7 Most Used ESG Reporting Frameworks: Complete Guide

In today’s regulatory landscape, ESG reporting frameworks are no longer optional—they’re essential. These structured systems guide companies in disclosing how their operations impact the environment, society, and internal governance, creating transparency and building trust with investors, regulators, and stakeholders.

But as ESG scrutiny intensifies, the cost of inadequate or misleading reporting is steep. In 2023, Deutsche Bank’s asset management arm, DWS, was fined $27 million by the SEC for overstating its ESG integration—one of several high-profile greenwashing penalties in the U.S.

Understanding the nuances of ESG frameworks is critical to aligning with compliance and avoiding costly missteps. This blog explores the leading frameworks, how they differ, and how to navigate them effectively for compliant, credible reporting.

7 Key ESG Reporting Frameworks for Climate Disclosures

Let’s explore the various ESG reporting frameworks and standards that shape how companies disclose their sustainability performance, meet stakeholder expectations, and stay ahead of regulatory scrutiny.

1. Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)

The GRI Standards are modular and organized into Universal, Sector, and Topic-specific standards, allowing organizations to tailor their reports based on relevance. This ESG reporting framework encourages double materiality—assessing both how sustainability issues impact the business and how the business impacts society and the environment. 

GRI also emphasizes stakeholder dialogue and is structured to promote transparency across a wide spectrum of ESG topics, including biodiversity, supply chain, and waste.

Key aspects:

• Who it’s for: Any organization seeking to disclose sustainability impacts to a wide range of stakeholders
• Required disclosures: Environmental impact, labor practices, human rights, governance, and community impacts
• Applicability: Voluntary

2. Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB)

As one of the more focused ESG reporting standards and frameworks, SASB is built around sector-specific standards integrating issues most likely to affect financial performance. It includes guidance for 77 industries, each with a concise set of metrics and accounting standards. 

SASB emphasizes decision-useful data, helping companies quantify ESG risks and opportunities through measurable, comparable indicators that investors can integrate into their financial analysis.

Key aspects:

• Who it’s for: Public and private companies aiming to disclose financially material ESG data to investors
• Required disclosures: Industry-specific metrics covering environmental, social, and governance factors
• Applicability: Voluntary

3. Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)

TCFD organizes disclosures into four pillars: governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics & targets. It guides companies through scenario analysis, carbon pricing strategies, and transition versus physical climate risks. 

Among the different ESG reporting frameworks, TCFD encourages businesses to disclose forward-looking information that reflects how climate issues may evolve over time, and how resilient the organization’s strategies are under different climate scenarios.

Key aspects:

• Who it’s for: Public companies, financial institutions, and asset managers
• Required disclosures: Climate-related risks and opportunities, governance, strategic impact, metrics, and targets
• Applicability: Voluntary

4. Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)

CDP uses detailed questionnaires across three core themes: climate change, water security, and deforestation. These questionnaires assess company strategy, governance, emissions accounting, and supply chain engagement. 

The ESG reporting framework also scores companies on disclosure quality, awareness, and management, making it a performance benchmark used by investors and procurement teams worldwide.

Key aspects:

• Who it’s for: Companies seeking investor-facing environmental disclosures
• Required disclosures: GHG emissions, climate strategy, supply chain impact, water use, and deforestation risks
• Applicability: Voluntary

5. Integrated Reporting Framework (<IR>)

The <IR> Framework is centered on six capitals—financial, manufactured, intellectual, human, social, and natural—encouraging companies to think about how these resources are used and affected in the creation of long-term value. 

It integrates ESG within strategic context, asking companies to connect purpose, governance, performance, and outlook in a cohesive narrative. Unlike metric-heavy standards, <IR> emphasizes clarity, storytelling, and forward-looking perspective.

Key aspects:

• Who it’s for: Organizations aiming to integrate ESG into mainstream corporate reporting
• Required disclosures: Value creation narrative using six capitals, governance, risks, and performance
• Applicability: Voluntary

6. International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB)

The ISSB developed IFRS S1 and S2—comprehensive sustainability and climate disclosure standards. IFRS S1 is an ESG reporting framework that sets the baseline for sustainability-related risks and opportunities across the business. 

On the other hand, IFRS S2 focuses specifically on climate, aligned closely with TCFD. The standards require disclosure of governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics, with a clear focus on enterprise value creation and investor decision-making.

Key aspects:

• Who it’s for: Global and U.S. companies preparing investor-grade sustainability reports
• Required disclosures: General sustainability risks (IFRS S1) and climate-related disclosures (IFRS S2)
• Applicability: Voluntary

7. SEC Proposed Climate Disclosure Rule

The SEC’s proposed rule would require publicly listed companies to disclose material climate-related risks, board oversight, and emissions. It mandates reporting of Scope 1 and 2 emissions, and in some cases Scope 3, using a phased approach based on company size and investor exposure. The ESG reporting framework also pushes for integration of climate impacts into financial statements, particularly where climate issues may influence cash flow, asset values, or capital allocation.

Key aspects:

• Who it’s for: Public companies registered with the U.S. SEC
• Required disclosures: Scope 1 and 2 emissions, climate risk governance, financial impact, and net-zero commitments
• Applicability: Proposed to be mandatory

Choosing the Right ESG Framework for Your Business

Selecting the right ESG reporting framework isn’t about choosing the most popular—it’s about choosing what fits your business best. With so many options in the list of ESG reporting frameworks and standards, the ideal approach is guided by a few strategic considerations:

1. Industry and Sector-Specific Relevance

Different industries face different ESG risks and regulatory scrutiny. For instance, an energy company must report comprehensively on emissions and resource use, while a tech firm may focus more on data privacy, human capital, or supply chain ethics.

ESG reporting standards and frameworks like SASB excel here by offering sector-specific standards—across 77 industries—helping companies focus on what’s material in their operational context. If you’re comparing frameworks side by side, SASB often stands out in any comparison of ESG reporting frameworks for its relevance to industry nuances.

2. Regulatory and Jurisdictional Alignment

Where you operate—and where your investors are—plays a critical role. U.S.-listed companies must prepare for the SEC’s proposed climate disclosure rule, which builds on the structure of TCFD. Meanwhile, multinational companies may face EU CSRD, Canadian climate mandates, or Asian ESG standards, many of which draw from GRI, ISSB, or CDP.

Understanding these layers is key. Many businesses adopt multiple ESG reporting frameworks to comply with both domestic and international requirements. Frameworks like ISSB are increasingly acting as a global baseline for such multi-jurisdictional compliance.

3. Stakeholder and Investor Expectations

Some frameworks are designed with investors in mind, while others prioritize broader stakeholder groups. SASB, ISSB, and TCFD emphasize financially material information useful for capital markets. In contrast, GRI and <IR> focus on wider impacts and long-term value creation, including effects on communities, employees, and broader governance structures.

If your ESG goals include transparency, brand positioning, or internal engagement, stakeholder-centric frameworks may be the right fit. In such cases, it becomes essential to leverage ESG reporting software that can segment data outputs for different stakeholder groups, manage disclosures by role, and track contributions across departments.

4. ESG Maturity and Data Capabilities

Are you just beginning your ESG journey or already managing detailed disclosures? Early-stage companies might start with GRI for broad coverage or CDP for environmental reporting, gradually layering in complexity. 

Mature companies may align with multiple frameworks to meet growing expectations and internal ESG targets. Your ability to collect, validate, and analyze data will influence how much detail you can report. 

5. Strategic ESG Objectives

Your framework should align with your business vision. Are you aiming to attract sustainable investors? Manage regulatory risk? Set net-zero targets? Position ESG at the core of your brand?

<IR> is ideal for companies integrating ESG into strategic narratives and value creation. TCFD and CDP are best for climate-risk transparency. If you're benchmarking performance and setting actionable targets, your choice may lean toward more structured, metric-heavy ESG reporting frameworks. Clear goals sharpen your framework selection—and how you implement it across business functions.

6. Resource Availability and Reporting Infrastructure

Some frameworks are lean and prescriptive, while others require extensive internal coordination and external assurance. Consider what’s feasible for your team. Do you have ESG experts internally, or are you relying on third-party advisors and tools?

Choosing the right ESG reporting frameworks software can be a game-changer. It allows you to work across multiple standards, automate calculations, access materiality assessments, and eliminate the risk of inconsistent reporting.

Streamline ESG Frameworks Reporting With AI-Powered Software

Navigating the growing landscape of ESG reporting frameworks demands more than understanding standards—it requires the right tools to operationalize them. 

As companies face increasing regulatory pressure, investor scrutiny, and internal accountability, ESG reporting platforms play a vital role in ensuring that disclosures are accurate, aligned, and audit-ready. These tools enable businesses to manage multi-framework reporting, automate emissions tracking, and generate real-time insights with minimal manual effort.

AI-powered platforms like Breathe streamline ESG reporting by offering a unified data hub that auto-maps inputs to multiple frameworks along with role-based access and customizable dashboards that adapt to stakeholder needs. 

Book a demo to explore audit-ready compliance at your fingertips.

FAQs

1. How many ESG reporting frameworks are there?

The world of ESG reporting is highly complex, with over 600 ESG frameworks and standards globally, according to Ernst & Young. Businesses adopt a combination depending on their regulatory obligations and leverage ESG reporting software to streamline compliance. 

2. What is the GRI reporting framework for ESG?

The GRI reporting framework helps organizations disclose ESG impacts across environmental, social, and governance topics. It includes modular standards, covering emissions, labor, ethics, and more. GRI is the most widely adopted ESG reporting standard globally.

3. What are the big 4 ESG standards?

The big four ESG reporting standards—GRI, SASB, TCFD, and CDP—serve distinct but complementary roles in sustainability reporting. GRI focuses on stakeholder impact, SASB on financial materiality, TCFD on climate-related financial risk, and CDP on environmental performance benchmarking. 

4. How to choose an ESG framework?

Choosing from the list of ESG reporting frameworks depends on your industry, regulatory requirements, and target stakeholders. You should also evaluate your organization’s ESG maturity, data availability, and reporting goals—whether focused on financial materiality or broader impact. In many cases, a combination of frameworks may offer the most comprehensive and compliant approach.

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