Barbara Strozzilaan 336
1083 HN Amsterdam
The Netherlands
gssbsecretariat@globalreporting.org

Item 01 – Draft summary of the GSSB
meeting held on 10 February 2022
For GSSB approval
Date

11 February 2022

Meeting

17 March 2022

Description

This document presents the summary of the GSSB virtual meeting held on 10February 2022.

This document has been prepared by the GRI Standards Division and is made available to observers
at meetings of the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB). It does not represent an official
position of the GSSB. Board positions are set out in the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards. TheGSSB is the independent standard setting body of GRI. For more information visit
www.globalreporting.org.

© GRI 2022

1Contents2Participants.............................................................................................................................................. 3
List of abbreviations ................................................................................................................................ 3
Decisions and action items ..................................................................................................................... 4
Session 1: Welcome ............................................................................................................................... 4
Session 2: Standards Division update .................................................................................................... 5
Session 3: GSSB Work Program 2020-2022 .......................................................................................... 5
Session 4: Sector Standards Project for Coal - Approval of final Standard ............................................ 6Session 5: Approval of GRI Sector Standard project proposals ............................................................. 9
Session 6: Any other business and close of the meeting ....................................................................... 9Page 2 of 9

3Participants

4

Present:

5

67

Name

Constituency

Judy Kuszewski

Chair

Robyn Leeson

Vice-Chair

Loredana Carta

LaborPeter Colley

Labor

Giulia Genuardi

Business enterprise

Vincent Kong

Business enterprise

Joseph Martin

Business enterprise

Anna Nefedova

Mediating institution

Jennifer Princing

Business enterprise

Corli le Roux (joined at 1.35)

Mediating institution

Kim Schumacher (joined at 2.10)

Civil society organization

Gangaa Charan SharmaBusiness enterprise

Kenton Swift

Civil society organization

Michel Washer

Business enterprise

Apologies:
NameConstituency

Evan Harvey

Investment institution

In attendance from GRI:
NamePosition

Bastian Buck

Chief of Standards

Harold Pauwels

Director Standards

Mia d’Adhemar

Sr. Manager Sector Program

Noora Puro

Manager Sector Program

Miguel Perez Ludena

Research Lead Sector Program

Gillian Balaban

Sr. Coordinator Governance Relations

List of abbreviationsGRI
GSSBSDTC
DPPDPAR
DPOC

Global Reporting Initiative
Global Sustainability Standards Board
Standards Division
Technical committee
Due Process Protocol
Due Process Adherence report
Due Process Oversight Committee

Page 3 of 9

8Decisions and action items

9Decisions

10The GSSB resolved to approve the following:

11GSSB Decision 2022.01 Item 01 – Draft summary of the GSSB meeting held on 9 December 2021

12GSSB Decision 2022.02 Replacement candidate nomination to the Biodiversity Technical Committee

13GSSB Decision 2022.03 Item 2 – Addendum to the GSSB Work Program 2020-2022

14GSSB Decision 2022.04 Item 03 – GRI Sector Standards Project for Oil, Gas, and Coal – GRI 12:

15

Coal Sector 2022

16GSSB Decision 2022.05 No re-exposure required for GRI 12: Coal Sector 2022

17GSSB Decision 2022.06 Item 06 – GRI Sector Standards Project for Food and Beverages – Project18

proposal

19

GSSB Decision 2022.07 Item 08 – GRI Sector Standards Project for Textiles and Apparel – Project20

proposal

21

Session 1: Welcome

22

The Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB) Chair Judy Kuszewski (henceforth the Chair)

23

welcomed the GSSB, particularly new members Anna Nefedova and Gangaa Charan Sharma. The

24Chair presented an overview of the meeting agenda. The GSSB was presented with the following

25

items for approval:

26

Item 01 – Draft summary of the GSSB meeting held on 9 December 2021

27

Item 02 – Addendum to the GSSB Work Program 2020-2022

28

Item 03 – GRI Sector Standards Project for Oil, Gas, and Coal

29

Item 06 – GRI Sector Standards Project for Food and Beverages – Project proposal

30

Item 08 – GRI Sector Standards Project for Textiles and Apparel – Project proposal

31
32
33
34
35

Page 4 of 936

Session 2: Standards Division update

37

The Chief of Standards, Bastian Buck, presented the following points for consideration:

38

•39
40

important project developments. Updates will include the managerial operation.
•41
42

An update by the SD will be included in the agenda for every meeting this year to communicate

Download statistics for 2021 highlights the important work done by the GSSB in setting the GRIStandards.

•A total of 673,701 downloads in 2021 indicate a high level of engagement with the content. Most

43

downloads are for packages using a zip file or a consolidated set PDF. GRI 101 was the most44

frequently downloaded individual resource.

45•

Of the registrations to download the Standards on the GRI website, 85,637 were by new users.

46•

The figures were highest in conjunction with the GRI Standards 2021 update launch. There was a47

record number of 88,579 downloads in October, while the average monthly downloads are48

51,000.

49•

Budget allocation has been confirmed for this year, which will double the number of staff at the50

SD in the coming months. This serves the strategic interests of the ambition to update all51

standards regularly.

52•

For the biodiversity project, we nominate a replacement TC member, Simona D’Amico. She will53

replace current TC member Maria Julia Oliva from the same organization, UEBT (see GSSB

54

Decision 2022.02).

55

Session 3: GSSB Work Program 2020-56

2022

57

The Chief of Standards, Bastian Buck, and the Director Standards, Harold Pauwels, presented the58

following points for consideration:

59•The GSSB will be tasked to develop a new work program for 2023-2025.

60•A format has been developed to invite external parties to provide reviews and new topics

61
62

suggestions.
•The 2022 work program update is based on stakeholder feedback and GSSB public

63

consultations, covering a list of priority projects, including the review and development of Topic

64

Standards and new Sector Standards.

65

•66
67
68

The revision of the biodiversity Standard is in the content development phase, with the publiccomment period expected for Q3 2022.

•The revision program for the existing labor/social standards results from the development of theUniversal Standards (GRI 1, GRI 2, and GRI 3) and the inclusion of corporate human rights due

Page 5 of 9

69

diligence. The program aligns, when possible, with the EU - EFRAG content development

70process. A project proposal will be presented to the GSSB for approval in Q2 2022.

71

•72
73

climate change, and critical incident management, all at various levels of development.
•74
75

The Topic Standards Program for 2022 is revising four topics, namely, biodiversity, labor/social,Data protection and privacy, public policy, and anti-competitive behavior are topics underresearch, with further steps to be proposed in the second half of 2022.

•76

The Sector Program has prioritized group 1 sectors with projects at various stages ofdevelopment.

77The GSSB expressed the following comments and suggestions regarding the addendum to the GSSB

78

Work Program:

79•A GSSB member supports the work program, particularly the labor and social Standards.

80

Integrating human rights into the Universal Standards is work well overdue and the appropriate

81alignment with the EU EFRAG.

82•A GSSB member suggested considering the naming of ‘utilities’ to include renewable energies.

83•In response, the SD has a sector priority list through which there is a process of defining project84

proposals. Therefore the suggestion would be considered when developing these project85

proposals. Each sector on the list will be classified during the project proposal stage.

86•

The SD also understands that the utilities sector is undergoing transformation, and therefore it is87

difficult to mark exact boundaries at this stage. Suggestions like these will help reshape these88

Sector Standards during the project proposal stage.

89•

The GSSB further enquired where public agencies and public sector fit into the Sector Program.

90•

The SD stated that there is no specific standard for public agencies. However, it does not mean

91

that it cannot be considered for future GSSB discussion.

92

Session 4: Sector Standards Project93

for Oil, Gas, and Coal - Approval of94

final Standard for coal

95

Manager Sector Program, Noora Puro, presented the GSSB input on the final draft, submitted prior to96

the meeting, and the SD proposals to address feedback for approval by the GSSB. The following

97

points are to be considered before approval:

98•A GSSB member proposed to include reporting on adherence with national legal frameworks, in99

addition to the requirements set out by GRI. The GRI Standards are globally applicable, and100

organizations must disclose non-compliance with legal and regulatory demands. Therefore, the101

SD does not recommend the inclusion of any new reporting.

Page 6 of 9102•

The second GSSB comment was related to Scope 3 emissions and elaborated on organizations’103

responsibility for those emissions. The relevance of Scope 3 emissions and potential actions to104

mitigate them are discussed in Topics 12.1 GHG emissions and 12.2 Climate adaptation,

105

resilience, and transition. The SD does not recommend adding extra content to the section

106‘Sector profile’.

107•108109

In response to statements regarding coal consumption peaking in 2013, the SD proposes twowording revisions to rather reflect a generally declining trend.

•Feedback related to the concept of ‘just transition’ in the ‘Sector and sustainable development’

110

section was to add the recent Glasgow Pact in COP 26 as a relevant agreement where just111

transition is reflected. The SD proposes a wording revision in this regard.

112•A GSSB member proposed adding a disclosure about GHG emissions caused by emulsion

113

explosives used in coal mining. The SD proposes to add ‘use of explosives for blasting’ into the114

topic description as a source of GHG emissions. However, reporting on this is already covered in115

the Standard as part of an organization’s Scope 1 inventory.

116•In the feedback related to the inclusion of public policy development and lobbying activities

117

related to climate change, it was proposed that the disclosure be expanded to include the118

disclosure of individual executives or directors occupying positions on committees or acting as

119

office-bearers. The revised Universal Standard Disclosure 2-28 now incorporates mandatory120

reporting on any industry, membership associations, or international advocacy organizations

121

where the organization plays a significant role. A further suggestion from the GSSB was to122

include an FAQ to elaborate on the disclosure.

123•

In topic 12.2 Climate adaptation, resilience, and transition, a GSSB member pointed out that the124

current disclosure might imply that only reporting on carbon captured via ‘direct air capture’ is125required. The SD proposes expanding this disclosure to encompass carbon captured at the point

126

source and directly from the atmosphere and adding one additional footnote explaining the term

127

‘point source’.

128•

In topic 12.19 Non-discrimination and equal opportunity, it was proposed to add a disclosure on

129

discrimination of contract workers, who may receive lower benefits than employees. The topic

130

includes disclosure on all incidents of discrimination as part of GRI 406-1. Furthermore, a131

disclosure on benefits is included in Topic 12.15 Employment practices, although it does not132

cover contract workers. The SD proposes to add this as an input for Topic Standards

133development, to be considered in the ongoing revision of the GRI Labor Standards. An additional

134

proposal is to include a revision of the wording in Topic 12.19 and a link to topic 12.15

135

Employment practices.

136
137

•

The SD proposes 1 January 2024 as the effective date of the Coal Sector Standard. This ensuressufficient time for coal organizations to incorporate GRI 12 into their materiality considerations.

Page 7 of 9138•

The Chief of Standards confirmed that due process had been followed to develop the GRI 12:

139

Coal Sector 2022. The next steps include finalizing the DPAR and a discussion with the DPOC in

140

anticipation of launching the Standard in mid-March.

141•

Table 1, column one, presents the tally of the votes by GSSB members in approval of GRI 12:

142

Coal Sector 2022 with an effective date of 1 January 2024. Column 2 presents votes in143

agreement with GRI 12 being issued as final without re-exposure.

144

Vote on final approval

145

Table 1. GSSB summary of votes.
GSSB member

Approval

Approval without reexposure

Anna Nefedova

In favor

In favor

Corli le Roux

In favor

In favor

Evan Harvey

absentabsent

Gangaa Charan Sharma

In favor

In favor

Giulia Genuardi

In favor

In favor

Jennifer Princing

In favor

In favor

Joseph Martin*abstainedabstained

Judy Kuszewski

In favor

In favor

Kent Swift

In favor

In favor

Kim Schumacher

In favor

In favor

Loredana Carta

In favor

In favor

Michel Washer

In favor

In favorPeter Colley

In favor

In favor

Robyn Leeson

In favor

In favor

Vincent Kong

In favor

In favor

Total in favor

1313* Joseph Martin was a participant of the Working Group, so abstained.

Page 8 of 9146Session 5: Approval of GRI Sector

147

Standard project proposals

148

Research Lead Sector Program, Miguel Perez Ludena, presented the following points for GSSB

149

consideration:150•The proposals were sent to the Stakeholder Council and the GRI Board for comments following

151

the DPP. No comments were received, but engagement with other stakeholders to complete the152

feedback is essential to ensure the final proposals are not lacking.

153•The food and beverages sector project previously described alternatives to the project's scope in154

the draft proposal. Retail was in the initial scope; however, it was concluded not to incorporate

155

retail as it adds excessive complexity. Retail is a sector for future development.

156•Alcoholic beverages and tobacco are included in the scope to avoid devoting a sector standard to157

the limited number of companies. Feedback from tobacco companies was supportive of their158

inclusion in the project’s scope, while food companies were divided as some showed doubts and159

others had no problem. The sector focuses on food and beverages processing, including alcoholic160

and tobacco products (see GSSB Decision 2022.06).

161•The textile and apparel sector is in line with the draft project proposal. Retail of apparel and162

footwear is included in the project’s scope as there is vertical integration in this industry, and163

retailers play an important role in the value chain. Therefore, their main sustainability impacts lie

164on the production process. The scope includes manufacturing textiles, apparel, leather, footwear,

165

and retail (see GSSB Decision 2022.07).

166
167

•The proposed timeline for the project is 24 months. However, the starting date will only be set
once resources become available.

168Session 6: Any other business and169

close of the meeting170

No other business was raised, and the Chair closed the public meeting at 13.26 Central European

171

Time (CET).

Page 9 of 9