The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is a widely used framework for sustainability reporting that provides guidelines for organizations to disclose their economic, environmental, and social performance. Within the GRI framework, there have been revisions and updates to specific standards over time to reflect changes in stakeholder expectations, emerging sustainability issues, and advances in reporting practices.
On January 25th this year, the new GRI 101: Biodiversity 2024 standard was published and will replace the previous GRI 304: Biodiversity 2016. The new standard is aligned with the international Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and will support companies in the process of understanding their impacts and dependencies on nature. The standard will come into effect on January 1st, 2026 – using GRI 101: Biodiversity 2024 is required for all reporting on biodiversity published on 1 January 2026 or later. Earlier adoption is encouraged.
The GRI 101 is based on the revision of the previous standard, a revision which was called for due to the increasing attention biodiversity is getting among governments and regulators, investors and other stakeholders. The reason for this growing interest is the alarming decline in biodiversity in the last decades, which threatens to bring disastrous consequences to the environment and people, including triggering knock-on effects on climate change. Biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse is now ranked 3rd on the list of the 10 most severe global risks published by the World Economic Forum. The revision of GRI 304: Biodiversity 2016 also aims to represent internationally agreed best practice and align with recent developments and the relevant authoritative intergovernmental instruments in the field of biodiversity.
The new standard was developed through a transparent and inclusive multi-stakeholder process in the public interest. The development was overseen by the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB), GRI’s independent standard-setting body.
Main changes in GRI 101: Biodiversity 2024 compared to GRI 304: Biodiversity 2016
- One of the major changes is the focus shift with regards to the supply chain. In GRI 304, the focus was on the own operations of companies. GRI 101, on the other hand, requires information of impacts along the complete value chain. Disclosures 101-4, 101-5, and 101-6 require information on products and services in the supply chain with the most significant impacts on biodiversity. Disclosures 101-7 and 101-8 include recommendations to provide information on products and services in the supply chain with the most significant impacts on biodiversity. The disclosures also include recommendations to provide information on the downstream value chain, if available.
- In the new standard only impacts that are significant (material) need to be reported. This is in line with international reporting regulation such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). This approach was also adopted due to the challenges many organizations face in identifying, measuring, and reporting on all impacts on biodiversity, especially when considering their supply chains.
- Another big change is the emphasis on location-based information on impacts. This is because most impacts on biodiversity are location-specific, and understanding the local context where an organization interacts with biodiversity is necessary to assess its impacts. Disclosure 101-5 requires specific information on the location of sites with the most significant impacts on biodiversity. It replaces Disclosure 304-1 in GRI 304: Biodiversity 2016. Disclosures 101-6 to 101-8 require information on impacts for each site reported under Disclosure 101-5.
New disclosures and requirements:
- There are five different drivers for biodiversity loss: land and sea use change, exploitation of natural resources, climate change, pollution and invasive species. There is now a new disclosure that requires companies to report on these direct drivers. Although less accurate than direct measurements of changes in the state of biodiversity (i.e., changes to ecosystems and species), information on direct drivers of biodiversity loss helps understand how an organization affects biodiversity. In turn, it informs which actions an organization needs to take to manage its impacts on biodiversity. This new disclosure replaces requirement 304-2-a in GRI 304: Biodiversity 2016.
- There is also a new disclosure to report on the changes to the state of biodiversity (see Disclosure 101-7). Requirements have been included to report the type, size, and condition of ecosystems affected or potentially affected by an organization. This new disclosure replaces requirement 304-2-b and Disclosure 304-4 in GRI 304: Biodiversity 2016.
- There are new requirements on the impacts on people resulting from an organization’s impacts on biodiversity. They complement the disclosures in GRI 411: Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2016 and GRI 413: Local Communities 2016.
- Finally, there are new biodiversity-specific management disclosures focusing on an organization’s policies or commitments to halt and reverse biodiversity loss (see Disclosure 101-1) and how an organization applies the mitigation hierarchy to manage its impacts on biodiversity (see Disclosure 101-2 – this replaces Disclosure 304-3 in GRI 304: Biodiversity 2016).
The identification of significant impacts and dependencies related to biodiversity is often complex and requires a great deal of resources due to the location specification of impacts. Therefore, the GRI 101: Biodiversity 2024 also offers guidance on how to identify the most significant impacts on biodiversity, including in the supply chain. This is provided under Disclosure 101-4 Identification of biodiversity impacts. The guidance also includes examples of tools and approaches (e.g., ENCORE tool, SBTN Materiality Screening Tool, TNFD LEAP approach, WWF Biodiversity Risk Filter) and guidance on the precision of data.
For more information, visit www.dfge.de or contact us via Mail or phone +49 8192 99 7 33-20.
Sources:
https://www.weforum.org/publications/global-risks-report-2024/digest/
