GRI and CDP Align Reporting Frameworks to Streamline Corporate Sustainability Disclosures

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and CDP have announced a strategic cooperation agreement aimed at harmonizing their sustainability reporting standards, easing the disclosure process for companies, and enhancing access to environmental impact data. The partnership, unveiled at the COP29 climate conference in Azerbaijan, signifies a major step toward greater interoperability between two of the world’s most widely used environmental reporting frameworks.

The GRI Standards, utilized by over 14,000 organizations globally, provide a comprehensive framework for consistent sustainability reporting across industries, with the aim of delivering transparency on issues like biodiversity and environmental management. The GRI recently updated its biodiversity reporting standard to help companies disclose their most significant biodiversity impacts. CDP, on the other hand, manages a global environmental disclosure platform that tracks corporate performance in areas such as climate change, deforestation, and water security. In 2023, CDP reported a record 23,000 participating companies, collectively representing 66% of global market capitalization.

Under the new agreement, GRI and CDP will collaborate on joint mapping exercises to align the CDP questionnaire with GRI’s forthcoming standards on climate, energy, biodiversity, and water. This alignment will simplify reporting for businesses and provide stakeholders with more actionable and harmonized data. Cristina Gil White, Interim CEO of GRI, emphasized the importance of this partnership at COP29, stating, “The formal collaboration will lead to clarity for businesses and other stakeholders on the alignment between the GRI Standards and CDP’s questionnaire, increasing the ease of reporting in ways that deliver relevant and actionable data.”

This agreement follows recent efforts by both organizations to align their frameworks with other global standards, such as the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) and the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) climate disclosure framework. By fostering greater interoperability, the collaboration between GRI and CDP aims to advance global progress toward the Paris Agreement and support companies in their sustainability journeys.

Source: https://www.esgtoday.com/gri-cdp-to-strengthen-alignment-of-sustainability-reporting-frameworks/