gssbsecretariat@globalreporting.org

GSSB summary of the virtual callheld on 14 December 2023
Approved by the GSSB by electronic vote during 1820 December 2023

© GRI 2023

Contents
Participants.............................................................................................................................................. 3
List of abbreviations ................................................................................................................................ 3
Decisions and action items ..................................................................................................................... 4
Session 1: Welcome ............................................................................................................................... 4
Session 2: Update Standards Division .................................................................................................... 4
Session 3: GRI Topic Standard Project for Biodiversity – Approval of final Standard ............................ 4
Session 4: GRI Sector Standard Project for Mining - Approval of final Standard ................................... 6Session 5: GRI Standards Project for Alignment of Standards – Final project proposal ........................ 7
Session 6: Close of public meeting ......................................................................................................... 8

Page 2 of 8

1Participants

2Present:

345

Name

Constituency

Carol Adams

Chair

Jeff Robertson

Vice-Chair

Loredana Carta

LaborPeter Colley

Labor

Chulendra De SilvaMediating institution

Giulia Genuardi

Business enterprise

Vincent Kong

Business enterprise

Corli le RouxMediating institution

Anna Nefedova

Mediating institution

Jennifer Princing

Business enterprise

Kim Schumacher (joined at 8.00)

Civil society organization

Gangaa Charan Sharma (joined at 7.30)

Business enterprise

Galya Tsonkova

Business enterprise

Apologies:
NameConstituency

Joseph Martin

Business enterprise

Deborah Ng

Investment Institution

In attendance from GRI:
NamePosition

Bastian Buck

Chief of Standards

Noora Puro

Senior Manager Standards

Elodie ChêneSenior Manager Standards

Miguel Pérez Ludeña

Research Lead

Gillian Balaban

Sr. Coordinator Governance Relations

List of abbreviations
Abbreviation

Full name

GRI

Global Reporting Initiative

GSSB

Global Sustainability Standards Board

SDStandards Division

WG

Working groupDPOC

Due Process Oversight Committee

Page 3 of 86Decisions and action items

7

The GSSB resolved to approve the following:GSSB Decision

Item number

2023.34

01 – Draft summary of the GSSB meeting held on 16 November 2023

2023.35

02 – GRI Topic Standard Project for Biodiversity – Final draft

2023.36

02 – that re-exposure of the GRI 101: Biodiversity 2024 is not needed

2023.37

02 – to withdraw GRI 304: Biodiversity 2016 by 31 December 2025.

2023.38

04 – GRI Sector Standard Project for Mining – Final draft

2023.39

04 – that re-exposure of GRI 14: Mining Sector 2024 is not needed

2023.4107 – GRI Standard Project for Alignment Sector Standards with New andRevised Topic Standards – Project proposal

8

Session 1: Welcome

9

The Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB) Chair Carol Adams (henceforth the Chair)

10

welcomed the GSSB. The Chair presented an overview of the meeting agenda. A quorum was11established, and the above items were presented to the GSSB for approval.

12

The Chair thanked outgoing GSSB members Vincent Kong, Joseph Martin, and Kim Schumacher for

13

their service and input to the GSSB.

14

Session 2: Update Standards Division

15

Chief of Standards, Bastian Buck, provided a brief update as follows:16•

Updates on projects will be provided as an itemized meeting paper from 2024 onwards.

17•

GRI Standards projects for labor and financial services are running on schedule.

18•

The interoperability index has been issued in draft form on the GRI and EFRAG websites.

19•

A comparison of the exposure draft for climate change and energy with the other established20

reporting frameworks and instruments has been issued, which is important to demonstrate21

how our work complements and adds to other frameworks.

22
23
24

Session 3: GRI Topic Standard
Project for Biodiversity – Approval offinal Standard
Page 4 of 8

25

Elodie Chêne, Senior Manager Standards, presented a project update and the final draft of the26

revised Biodiversity Topic Standard for GSSB approval. Based on feedback, the following changes

27

are to be made to the Biodiversity Topic Standard draft:

28

•

29

GSSB feedback indicated that the word ‘operational sites’ is used throughout and covers all
possible site states;o30‘sites’.

31
32•

GSSB suggested deleting duplicated sentence in Disclosure 101-4;
o33
•36o
•

39

GSSB feedback suggested clarifying guidance in Disclosure 101-6 Direct drivers ofo•42

TNFD feedback proposed a change in the guidance to Disclosure 101-4 Identification ofo44

SD to clarify that ‘The Locate and Evaluate phases of the TNFD LEAP approach’ canbe used to identify biodiversity impacts.

•46

TNFD feedback proposed a change in the requirement and guidance to Disclosure 101-5
Locations with biodiversity impacts, including Table 1;
o47
48
49

SD to further clarify that direct drivers can vary by location.

biodiversity impacts;

4345

SD will use coordinates as a recommendation to be consistent with GRI 14.

biodiversity loss;

40
41

GSSB feedback noted that under Disclosure 101-5 Locations with biodiversity impacts, therequirement to provide an exact location has been removed, making it inconsistent;

37
38

SD to delete ‘Examples are a mining site owned by an organization or a fishingground where an organization operates’.

34
35

SD proposes that ‘operational’ be removed when referring to sites. It now reads

SD to make the change from ‘stakeholders’ to ‘Indigenous Peoples, local
communities, and other stakeholders’.

•Change requirements to Disclosure 101-6 Direct drivers of biodiversity loss;
o50

SD will make the change to account for potential impacts as ‘lead or could lead to’.

51

•The proposed effective date for GRI 101: Biodiversity 2024 is 1 January 2026.

52•The Chief of Standards advised that due process had been followed for the project.

53
54
55
56

In response to further comments and questions from the GSSB, the SD clarified the following:•On the language relating to offsets and reporting on offsets happening outside anorganization’s operational sites, the SD explained:
oThe guidance being referred to on lines 532-533 of Item 02 relates to the goals of an57

offset and indicates that an offset can contribute to different aspects, such as no net

58

loss or net gain for a particular site.

59

oThe guidance in line 489 explains that offsets take place outside the organizations’60

operational sites and are ‘interventions in areas not affected by the organization’s

61

activities’.

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62

The GSSB approves the following:

GSSB Decision

Item number

2023.35

02 – GRI Topic Standard Project for Biodiversity – Final draft

2023.36

02 – that re-exposure of the GRI 101: Biodiversity 2024 is not needed

2023.37

02 – to withdraw GRI 304: Biodiversity 2016 by 31 December 2025.

65

Session 4: GRI Sector Standard
Project for Mining - Approval of finalStandard

66

Noora Puro, Senior Manager Standards, presented the final draft of the Mining Sector Standard for67

discussion and approval by the GSSB:

63
64

68

•

Since public comment, the standard has been revised according to feedback and as validated

69

by the Working Group (WG). Four WG meetings have occurred, and the SD has conducted

70

technical and editorial reviews.

71•A basis for conclusions was developed in preparation for approval.

72•DPOC evaluation of the Due Process Adherence Report will occur through January.

73•GSSB feedback enquired about the reporting model, particularly why additional sector

74

disclosures are only recommendations, not mandatory, and do not require reasons for75

omission;

76

oSD provided an overview of the ‘in accordance’ requirements relating to the use of the77

Sector Standards, as documented in the GRI Universal Standards, including the78

expectation for organizations to report additional sector disclosures where GRI Topic

79

Standards do not provide sufficient detail over impacts. A further discussion to assess

80

the Sector Standards reporting model is expected with the GSSB in the coming year.

81•GSSB feedback on Topic 14.17 Employment practices expressed disappointment over theremoval of a disclosure about benefits for employees not being provided to contractors;

82

o83

addressed in the ongoing revision of labor-related standards.

84
85

SD noted that this disclosure was deemed not unique to the mining sector and will be•

GSSB feedback on Topic 14.20 Freedom of association and collective bargaining. which

86

listed a new sector recommendation to report data on strikes, noted that anti-union investors

87

could use information to blacklist companies;

8889oSD stated that there was broad support from the WG to include the information as it
can provide a useful picture of the underlying problems in organizations.

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•90

GSSB feedback on Topic 14.9 Economic impacts expressed disappointment about the91

removal of sector recommendation to report Disclosure 201-1 Economic value generated

92

and distributed by mine site;o93

SD noted that community investments are still recommended to be reported by mine

94

site, and the rest of the information was deemed sufficient to be reported by regional,

95

national, or market levels, as required by Disclosure 201-1 where necessary.

96

Moreover, Topic 14.23 Payments to governments includes a breakdown of corporate

97

income tax and other payments to government by project, which addressed this98

removal and aligns with the EITI Standard 2023.

99•

The proposed effective date for GRI 14: Mining Sector 2024 is 1 January 2026.

100•

The proposed launch date of the Standard is 8 February 2024, organized jointly with theBiodiversity Topic team.

101
102103•Translations are expected to begin in Q2 2024.

•The Chief of Standards advised that due process had been followed for the project.

The GSSB approves the following:
GSSB Decision

Item number

2023.38

04 – GRI Sector Standard Project for Mining – Final draft

2023.39

04 – that re-exposure of GRI 14: Mining Sector 2024 is not needed

Session 5: GRI Standards Project for
Alignment of Sector Standards with
New Topic Standards – Final project
proposal
104

Miguel Pérez Ludeña, Research Lead, presented the final project proposal to align the growing

105

portfolio of GRI Sector Standards with the new and revised Topic Standards. The following points

106

were made:

107•The SD explained that the draft proposal of the project was sent to GRI’s Council,

108

Supervisory Board, and DPOC. No significant comments or changes were provided, meaning

109

the final project proposal was largely the same as the draft proposal presented to the GSSB

110

in September 2023.

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111

112

The GSSB approves the following:

GSSB Decision

Item number2023.41

07 – GRI Standards Project for Alignment of Sector Standards with New Topic
Standards - Final Project Proposal

Session 6: Close of public meeting
No other business was raised, and the Chair closed the public meeting at 08.20 Central European
Time (CET).

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