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

Item 02 – Draft summary of the GSSB
meeting held on 23 March 2021
For GSSB approval
Date

15 April 2021

Meeting29 April 2021

Description

This document presents the summary of the GSSB virtual meeting held on 23March 2021.

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 2021

1

ContentsParticipants.............................................................................................................................................. 3
List of abbreviations ................................................................................................................................ 3
Decisions and action items ..................................................................................................................... 4
Session 1: Welcome ............................................................................................................................... 4
Session 2: GRI Universal Standards project........................................................................................... 4
GRI 102, excluding governance disclosures, and the GRI Standards Glossary ............................. 5
Update on the GRI Topic Standards Project for Human Rights ...................................................... 5
Session 3: GRI Sector Standards program ............................................................................................. 5
Public comment feedback on GRI Sector Standard format and approach ...................................... 5
Overview of revisions to GRI Sector Standard format and approach .............................................. 6
Interaction between GRI Topic Standard and GRI Sector Standard development ......................... 6
Session 4: Any other business and close of public meeting ................................................................... 7

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Participants

3

Present:

456

Name

Constituency

Judy Kuszewski

Chair

Robyn Leeson

Vice-Chair

Loredana CartaLaborPeter Colley

Labor

Giulia Genuardi

Business enterprise

Evan Harvey

Investment institution

Joseph Martin

Business enterpriseJennifer Princing

Business enterprise

Corli le RouxMediating institution

Kim Schumacher

Civil society organization

Gustavo SinnerMediating institution

Kenton Swift

Civil society organization

Rama Krishnan Venkateswaran

Investment institution

Michel Washer

Business enterprise

Apologies:
Name

Constituency

Vincent Kong

Business enterprise

In attendance from GRI:
NamePosition

Bastian Buck

Chief of Standards

Laura Espinach

Head of Technical Development

Elodie ChêneManager

Mia d’Adhemar

Senior Manager

List of abbreviations
GSSBSD

Global Sustainability Standards Board
Standards Division

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7Decisions and action items

8Decisions

9GSSB Decision 2021.04 The GSSB resolved to approve Item 01 - Draft summary of the GSSB

10meeting held on 25 February 2021.

11Action items
Standards Division
Session 2 and 3•

SD to incorporate GSSB feedback into draft of GRI 102 andGRI Standards Glossary.

•SD to propose more detailed timeline for revision of HumanRights related Topic Standards in July 2021.

•SD to implement changes to GRI Sector Standard format aspresented.

•SD to implement process for managing Sector Standard andTopic Standard development together as presented.

12Session 1: Welcome

13

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

14

welcomed the GSSB and presented an overview of the meeting agenda.

15

The GSSB was presented with Item 01 - Draft summary of the GSSB meeting held on 25 February

162021 for approval.

17

GSSB Decision 2021.04 The GSSB resolved to approve Item 01 - Draft summary of the GSSB

18

meeting held on 25 February 2021.

19Session 2: GRI Universal Standards20

project

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GRI 102: About the Organization, excluding governancedisclosures, and the GRI Standards Glossary

23

The GSSB was presented with Item 02 - GRI Universal Standards Project – Revised GRI 102 and24

Item 03 - GRI Universal Standards Project – Revised Glossary section for discussion.

25

The Standards Division (SD) presented a summary of the GSSB feedback on the content of GRI 102:

26

About the Organization, excluding governance disclosures, and solicited further feedback. No further

27

comments were raised.

28

The SD presented a summary of the GSSB feedback on the GRI Standards Glossary, including a

29

question about whether ‘non-guaranteed hours employee’ was a sufficiently universal term. A GSSB

30

member provided background for the term’s selection, indicating that the concept is covered by many31

different terms worldwide, and that the Workforce Disclosure Initiative chose this term as one that32

describes the variety of instances.

33

The SD solicited further feedback on the GRI Standards Glossary. No further comments were raised.

34

Actions:

21

35•SD to incorporate GSSB feedback into draft of GRI 102 and GRI Standards Glossary.

36

Update on the GRI Topic Standards Project for Human Rights

37

The SD presented an update on the next phase of the GRI Topic Standards Project for Human

38

Rights, including a public scoping survey which will solicit views on the content gaps in the current

39Standards and identify priority human rights issues for GRI Topic Standards development.

40

A GSSB member questioned when the revision of Human Rights related Topic Standards were41

expected to occur. The SD responded that the results of the scoping survey will inform the scope of42

the future revision. It stated that there will be a better understanding of the potential scope of the43project by Q3 2021, and that a proposal is expected in July 2021.

44

No further comments were raised.

45

Session 3: GRI Sector Standards

46

program48

Public comment feedback on GRI Sector Standard format andapproach

49

The GSSB was presented with Item 04 - Public comments on Sector Standards collected during the50

exposure period for the Oil and Gas Sector for discussion.

47

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The SD presented a summary of public comment feedback on the GRI Sector Standard format and52

approach. The Chair inquired about any general lessons from this pilot Sector Standards project. The

53

SD discussed the need to balance the level of connection with other reporting frameworks, refine the54

narrative about how the Sector Standards are to be used in relation to the GRI Standards, and find a55

balance between including reference material in the Sector Standards and referencing external

56material.

57

Overview of revisions to GRI Sector Standard format and approach

58

The SD then presented an overview of the revisions to the GRI Sector Standard format, as well as

59

revisions to the approach to the use of the Sector Standards that will be built-in via the Universal

60Standards. Key format changes included reordering and revising content in the Sector Standard

61

format to be more user friendly, alignment of the Sector profile section with the GRI 103; Material

62

Topics, and potentially including a sector classification key to aid in mapping to other reporting

63

frameworks.

64

A GSSB member commented that in light of the recent convergence of some reporting frameworks in65

the sustainability reporting space, it is important to evolve toward a common definition of sectors, or66

risk becoming marginalized. The Chair stated that the issue of sector definition and classification had

67

previously been discussed extensively and asked the SD for a refresher on where these discussions

68

had landed.

69

The SD stated that there are a number of different sector classification systems for different users,

70

ranging from investors to academics to governmental agencies (like the UN), and that each has a71

different need and use case. However, none completely covers all GRI Sector Standard use cases

72and thus the Sector Standards classification system has been designed to be useful to a broad range

73of users, and have some interoperability in a number of use cases. The SD reiterated that a sector

74

classification key that provides comparison between the different classification systems is sufficient75

for navigating the connections with various classification systems.

76

The GSSB discussed the potential marginalization of GRI with the consolidation of other reporting77

frameworks, and a potential shift from reporting under GRI to reporting under SASB or others

78

because organizations perceive that this is what investors prefer. A GSSB member also stated that79

although this perception does exist with reporting organizations it does not seem to reflect what80

investors actually want. Further discussion on this topic was deferred to a private session.

81
82

Interaction between GRI Topic Standard and GRI Sector Standarddevelopment

83

The SD then presented updates to the process for managing both GRI Sector Standard and GRI

84

Topic Standard development together. They first reviewed how the Sector Standard project would85

inform Topic Standard development, including bringing feedback raised during the Sector Standard

86

Development to appropriate Topic Standard projects. The GSSB emphasized the importance of87establishing a clear relation between the Sector Standards and the Topic Standards.

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The SD also discussed the need to update the Sector Standards when Topic Standards are updated

89

or newly developed and clarified that identifying necessary Sector Standard updates would be part of90

the Topic Standard project mandate.

91

The GSSB expressed support for the updated Sector Standard format and the planned developments

92

and next steps for the Sector Standard project. A GSSB member also expressed an opinion that the93

Sector Standards could also be complimented by other reporting standards such as SASB. No further

94

comments were raised.

95

Actions:

96•

SD to implement changes to GRI Sector Standard format as presented.

97•SD to implement process for managing Sector Standard and Topic Standard development98

together as presented.

99

Session 4: Any other business and100

close of public meeting101

No other business was raised, and the Chair closed the meeting at 14.25 CET (Central European102

Time).

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