GRI standards as support in sustainability reporting: a case study
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abstract
Sustainability Reports are not yet mandatory. So entities, of their own free will, decide whether they
want to implement them. The production of these reports based on the Global Reporting Initiative
Standards (GRI Standards) makes it possible to report the economic, environmental and social
impacts, thus increasing the responsibility and transparency on the part of the entities regarding
their contribution to sustainable development. Furthermore, these Standards aim to increase the
comparability and quality of the information provided.
The present study aims to understand how and why to use the GRI Standards as a support in the
elaboration of Sustainability Reports in the Intermunicipal Community of Terras de Trás-osMontes (CIM-TTM). Faced with this challenge, a literature review based on the GRI Standards
was selected (eg, Guthrie & Farneti, 2008; Lamprinidi & Kubo, 2008; Muñoz et al., 2020), which
was considered adequate for the study of Sustainability Reports (eg, Guthrie & Farneti, 2008;
Lodhia et al., 2012), which may result in an original study with new theoretical and practical
contributions. That is, contributions to the public sector literature in general and, more specifically,
to the CIM-TTM, in order to enhance its application in other Intermunicipal Communities, thus
functioning as a driving mechanism. Furthermore, it should be noted that no Intermunicipal
Community has yet produced this type of report.
Therefore, the following research question was posed: How and why to use the GRI Standards in
the preparation of Sustainability Reports at CIM-TTM? The research method selected was the case
study because it is appropriate to answer the how and why questions, typical in qualitative
methodology (Yin, 2017). The CIM-TTM is the case under study for this research. As for the
analysis model, based on the GRI Standards, it is intended to identify the dimensions and practices
of CIM-TTM's social responsibility and to prepare a proposal for a Sustainability Report for it. The
analysis period will be 2021 and the data necessary to study the preparation of Sustainability Reports
at the CIM-TTM will be collected through documents and by direct observation.
