The IFRS Foundation and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) announced on May 24 an expanded collaboration aimed at optimizing how their respective sustainability reporting standards can be used together.
The announcement builds on an initial collaboration agreement between the organizations launched in 2022, aimed at ensuring compatibility and interconnectedness of sustainability-related disclosures, in order to help reduce the reporting burden on companies complying with the multiple standards that were in place or under development, and to help harmonize sustainability reporting systems internationally.
Erkki Liikanen, Chair of the IFRS Foundation Trustees, said:
“In March 2022, the IFRS Foundation Trustees signed a Memorandum of Understanding with GRI in recognition of the importance of ensuring compatibility and interconnectedness between our respective standards to benefit report preparers and users around the world. The IFRS Foundation Trustees believe today’s agreement solidifies and advances that MoU so that together we can reduce duplication, fragmentation and complexity in the sustainability disclosure landscape.”
GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards are one of the most commonly accepted global standards for sustainability reporting by companies, developed to enable consistent reporting across companies and industries, providing clearer communication regarding sustainability matters to a broad range of stakeholders, including investors. The GRI published a major update of the standards in 2021, and recently published a new biodiversity reporting standard, aimed at enabling companies to publicly disclose on their most significant biodiversity impacts, and how they are managed. The GRI’s standards are developed by the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB).
