The importance of this standard

The alarming decline in biodiversity in the last decades threatens to bring disastrous consequences to the environment and people, including triggering knock-on effects on climate change.  

The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will adopt the 'post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework' in 2022, which will define collective commitments to reverse the loss of biodiversity for all relevant stakeholders, including government, companies, civil society, and investment institutions.  

Both governments and companies are being called upon to demonstrate accountability in responding to the biodiversity crisis by conserving and sustainably using biodiversity. The revision of GRI 304: Biodiversity 2016 aims to reflect global best practice on biodiversity management to support companies in addressing their impacts.

Project update

The GSSB appointed a multi-stakeholder Technical Committee in November 2021 to lead the revision of GRI 304: Biodiversity 2016. The project will follow the GSSB's Due Process Protocol, the implementation of which will be overseen by the Due Process Oversight Committee. 

The exposure draft of the revised Biodiversity Standard has now been approved by the GSSB and will be available for public comment by 5 December. The objective of the public comment period is to test the clarity, feasibility, completeness, and relevance of the exposure draft's content. The public comment period will run from 5 December 2022 until 28 February 2023. Interested parties are invited to join the global launch event and the following Q&A events that will be rolled out within this time frame.

Any feedback on the exposure draft can be submitted via email to gssbsecretariat@globalreporting.org for the consideration of the GSSB.

Read the Project Proposal and the Terms of Reference for more information. 

About this project 

The review of GRI 304: Biodiversity 2016 is a priority project for the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB).  Since the GRI disclosures on biodiversity were last revised in 2006, the issue of biodiversity has received significant attention in the global sustainable development agenda. 

This project aims to review GRI 304: Biodiversity 2016 to represent internationally agreed best practices and align with recent developments as well as relevant authoritative intergovernmental instruments in biodiversity. 

The Standard will enable an organization to publicly disclose its most significant impacts on biodiversity and how it manages them. This disclosure enhances transparency on the organization's impacts and increases organizational accountability.