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

GRI Topic Standard Project forBiodiversity
Project proposal
Approved by the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB) on 29 September 2021

To contact the project team email biodiversity@globalreporting.org© GRI 2021

Contents
Project background ................................................................................................................................. 3
Project objectives .................................................................................................................................... 3
Division of responsibilities ....................................................................................................................... 4
Timeline ................................................................................................................................................... 4

Page 2 of 5Project backgroundAs part of the GSSB Work Program 2020-2022, the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB)
has identified the review of GRI 304: Biodiversity 2016 as a priority project for commencement in
2021. 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.
Biodiversity features as a key theme in the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Bothgovernments and private sector organizations are being called upon to realize SDG 14 and SDG 15.
SDG14 is devoted to “conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources” 1. While
SDG 15 is devoted to “protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems,
sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt
biodiversity loss”2.
The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IBPES)
issued the global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services in 2019 3, highlightingthat biodiversity is declining in every region and issues an urgent call to halt and reverse theunsustainable use of nature.
Over the past years, the United Nations have been working on the Convention on Biological Diversity,
a new global framework to reverse nature loss in the next decade. At the time of issuance of thisproject proposal, parties to the convention are in ongoing negotiations of the post-2020 global
biodiversity framework with the aim to agree on the new convention at the upcoming meeting inKunming, China, in April-May 20224. The Global Biodiversity Outlook 55 and the first draft of the post2020 global biodiversity framework 6 issued by the Convention on Biological Diversity form the basisof the ongoing deliberations.

Project objectives
The project aims to review the GRI 304: Biodiversity 2016 to represent internationally agreed bestpractice and align with recent developments and the relevant authoritative intergovernmental
instruments in the field of biodiversity.
The revised Topic Standard enables an organization to publicly disclose its most significant impacts
on biodiversity and how it manages them. This disclosure enhances transparency on theorganization’s impacts and increases organizational accountability. The revised Topic Standards willcontain disclosures that allow an organization to report information about its impacts consistently andcredibly. In doing so, the global comparability and quality of reported information on these impacts
supports information users in making informed assessments and decisions about the organization’simpacts and contribution to sustainable development.

1 https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/oceans/
2 https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/biodiversity/
3 IPBES, Global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental

Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, 2019.
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3831673
4 https://www.cbd.int/article/new-dates-cop15-october-2021
5 https://www.cbd.int/gbo56 https://www.cbd.int/article/draft-1-global-biodiversity-framework

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The review includes but is not limited to the review of the current disclosures. The revised Topic
Standard can but does not necessarily have to build on the existing contents of the GRI 304:
Biodiversity 2016.

Division of responsibilities
A Technical Committee will be formed to provide technical advice for the development of the revised
Topic Standard.
The Standards Division will draft the Topic Standard, and the GSSB will have oversight and final
approval over the Topic Standard before its release.
The project will be conducted in accordance with the GSSB Due Process Protocol.

Timeline
This project is envisioned to commence in September 2021. Table 1, on the following page, outlines
the anticipated project duration.

Page 4 of 5

Table 1: Estimated duration of Topic Standard Project for Biodiversity
Phase~Duration(months)

Project commencement

1

Recruitment of Technical Committee

2

GSSB approval of Technical Committee-Content development by Technical Committee

4

GSSB approval of exposure draft

1

Public comment period

3

Analysis of public comments and revision of draft

3

GSSB approval of final standard

1

Total (months)

13Month Month Month Month Month Month Month Month Month Month Month Month Month12345678910111213uuu

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