IFRS Foundation and GRI announce collaboration agreement
By Anne Adrain, Head of Sustainability and Reporting
24 March 2022
This article focuses on the announcement that the IFRS Foundation and GRI have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
On 24 March 2022, the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation (IFRS) and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) announced that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Under this collaborative approach their respective standard-setting boards: the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) and the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB), will seek to coordinate their work programmes and standard-setting activities. They will also join each other's consultative bodies related to sustainability reporting activities.
The agreement reflects the importance of ensuring compatibility and interconnectedness of investor-focused baseline sustainability information that meets the needs of the capital markets, with information intended to serve the needs of a broader range of stakeholders.
By collaborating, the IFRS Foundation and GRI provide two ‘pillars’ of international sustainability reporting: the former representing investor-focused capital market standards of IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards developed by the ISSB, and the latter GRI sustainability reporting requirements set by the GSSB, compatible with the former, designed to meet multi-stakeholder needs.
In the week commencing 27 March 2022, the ISSB intends to publish proposed Climate and General Sustainability-related Disclosure requirements that, once finalised, are intended to form the global baseline for climate-related disclosures.