Public comment period underway

The exposure draft of the revised GRI Biodiversity Standard has now been approved by the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB) and is available for public comment. The objective is to test the clarity, feasibility, completeness, and relevance of the drafted Standard. The public comment runs from 5 December 2022 until 28 February 2023:

• • Access the Biodiversity Standard exposure draft
  • Complete the Public Comment questionnaire
  • Read the Biodiversity Topic Standard Public Comment FAQs

Feedback can be submitted using the above online questionnaire, or emailed directly to the GSSB.

Spanish webinar - 7 February

Discutiendo la revisión del Estándar Temático de Biodiversidad en América Latina (15:00 CET, 09:00 CST/EST)

Portuguese webinar - 8 February

Diálogo com o Brasil sobre a revisão da Norma GRI de Biodiversidade (16:00 CET, 10:00 BRT/EST)

Africa Regional event – 14 February

GRI Africa network is hosting a dedicated group consultation for professionals based in Africa to discuss the draft Standard in detail. Places can be booked now:

• • 09:00 (CET) (11:00 in EST and 08:00 PST)

Next global webinars - 16 February

Free Q&A webinars (in English) will take place on 16 February, which will include sharing key insights on the proposed changes. Places can be booked now:

• • 09:00 (CET) (11:00 in EST and 08:00 PST)
  • 17:00 (CET) (13:30 IST, 08:00 SST)

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.

About this project 

The review of GRI 304: Biodiversity 2016 is a priority project for the 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.  

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