Which framework is commonly used for sustainability assessment?

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is a widely recognized framework specifically designed for sustainability assessment and reporting. It provides organizations with guidelines on how to measure and communicate their economic, environmental, and social performance. The GRI framework helps organizations understand their impacts on the world and enables stakeholders to assess sustainability practices.

By employing standardized indicators, GRI facilitates comprehensive reporting on sustainability aspects, allowing companies to identify their strengths and areas for improvement in their sustainability strategies. This makes the GRI particularly valuable for entities looking to enhance transparency, engage stakeholders, and improve their sustainability efforts systematically.

In comparison, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) act as a set of global objectives aimed at addressing major social, economic, and environmental challenges but do not provide a structured framework for reporting performance like the GRI does. The Balanced Scorecard is a strategic management tool that focuses primarily on measuring business performance through various operational metrics rather than sustainability specifically. Lastly, Porter's Five Forces is a model used to analyze the competitive landscape of an industry, which does not directly relate to sustainability assessment. Thus, GRI stands out as the most relevant framework for the purpose of sustainability assessment.