GRI backs mandatory EU reporting on sustainability impacts
GRI welcomes the European Commission’s move to increase corporate transparency on sustainability impacts Tweet This!, after the publication of the proposed new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).
The CSRD is expected to have a larger scope than the current Non-Financial Reporting Directive, applying to all large or listed companies operating in the EU and seeking to bring sustainability reporting on a par with financial reporting.
Since its inception over 20 years ago GRI has supported the transition to mandatory sustainability reporting requirements, while freely providing sustainability standards that are widely and increasingly used by organisations voluntarily.
Key components of the CSRD:
- New EU sustainability reporting standards will be developed through a multi-stakeholder and transparent process, taking into consideration the GRI Standards and other reporting frameworks
- ‘Double materiality’ will be adopted, requiring public reporting on both sustainability factors affecting the company (financial materiality) and how the company impacts society and the environment (outward materiality)
- Reporting will be compulsory, with sustainability and financial information given ‘comparable status’, and a requirement that reported information should be audited and assured
Peter Paul van de Wijs, GRI Chief External Affairs Officer, said: “We are greatly encouraged that the European Commission is pressing ahead, at pace, with plans to significantly strengthen sustainability reporting in the EU. This legislation would introduce mandatory requirements for some 50,000 companies to disclose the full range of their impacts on people and planet, which is essential if the EU is to ensure meaningful progress in achieving the Green Deal.
The CSRD – which embraces multi-stakeholder, impact-focused reporting, positioning sustainability and financial reporting on an equal footing – closely aligns with the approach and scope of the GRI Standards, which are already voluntarily used by most large companies in Europe.
We look forward to working closely with EFRAG to co-design a sustainability reporting system that reflects the Commission’s ambitions for consistent and comparable reporting on corporate impacts, contributing to the next steps in the continued evolution of corporate reporting.”
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