IFRS Foundation and GRI deepen interoperability of sustainability reporting standards

The IFRS Foundation and the Global Reporting Initiative expanded their 2022 collaboration to align common disclosures between ISSB and GSSB standards, starting with a biodiversity pilot. For Indian companies reporting under BRSR, closer global standard alignment signals a future where investor-focused and multi-stakeholder disclosures converge, easing the burden of mapping to multiple frameworks.

The IFRS Foundation and GRI announced an expanded collaboration to enhance interoperability between their sustainability reporting standards, building on a 2022 agreement aimed at reducing the reporting burden of multiple frameworks. The ISSB, established in November 2021 at COP26, released IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 in June 2023, which IOSCO urged regulators to adopt in July. Under the new agreement, the ISSB and GSSB will identify and align common disclosures, beginning with a pilot methodology based on GRI's new biodiversity standard and the ISSB's biodiversity project.

Companies reporting under both GRI and ISSB-aligned frameworks are directly affected, particularly those navigating overlapping disclosure obligations across jurisdictions. The ISSB serves investors' information needs while the GSSB addresses a broader range of stakeholders, so multinational firms producing disclosures for both audiences stand to benefit from clearer mapping. The pilot focuses on biodiversity, ecosystems, and human capital, meaning entities with material nature-related impacts, including agriculture, forestry, and resource-intensive manufacturing sectors, will see the earliest practical effects of aligned reporting requirements.

Affected companies should monitor outputs from the biodiversity pilot, which will test how GRI's biodiversity standard and the ISSB's Biodiversity, Ecosystems and Ecosystem Services project can be aligned. Both organisations will continue making independent decisions, so reporters must track each standard-setter's separate developments rather than assume full convergence. Entities should also watch the ISSB's research projects on biodiversity, ecosystems, and human capital, which will inform future standards, and prepare data systems capable of serving both investor-focused and multi-stakeholder disclosure needs.

Key figure — Original collaboration agreement date: 2022; IFRS S1 and S2 released June 2023