A deal to align sustainability reporting and standards has been agreed by two major international setting boards. The move follows rising public interest in harmonising the global sustainability reporting landscape while reducing the burden on companies through consolidating the boards’ terminology, guidance and work programmes.
Under the deal, the IFRS Foundation and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) will co-ordinate their capital market and multi-stakeholder standards to provide two ‘pillars’ of international sustainability reporting. The first pillar will represent investor-focused capital market standards developed by the IFRS Foundation’s International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), launched at November’s COP26 climate summit. A second pillar of GRI sustainability reporting requirements, set under its Global Sustainability Standards Board, will be compatible with the first and will aim to meet multi-stakeholder needs.
“At COP26, we heard strong support for consolidation in the sustainability reporting landscape,” said IFRS Foundation Trustees chair Erkki Liikanen. “The work of the ISSB and its global baseline concept will help deliver this objective for the capital markets, while this agreement with GRI will help ensure capital market standards are developed in a way that minimises reporting burden for those companies also using GRI Standards.”
GRI chief executive officer Eelco van der Enden said the consolidation showed that a comprehensive system combining financial and impact materiality for sustainability reporting is possible on a global scale and will benefit investors and companies alike.
Both organisations will join each other's consultative bodies on sustainability reporting under the deal.
