and GRI Guidelines, teaming 

up with other partners, participating in the development of new or revised documents, joint promotion and communication.

In May 2013, GRI released its fourth generation of Sustainability Reporting Guidelines - G4. The latest evolution of the GRI Guidelines – part of the most widely used comprehensive sustainability reporting framework in the world and created through an international multi-stakeholder, consensus-based process

- enables all companies and organizations to report on their economic, environmental, social and governance performance. G4 has been significantly revised and enhanced in order to reflect important current and future trends in the sustainability reporting landscape.

Both ISO 26000 and the GRI Guidelines have a significant overlap and convergence in terms of the topics they cover. ISO 26000 offers a comprehensive guidance which provides a structure for companies to organize their activities, which can then be measured and presented in the organization’s report by 

using the GRI Guidelines.The GRI Guidelines and ISO 26000 both aim at improving organizations’ social responsibility and sustainability performance. It should be noted that the GRI Standard Disclosures 

related to ISO 26000 clauses should not be understood as the only nor the complete set of disclosures required to satisfy the scope of each particular clause of ISO 26000:2010. 

Therefore, the full implementation of the GRI Guidelines should not be understood as offering full or adequate compliance on the implementation of the clauses of ISO 26000:2010.

By using ISO 26000 in conjunction with the GRI Guidelines, reporters can synergize the two and have a practical set of tools to measure and report on their social responsibility performance and impacts.