gssbsecretariat@globalreporting.org

Item 04 – GRI Standard Project for
Alignment Sector Standards with
New and Revised Topic Standards –Draft project proposal
For GSSB discussion and approval
Date

31 August 2023

Meeting

14 September 2023

Project

GRI Standard Project for Alignment of Sector Standards with New and Revised
Topic Standards

Description

This document sets out the draft project proposal to align the GRI Sector
Standards already published with the revised Topic Standards for biodiversity,
climate change, labor and economic impacts. For GSSB discussion and approval
to send to the GRI Board and Stakeholder Council for feedback.
After feedback from the GRI Board and Stakeholder Council has been received
and incorporated, the Standards Division will present the proposal to the GSSB forfinal approval in accordance with the Due Process Protocol.

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 theGRI Sustainability Reporting Standards. The GSSB is the independent standard setting body of GRI. For more information visit
www.globalreporting.org.

© GRI 2023

Contents
Contents .................................................................................................................................................. 2
Project background ................................................................................................................................. 3
Project objectives .................................................................................................................................... 3
Project approach ..................................................................................................................................... 3
Division of responsibilities ....................................................................................................................... 5
Timeline ................................................................................................................................................... 5

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Project background
The GRI Sector Standards list the disclosures that have been identified as relevant for reporting by anorganization in a sector. Most of these disclosures are drawn from the GRI Topic Standards and,
when a Topic Standard is revised, all Sector Standards that refer to it need to be aligned with therevised version.
Failure to align Sector Standards before the effective date of a revised Topic Standard will result in asituation in which organizations will be directed to different, and potentially contradicting, disclosuresby the Sector and Topic Standards that they are requested to follow.
The GSSB Work Program 2023-2025 has recognized the need to align Sector Standards with new orrevised Topic Standards, and marked it as a priority for 2023 to design and test a process “topreserve the linkage between Topic and Sector Standards”.
Future projects for new or revised Topic Standards will include the correspondent alignment of all
Sector Standards published previously. The current projects for the revision of the Standards forbiodiversity, climate change, labor-related topics and economic impacts do not yet have such aprovision, and a separate project is required to perform this alignment.

Project objectives
The objective of this project is to align the existing portfolio of GRI Sector Standards with the new andrevised GRI Topic Standards that are being developed under the projects for biodiversity, climatechange, labor and economic impacts. The number of Topic Standards that will trigger alignments
under this project is still not determined, particularly since the projects on labor and economic impacts
have a programmatic approach, with a number of Standards being revised under each project.
The proposed project will result in aligned versions of all Sector Standards that had already been
approved at the time of the approval of one of the Topic Standards mentioned above. As ofSeptember 2023 there are only three Sector Standards approved: GRI 11: Oil and Gas Sectors 2021,
GRI 12: Coal Sector 2022 and GRI 13: Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fishing Sectors 2022, but otherSector Standards are likely to be approved during the lifetime of this project, and these will also bealigned following the same procedure. The proposed project will last until the last Topic Standard
developed under the projects mentioned above is approved.
Each existing Sector Standard will be subject to several rounds of revisions under this project, as newand revised Topic Standards will continue to be released. For example, GRI 11 Oil and Gas Sectors
2021 will be aligned with the revised biodiversity Standard in 2024, and it will be aligned with an
expected revised climate change Standard in 2025, and with other Topic Standards in subsequent
years.
Coordination of Topic and Sector Standards when these are being developed in parallel will not becovered by this project.

Project approach
The project will be conducted in accordance with the GSSB Due Process Protocol.

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Scope

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The changes to the Sector Standards developed under this project will be limited to the alignment with
the new and revised Topic Standards, ensuring consistency within the set of GRI Standards. Broader
revisions of the Sector Standards, for example to adapt them to new external instruments or evolving
stakeholder expectations, will not be part of the scope.

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Alignment of the Sector Standards under this project will include changes to the descriptions of likely
material topics and reporting sections. It may include changes to other sections that relate directly tothe Topic Standard that has been revised or to glossary entries that have been modified in the newTopic Standard.

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Timing

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The alignment of the Sector Standards will take place during the first half of the year and by grouping
together all new or revised Topic Standards that will be adopted on the 1st of January of the followingyear. This will allow sufficient time for the finalized Standards and the translations to become available
to reporters well before the effective date of the new or revised Topic Standard.

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Alignment of Sector Standards will begin as soon as possible after the GSSB approval of each newTopic Standard. This will allow the Standards Division to build on the knowledge and the contacts
developed during the development of the new Topic Standard(s). It will also facilitate thecommunication campaign for the required public comment which can be integrated in the launch of
the new Topic Standard.

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Methodology

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The Standards Division will map the changes in the revised Topic Standard to its previous version,and to the relevant sections in existing Sector Standards. Based on these mappings, the Standards
Division will propose changes to the relevant Sector Standards that ensure alignment with the newand revised Topic Standard.

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If the proposed changes are not considered significant, the Standards Division will recommend to theGSSB to approve the draft revision and submit it directly for public comment. If the changes areconsidered significant, the GSSB may consider the appointment of a Technical Committee comprisedof relevant sector experts to evaluate the proposed changes, before submitting the exposure draft tothe GSSB to approve for public comment. A Technical Committee may cover the update of more thanone Sector Standard if the sectors are considered to have similar impacts in the topic underdiscussion.

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Because the exposure draft will be short (it will only concern the part of the Sector Standard directly
affected by the new Topic Standard), the Standards Division recommends to have an exposure periodof 30 days. This recommendation will have to be discussed with the DPOC before the approval of theproject proposal.

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Process

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The first activity of this project will be to align the existing Sector Standards GRI 11 Oil and Gas
Sectors 2021, GRI 12 Coal Sector 2022, and GRI 13 Aquaculture, Agriculture and Fishing Sectors
2022, with the revised biodiversity Standard, currently under development. This first activity will be apilot project to define the precise methodology and assess the resources that will be needed.
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Alignment of Sector Standards with other Topic Standards developed under the projects for climatechange, labor and economic impacts will follow. Depending on the timing of approval of these Topic
Standards, the Sector Standards can be aligned with more than one Topic Standard at the same time.

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Division of responsibilities

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The Standards Division will review the extent to which the revised Topic Standard differs from theprevious one, or the implications for the existing Sector Standards of new or revised Topic Standards.
The Standards Division will then bring forward to the GSSB an updated version of the Sector
Standard that is aligned with the new or revised Topic Standard.
Depending on the changes required, the GSSB can decide to appoint a Technical Committee
composed of experts in the relevant sectors and topics under review to review the draft.
After the Technical Committee reviews the draft, the GSSB will be asked to approve it for public
consultation.
The Standards Division, or the Technical Committee if appointed, will review the comments received
and propose amendments to the draft accordingly. The updated draft of the Sector Standard will be
submitted to the GSSB for final approval.

Timeline
This project is envisioned to start in December 2023. To expedite the process, the Standards Division
can start preparing the proposed changes to the Sector Standards before the final publication of thebiodiversity Standard.
The timeline projected in Table 1 covers only the alignment of the published Sector Standards withthe updated standard on biodiversity. The updates to align with the other Topic Standards areexpected to have a similar timeline, allowing for variations based on the complexity of the changes
that need to be implemented, unless the implementation of the alignment with biodiversity suggests adifferent strategy.
The proposed project will cover alignment with several new or revised Topic Standards, whosedevelopment will be spread along several years. The final duration of this project will depend on thetiming of the four Topic Standard projects covered by this project.

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gssbsecretariat@globalreporting.org

Table 1: Estimated duration of Sector Standards alignment with the biodiversity Standard

2023
Nov
Phase

DecJanFebMar

AprMayJun2025
JulAugSepOctNov

Dec~Durati Month Month Month Month Month Month Month Month Month Month Month Month Month Monthon

1

GSSB approval of proposed project

1u

Content Development

3

GSSB approval public exposure drafts

1

Public comment period

1Consideration of comments and final draft preparation1

Editorial review/Proofreading adjustments by SE&P

1

GSSB approval final draft

1

Translations

3

DPOC approval

1

Publication aligned Sector Standards

1

Publication translations of aligned Sector Standards

2

Aligned Sector Standards effective date

1520242345678910111213

14JanMonth 15uuuuu