As nature faces unprecedented pressures, with human activity the leading cause for one million animal and plant species being pushed to the brink of extinction, GRI has today published a major update to its Biodiversity Standard.
Setting a new global benchmark in accountability for biodiversity impacts, GRI 101: Biodiversity 2024 supports organizations around the world to comprehensively disclose their most significant impacts on biodiversity, throughout their operations and value chain.
Enabling companies to meet growing demands from multiple stakeholders for information on biodiversity impacts, the GRI Biodiversity Standard delivers:
- Full transparency throughout the supply chain – often where the most significant impacts on biodiversity can go under reported.
- Location-specific reporting on impacts – including countries and jurisdictions, with detailed information on the place and size of operational sites.
- New disclosures on the direct drivers of biodiversity loss – covering land use, climate change, overexploitation, pollution and invasive species.
- 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 revised GRI Standard builds on key global developments in the biodiversity field, such as the UN Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), the Science Based Target Network (SBTN) and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD).
The new GRI Biodiversity Standard arrives at a time when biodiversity is on a precipice: the latest IPBES assessment warns that biodiversity is declining in every region; while 50% of the global economy is under threat due to biodiversity loss (WEF analysis). Meanwhile, the internationally-agreed GBF is galvanizing action to protect biodiversity, with Target 15 requiring businesses to disclose and reduce biodiversity-related risks and impacts.
Any organization can freely download GRI 101 now, while it will be formally in effect for reporting on 1 January 2026. Over the next two years, GRI will pilot the use of the Standard with early adopters, with priority given to GRI Community members.
The impacts of biodiversity loss stem well beyond the natural environment, undermining progress of the SDGs and having devastating consequences for people, while it is also a multiplying factor in the climate crisis. Understanding the impacts that organizations have is therefore a crucial aspect of implementing global solutions to halt and even reverse the damage and address existential threats. 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.
– Carol Adams, Chair of the GRI Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB)
