GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) is the independent, international organization that publishes the GRI Standards widely used by companies in implementing sustainability reporting. The GRI Secretariat is headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, having a network of seven regional offices to support organizations and stakeholders worldwide.

Background

Supporting GRI to create Japanese version of revised Universal Standards and Sector Standards

Among the GRI Standards released in 2016, GRI revised Universal Standards in 2021: GRI 1, 2 and 3, formerly known as GRI 101, 102 and103 respectively. The organization is currently focusing on the development of 40 Sector Standards, with its first one published in 2021: GRI 11: Oil and Gas Sector 2021.

We translated the above-mentioned GRI 1 to 3 and GRI 11 into Japanese under the supervision of GRI.

Approach

Fully utilizing our knowledge of sustainability to help Japanese companies properly understand the standards

Since the launch of the GRI Universal Standards in 2016, a number of international sustainability guidelines have been published. The updated Universal Standards includes ideas and terms from such international guidelines. Through extensive research, we employed the same terminology used in formal Japanese versions of relevant guidelines and ensured content-wise consistency to avoid confusion among readers.

Translators team at EcoNetworks has accumulated knowledge in sustainability through our translation services for companies since its establishment in 2002. Fully utilizing our knowledge and expertise, we sought to provide accurate translations even for technical sentences by examining the context in which they appeared.

Meanwhile, we had to pay special attention when translating the word ‘should.’ In the context of disclosures, it indicates a recommendation while the same word indicates a requirement when used in the context of due diligence. In consultation with peer reviewers of the Japanese version of the standards, we carefully selected the most appropriate language to help Japanese companies properly understand the GRI Standards. In coming across some familiar words used with unfamiliar meanings, we worked out how best to convey the intended message.

Japanese versions of the GRI Standards are available here.

Outcome

New challenge but with the same dedication as always

This project was a new challenge for us in terms of technology as we used a CAT (computer-assisted translation) tool compatible with a CMS (content management system) employed by GRI.

We worked, however, with the same dedication as always, maintaining close communication with our client and the peer reviewers throughout the process.

We sincerely hope that the Japanese versions will help Japanese companies in implementing responsible sustainability reporting.