Use GRI as your primary framework for a first, comprehensive sustainability report aimed at stakeholders. Add SASB or ISSB/IFRS guidance to capture industry-specific, investor-relevant metrics; adopt TCFD or CDP for climate and emissions specifics, and follow ESRS if you must meet EU CSRD rules.
Brands AI recommends here
Mentioned in
1Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)Best fit as the core framework for a company's first sustainability report: GRI offers broad stakeholder-focused guidance across environmental, social, and economic impacts; pair with investor standards if needed.89%
2SASB StandardsBest when you need industry-specific, financially material metrics for investor audiences: SASB maps sustainability topics to operating performance but is meant to be used alongside broader reporting like GRI.84%
3Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)Best for companies that must explain climate impacts on strategy and resilience: TCFD gives a clear structure for climate-related risk and opportunity disclosure, often used alongside financial standards.79%
4International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB)Best for public companies seeking a global investor-facing baseline: ISSB/IFRS S1–S2 standardizes financial sustainability disclosure, integrating SASB and TCFD concepts for comparability.73%
If this is your company’s first sustainability report, I would avoid trying to “pick one framework.” The most practical approach is to use one primary reporting standard plus a few specialized standards for emissions, climate, and industry metrics.
The main frameworks to consider
Framework / standard
Best for
What it emphasizes
My take for a first report
GRI Standards
Broad stakeholder reporting
Your company’s impacts on the economy, environment, and people
Sustainability-related risks and opportunities that affect enterprise prospects
Strong if investors/financing are important
ESRS
Companies subject to EU sustainability-reporting requirements
Double materiality—both impacts and financial effects
Use if you're in CSRD/ESRS scope
SASB Standards
Industry-specific investor reporting
Industry-specific sustainability risks and metrics
Excellent supplement to ISSB
GHG Protocol
Carbon accounting
Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions
Essential companion for almost any corporate report
CDP
Environmental disclosure
Climate, water, forests and environmental management
Useful if customers/investors request CDP disclosure
TNFD
Nature/biodiversity
Nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities
Add if nature is material to your business
1. GRI — the best general-purpose starting point
Global Reporting Initiative's GRI Standards are designed around an organization's impacts on the economy, environment and people. The system has Universal, Sector and Topic Standards, making it relatively easy to build a report around the issues that are actually material to your business.
For a first report, I'd seriously consider:
GRI as your reporting backbone + GHG Protocol for emissions.
That gives you a report that can cover much more than carbon—things like employees, human rights, communities, water, waste, supply chain, governance and business impacts.
2. ISSB / IFRS S1 and S2 — increasingly important for investor-focused reporting
The International Sustainability Standards Board standards are IFRS S1 (general sustainability-related financial disclosures) and IFRS S2 (climate-related disclosures). They focus on information about sustainability-related risks and opportunities that could reasonably affect a company's prospects.
They're particularly useful if your audience includes:
investors
lenders
analysts
boards
finance teams
ISSB has also consolidated much of the previous sustainability-reporting landscape: IFRS S2 incorporates the TCFD recommendations, while ISSB draws on concepts from the Integrated Reporting Framework and SASB.
The SASB Standards are now maintained by the IFRS Foundation. They identify sustainability issues and metrics likely to be relevant to investors in 77 industries.
This is particularly useful because a generic sustainability report can become a laundry list. SASB forces you to ask:
What sustainability issues actually matter in our particular industry?
For example, the important metrics for a software company will look very different from those for an airline, bank, food manufacturer or mining company.
One current wrinkle: GHG Protocol and ISO announced in 2025 that they're working toward a consolidated corporate emissions-accounting standard, so it's worth monitoring developments rather than building an overly complicated proprietary methodology.
The European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) are the reporting standards associated with the EU's CSRD regime. They use double materiality, meaning companies consider both:
how sustainability matters affect the company, and
how the company affects people and the environment.
If your company falls within the applicable EU reporting requirements, ESRS isn't simply an optional framework I'd substitute with GRI. If you're outside the scope, however, adopting the full ESRS system for your first report may be unnecessarily burdensome.
6. CDP — valuable, but think of it as a disclosure channel
CDP is particularly useful for environmental disclosure. Its 2026 corporate questionnaire covers areas including climate change, forests and water security and is increasingly aligned with ISSB, ESRS, GRI, TNFD and GHG Protocol.
So I wouldn't make CDP your entire sustainability-reporting architecture. Instead, build good underlying data and governance, then make sure that data can also support CDP.
If your business has significant dependencies or impacts involving land, water, agriculture, forests, fisheries, biodiversity, etc., look at the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD).
Its recommendations cover governance, strategy, risk and impact management, and metrics and targets.
Unless there's a specific regulatory or investor requirement pointing elsewhere, I'd build the architecture like this:
Primary framework:
→ GRI Standards
Financial/investor lens:
→ ISSB / IFRS S1 + S2
Industry metrics:
→ SASB
Climate accounting:
→ GHG Protocol
Optional depending on your business:
→ CDP for environmental disclosure
→ TNFD for nature
→ ESRS if EU requirements apply
The important thing is not to report twice. There is considerable interoperability between these systems. For example, ISSB explicitly provides interoperability resources for ESRS and incorporates TCFD concepts.
A practical first-report structure
I'd structure the actual report roughly as:
CEO/leadership statement
Company and sustainability strategy
Materiality assessment
Governance
Climate & GHG emissions
Energy, water, waste & resources
People & workforce
Human rights / supply chain
Customers, communities & broader impacts
Ethics, compliance & governance
Targets and progress
Methodology and reporting boundaries
GRI / ISSB / SASB index
That last section is particularly important: it lets a reader see exactly which disclosures you've made and where, rather than forcing them to interpret a glossy narrative.
One important caveat: the "best" framework depends heavily on your company's country, industry, size, ownership/listing status, customers, and intended audience. Regulatory requirements can change the answer substantially.
If you tell me (1) your industry, (2) country/headquarters, (3) approximate company size, and (4) whether you're public/private, I can map out a specific first-year reporting framework and a proposed table of contents, including which GRI/ISSB/SASB disclosures I'd prioritize.
Developing your company's first sustainability report is an exciting milestone. Because the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) landscape blends voluntary best practices with emerging mandatory regulations , choosing the right framework depends on your company's size, geographic footprint, and stakeholder expectations.[](https://sustainabilitymag.com/top10/top-10-sustainability-reporting-frameworks)
The top frameworks and standards fall into a few clear categories:
Global Reporting Initiative (GRI): Widely considered the gold standard for impact reporting. GRI focuses on how your organization impacts the economy, environment, and people (double materiality perspective). It is ideal for a broad stakeholder audience (employees, NGOs, consumers, investors). Learn more about their guidelines directly from the Global Reporting Initiative.[](https://www.brightest.io/sustainability-reporting-standards)
Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol): The foundational accounting standard for measuring and managing greenhouse gas emissions (Scope 1, 2, and 3). Even if you don't use GRI or ISSB for your entire report, you will likely need the GHG Protocol to calculate your carbon footprint accurately.[](https://sustainabilitymag.com/top10/top-10-sustainability-reporting-frameworks)
Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD / ESRS): If your company operates in the European Union or meets specific EU revenue thresholds, compliance with the European Commission CSRD guidelines is mandatory rather than optional. It relies on a rigorous "double materiality" approach.[](https://sustainabilitymag.com/top10/top-10-sustainability-reporting-frameworks)
UN Global Compact (UNGC): A voluntary initiative based on CEO commitments to implement universal sustainability principles. Publishing a Communication on Progress (CoP) aligned with the UN Global Compact is a great, straightforward way for beginners to structure governance and social commitments.[](https://sustainabilitymag.com/top10/top-10-sustainability-reporting-frameworks)
To help narrow down which framework fits best, could you tell me:
What is your company's geographic footprint (e.g., US-only, EU operations, multinational)?
Who is your primary target audience for this report (investors, customers, internal leadership)?
For a first sustainability report, I’d avoid choosing one framework in isolation. The strongest approach is usually a core framework + climate methodology + industry-specific metrics, with regulatory requirements layered on if they apply to your company.
The main frameworks
Framework
Best for
What it emphasizes
GRI Standards
Broad stakeholder-facing sustainability reporting
Your company's impacts on the economy, environment, and people
ISSB / IFRS S1 & S2
Investors, lenders, capital markets
Sustainability risks and opportunities that could affect enterprise prospects
SASB Standards
Industry-specific reporting
Comparable sustainability metrics relevant to your industry
ESRS
Companies subject to EU sustainability-reporting requirements
Double materiality: both impacts and financially relevant risks/opportunities
GHG Protocol
Greenhouse-gas accounting
Measuring Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions
1. GRI — the best starting point for a general-purpose sustainability report
Global Reporting Initiative's GRI Standards are designed specifically for sustainability-impact reporting and cover economic, environmental and social impacts. GRI describes its Standards as the world's most widely used sustainability-reporting framework.
For a first report, I'd strongly consider GRI 1, GRI 2 and GRI 3, then add the relevant GRI Topic/Sector Standards. GRI's Universal Standards are structured around:
GRI 1: Foundation
GRI 2: General Disclosures
GRI 3: Material Topics
The key exercise is a materiality assessment to determine which sustainability impacts are significant enough to report.
Use GRI if: employees, customers, communities, suppliers and other stakeholders are important audiences for your report.
2. ISSB — increasingly important for investor-oriented reporting
The International Sustainability Standards Board's IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 provide a global baseline for sustainability-related financial disclosures. S1 covers sustainability-related risks and opportunities generally; S2 specifically addresses climate.
ISSB organizes disclosures around:
Governance
Strategy
Risk management
Metrics and targets
Unlike GRI, the central question is essentially: Which sustainability-related issues could reasonably be expected to affect the company's prospects, cash flows, access to finance or cost of capital?
Use ISSB if: investors, lenders, the board, finance teams or capital-market disclosures are major considerations.
An important 2026 consideration: the IFRS Foundation maintains a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction overview of how ISSB standards are being adopted or otherwise used, so you should check the requirements applicable to your company's locations.
3. SASB — add this for industry-specific metrics
SASB is now maintained by the ISSB. It provides industry-specific sustainability topics and metrics across 77 industries.
This is particularly useful because "material sustainability issues" differ dramatically by industry. A software company, bank, chemical manufacturer and food company shouldn't necessarily report the same KPIs.
In fact, IFRS S1 requires companies to refer to and consider the applicability of SASB Standards when identifying sustainability-related risks and opportunities.
Use SASB: alongside ISSB, rather than thinking of it as a competing alternative.
4. ESRS — important if you have EU reporting obligations
The European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) are the standards associated with the EU's sustainability-reporting regime. Their distinctive feature is double materiality: reporting considers both the company's material impacts and sustainability-related risks and opportunities.
So, for example, a topic might be material because:
your company has a significant environmental/social impact, and/or
the issue creates a material financial risk or opportunity for the company.
Use ESRS: if your company falls within applicable EU requirements, or if EU reporting requirements are strategically relevant to you.
5. GHG Protocol — use it for your emissions inventory
For the climate portion of the report, use the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard as your emissions-accounting methodology. This is especially important if you're reporting Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.
ISSB S2 explicitly requires Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions disclosures and references the GHG Protocol methodology.
What I'd recommend for a first report
Unless you have a specific regulatory constraint, I'd build the report like this:
GRI
→ Overall sustainability/impact reporting
+ ISSB S1/S2
→ Financially material sustainability and climate information
+ SASB
→ Industry-specific metrics
+ GHG Protocol
→ Greenhouse-gas inventory
That gives you a report that serves both stakeholder and investor audiences without creating four separate reporting exercises.
You can also create a cross-reference table showing where each disclosure requirement is addressed. This is much more useful than trying to write four completely different reports.
A practical first-report structure
CEO/leadership statement
About the company
Sustainability governance
Materiality assessment
Strategy and sustainability priorities
Environmental
GHG emissions
Energy
Water
Waste/circularity
Biodiversity, where relevant
Social
Employees
Health & safety
Diversity/equal opportunity
Human rights
Supply chain
Community impacts
Governance
Ethics
Anti-corruption
Data/privacy or cybersecurity where material
Board oversight
Climate risks and opportunities
One important distinction
Don't start by asking "What topics should go in our sustainability report?"
Start with "What are our material impacts, risks and opportunities, and who needs this information?"
That determines which framework(s) and disclosures actually belong in the report.
If you tell me your industry, approximate company size, countries you operate in, whether you're public/private, and who the primary audience is (investors, customers, employees, regulators, etc.), I can turn this into a specific reporting framework and first-year implementation plan, including which standards to use and which ones you can safely skip.
For a first sustainability report, I’d use GRI + IFRS S1/S2 (ISSB) as the core combination: GRI covers your organization’s impacts on people, environment and economy, while ISSB covers sustainability-related risks and opportunities relevant to investors.
GRI Standards — best for broad stakeholder/impact reporting.
ISSB / IFRS S1 & S2 — best for investor-focused, financially material sustainability and climate disclosures.
SASB Standards — use alongside ISSB for industry-specific metrics; ISSB requires companies to consider them.
GHG Protocol — use for Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions measurement; IFRS S2 references it.
ESRS — important if your company falls within EU sustainability-reporting requirements or needs EU-aligned reporting. ISSB and ESRS have interoperability guidance.
Practical first-report stack:GRI + ISSB S1/S2 + SASB + GHG Protocol, then add ESRS if applicable.
Developing your company's first sustainability report is an exciting milestone. The reporting landscape has consolidated around a few powerhouse frameworks , largely split by who the report is for (investors vs. broader stakeholders) and where you operate.[](https://www.anthesisgroup.com/insights/esg-reporting-frameworks/)
The premier frameworks to consider depend on your company’s footprint, regulatory requirements, and audience:
Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) : The gold standard for impact materiality (how your company impacts the world, environment, and people). It is the most widely used framework globally for broad stakeholder transparency. Learn more at the GRI Official Website.
Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD / ESRS) : If you have operations, subsidiaries, or a significant net turnover within the European Union, you may legally be required to follow the European Sustainability Reporting Standards, which enforce a strict "double materiality" approach (combining both GRI's impact and ISSB's financial angles). Explore details on the European Commission CSRD page.[](https://www.brightest.io/sustainability-reporting-standards)
Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) : While technically a disclosure platform rather than a full corporate report framework, many companies align their environmental data collection with CDP because major enterprise clients and institutional investors frequently request it.[](https://www.brightest.io/sustainability-reporting-standards)
For a first sustainability report, I’d avoid trying to follow every framework at once. The best approach is usually to choose one primary reporting framework, then use a couple of complementary standards where they add value.
The main frameworks
Framework
Best for
What it emphasizes
GRI Standards
A broad, stakeholder-oriented sustainability report
Your company's impacts on the economy, environment, and people
ISSB / IFRS S1 & S2
Investors, lenders, boards, and financial materiality
Sustainability-related risks and opportunities that could affect enterprise prospects
SASB Standards
Industry-specific investor disclosures
Comparable, industry-specific metrics
ESRS
Companies subject to EU sustainability reporting requirements
Detailed sustainability impacts, risks, opportunities, and governance
TCFD
Climate-risk structure
Governance, strategy, risk management, metrics and targets
For a company producing its first general-purpose sustainability report, I'd seriously consider GRI as the backbone.
GRI is designed around an organization's impacts on the economy, environment and people, rather than only what matters financially to investors. Its system consists of Universal Standards (GRI 1–3), Sector Standards where applicable, and Topic Standards selected according to the organization's material topics.
A GRI-based report can cover things like:
Greenhouse-gas emissions and energy
Water and waste
Employee health, safety and diversity
Human rights
Supply-chain practices
Ethics and anti-corruption
Community impacts
Governance
Material sustainability topics and targets
Why it's attractive for a first report: it gives you a relatively understandable structure for telling the broader sustainability story of the company.
2. ISSB — particularly important if investors are a major audience
The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) has two central standards:
IFRS S1 — general sustainability-related financial disclosures
IFRS S2 — climate-related disclosures
IFRS S1 focuses on sustainability-related risks and opportunities that could reasonably be expected to affect a company's cash flows, access to finance, or cost of capital over the short, medium, or long term.
IFRS S2 provides the climate-specific requirements. Both standards are effective for annual reporting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2024, although whether they are mandatory for your company depends on the applicable jurisdiction and regulatory regime.
This makes ISSB particularly relevant if your report is intended to serve:
SASB is now maintained by the IFRS Foundation/ISSB. It provides industry-specific sustainability topics and metrics across 77 industries, focusing on information likely to affect enterprise prospects and investor decision-making.
So you don't necessarily choose GRI vs. SASB. A very sensible combination is:
GRI for the overall sustainability report + SASB for industry-specific investor metrics.
4. ESRS — crucial if you're in the EU reporting ecosystem
The European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) are the framework to examine if your company falls within the scope of EU sustainability-reporting requirements.
ESRS is considerably more involved than what I'd recommend simply because you're producing your first voluntary report. But if your company is subject to EU requirements, the regulatory applicability needs to be established before choosing a simpler reporting approach. EFRAG provides the ESRS standards, implementation guidance and interoperability materials.
What I'd recommend for a first report
Unless you're already subject to a specific regulatory requirement, a strong architecture would be:
Primary framework:GRI Standards
Investor/financial lens:ISSB / IFRS S1 and S2
Industry-specific metrics:SASB
Climate accounting:
Use GHG Protocol for your emissions inventory, with the resulting disclosures mapped into the relevant reporting framework.
In other words:
GRI tells the sustainability story → ISSB tells the financial-risk story → SASB adds industry-specific metrics.
This also avoids creating three separate reports. You can build one underlying data set and materiality assessment, then map the relevant disclosures to each framework.
A practical first-report structure
I'd structure the project roughly like this:
Company and reporting profile
Business activities
Reporting boundary
Reporting period
Locations/operations covered
Materiality assessment
Identify significant sustainability impacts
Identify sustainability risks and opportunities
Engage relevant stakeholders
Prioritize topics
Governance
Board oversight
Management responsibilities
Policies
Accountability
Environment
GHG emissions
Energy
Water
Waste/circularity
Biodiversity, if material
People
Workforce
Health & safety
Diversity/equity/inclusion
Training
Human rights
Value chain
Suppliers
Procurement
Human-rights risks
Supplier environmental impacts
Business ethics & governance
Ethics
Anti-corruption
Data/privacy
Compliance
Climate risks and opportunities
Physical risks
Transition risks
Strategy
Targets
Scenario analysis where appropriate
Targets and performance
Baseline
Current performance
Targets
Progress
Next steps
Methodology and disclosures index
GRI content index
ISSB/SASB mapping where applicable
Definitions
Calculation methodologies
Reporting boundaries
One important point
Don't start by writing the report.
Start by building a materiality + data architecture. Determine what matters, what you can actually measure, who owns each data point, what the reporting boundary is, and what evidence exists. Then design the report around that information.
That will make the first report much more credible—and will make your second report dramatically easier.
If you tell me your industry, approximate company size, countries you operate in, whether you're public/private, and who the report is primarily for (customers, investors, employees, regulators, etc.), I can recommend a specific framework combination and give you a first-year sustainability-report blueprint with the exact metrics to collect.
For a first sustainability report, I’d avoid trying to follow every framework at once. A practical approach is to choose one primary reporting framework and use a few complementary standards for specific topics.
The main frameworks to consider
Framework
Best for
What it emphasizes
GRI Standards
Broad stakeholder-facing sustainability reporting
Impacts on people, environment and economy
IFRS S1 / S2 (ISSB)
Investors, lenders and financial markets
Sustainability-related risks and opportunities that could affect enterprise prospects; climate in particular
ESRS
Companies subject to EU sustainability-reporting requirements
Double materiality: impacts and financial effects
SASB Standards
Industry-specific investor disclosures
Sustainability issues and metrics relevant to particular industries
The landscape has converged considerably. The ISSB's IFRS S1 and S2 incorporate the TCFD architecture, while IFRS S1 directs companies to consider SASB's industry-specific guidance. IFRS S2 also requires Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions information using the GHG Protocol.
What I'd use for a first report
1. Start with GRI if your goal is a comprehensive corporate sustainability report.
GRI is particularly useful when your audience includes employees, customers, communities, suppliers and other stakeholders—not just investors. It gives you a structured way to report your organization's significant impacts and performance across environmental, social and economic topics.
2. Add ISSB/IFRS S1 and S2 if investors or financial institutions are an important audience.
IFRS S1 focuses on sustainability-related risks and opportunities that could reasonably affect the company's prospects, while IFRS S2 addresses climate-related risks and opportunities. Both use the four-part structure of governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics & targets.
3. Use SASB for industry-specific metrics.
Rather than treating SASB as an entirely separate report, I'd use the SASB standard applicable to your industry to identify the metrics investors are likely to care about. SASB currently covers 77 industries and is under the stewardship of the IFRS Foundation.
4. Use GHG Protocol for your emissions inventory.
This gives you the underlying methodology for calculating Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions. If you eventually report under IFRS S2, this becomes particularly important.
5. Use ESRS if EU regulation applies to your company.
If your company falls within the scope of European sustainability-reporting requirements, ESRS isn't simply an optional framework to consider—it can become a regulatory reporting requirement. It is also worth considering if you have substantial EU operations, customers or a parent/subsidiary relationship that brings you into scope.
A sensible first-report architecture
I'd structure the project roughly like this:
Company and sustainability strategy
Materiality assessment
Governance and accountability
Environmental performance
GHG emissions
Energy
Water
Waste/circularity
Biodiversity, where relevant
People and social impacts
Workforce
Health & safety
Diversity/equity
Human rights
Communities
Responsible business
Ethics
Anti-corruption
Data/privacy
Supply chain
Climate risks and opportunities
Goals, targets and progress
Methodology, boundaries and data limitations
Framework/index table showing where each GRI/ISSB/SASB/other disclosure can be found
That last section is surprisingly valuable: it lets readers see exactly how your report maps to the standards without making the main document unreadable.
My practical recommendation
For a company producing its first report, a strong combination is:
GRI + GHG Protocol + SASB, with ISSB S1/S2 layered in if investor-oriented reporting matters.
If you're likely to need EU reporting, I'd instead design the data architecture around ESRS + ISSB, while using GRI where useful for broader stakeholder impacts. There is published interoperability guidance between ESRS and ISSB, so you don't necessarily need to build two completely independent reporting systems.
The important thing is not to start by writing the report. Start by establishing your reporting boundary, conducting a materiality assessment, identifying the applicable standards/regulations, and building a data inventory. The report then becomes the presentation of a measurement system rather than a one-off marketing exercise.
If you tell me your industry, approximate company size, countries you operate in, whether you're publicly or privately held, and who the report is primarily for, I can map out a specific framework stack and a first-year reporting roadmap for you.
Choosing the right framework depends on your audience, industry, and geographic location. The top frameworks serve different strategic purposes for a first-time reporter:
Contextualizing your company’s broader contributions to society and global goals.
Recommended Steps for Your First Report
Conduct a Materiality Assessment: Identify which environmental, social, and governance (ESG) topics are most critical to your business operations and stakeholders. Do not try to report on everything in year one.
Use SASB for Industry Metrics: Look at the SASB Standards Materiality Finder to see what specific metrics your exact industry sector is expected to disclose to financial markets.
To help narrow down the exact path forward, tell me:
What is your company's industry and approximate size?
Do you operate or sell in the European Union (which triggers mandatory CSRD/ESRS rules)?
Is your primary reporting audience investors or general consumers/partners?
Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) : Structured around four pillars—Governance, Strategy, Risk Management, and Metrics & Targets. It is heavily integrated into modern global regulations and is ideal for detailing climate-related risks and opportunities.
Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol : Not a standalone sustainability report framework, but the essential accounting standard for measuring and reporting your Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas emissions. You will need this regardless of which overarching report framework you choose.
