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The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) recently published this report examining sustainability reporting practices among 14,682 publicly listed companies worldwide with annual revenues of at least US $250 million. Based on companies' most recent sustainability reports available as of December 2025 (generally covering fiscal year 2024), the report analyzes references to GRI and other major sustainability reporting frameworks across jurisdictions, industries, and company sizes.

According to the report, GRI was the most widely referenced sustainability reporting framework among the companies analyzed, with 40% referencing GRI, representing 62% of global market capitalization. Table 1 summarizes the comparative use of the major sustainability reporting frameworks included in the study.

The report also found that sustainability reporting has become increasingly multi-framework in practice, with most companies using GRI alongside one or more other reporting frameworks. For example, approximately 80% of companies referencing ISSB Standards, 78% referencing TNFD, 72% referencing TCFD, and 70% referencing ESRS also referenced GRI.

The report identifies meaningful regional differences in GRI adoption. Among the regions analyzed, the US and Canada had the lowest reported rate of GRI use, with 23% of companies referencing GRI, compared to 62% in Southeast Asia, 61% in Latin America, and 52% in Africa.

The report also illustrates the relationship between company size and GRI use. While only 23% of US companies in the dataset referenced GRI, those companies represented 57% of US market cap, suggesting that GRI reporting is considerably more prevalent among larger US public companies. Overall, the report found that 2,307 US companies met the study's revenue threshold, with GRI use increasing as company size increases.

  This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!