GRI issues biodiversity standard

The Global Reporting Initiative published a major update Thursday to its biodiversity standard for organizations to disclose their most significant impacts on the number of plant and animal species throughout their operations and supply chain.

The standard replaces one from 2016 and comes as up to 1 million species are threatened with extinction in the coming decades, according to the United Nations. The World Wildlife Fund reported in 2022 an average decline of 69% in species populations since 1970. 

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The GRI Biodiversity Standard aims to provide transparency across the supply chain, where some of the most significant impacts on biodiversity can go under reported. Location-specific reporting on impacts includes countries and jurisdictions, with detailed information on the place and size of operational sites. The updated standard includes new disclosures on the direct drivers of biodiversity loss covering land use, climate change, overexploitation, pollution and invasive species. It also includes requirements for reporting impacts on society, including those on communities and indigenous peoples, and how organizations engage with local groups  in the restoration of affected ecosystems.

The arrival of the updated standard comes as the International Sustainability Standards Board is considering a request to expand its future agenda to include biodiversity reporting. GRI already works with the ISSB on its sustainability and climate disclosure standards, and the GRI biodiversity standard would likely be an important input for such a project. 

The revised GRI standard also builds on global developments in the biodiversity field, such as the U.N. Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the Science Based Target Network and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures.

"Understanding the impacts that organizations have is a crucial aspect of implementing global solutions to halt and even reverse the damage and address existential threats," said Carol Adams, chair of the GRI Global Sustainability Standards Board, in a statement Thursday. "The updated GRI standard sets a new bar for transparency on biodiversity impacts. It will support detailed, location-specific reporting, both within an organization's operations and throughout its supply chain, ensuring stakeholders can assess how impacts on biodiversity are mitigated and reduced. Identifying and managing an organization's most significant impacts is critical to understanding dependencies and risks."

Organizations can download GRI 101 now, and it will formally take effect for reporting on Jan. 1, 2026. Over the next two years, GRI plans to pilot the use of the standard with early adopters, with priority given to GRI community members. GRI will be presenting webinars next week on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 to discuss the standard.