Dive Brief:
- The Global Reporting Initiative, which provides the most widely used global sustainability standards as of 2024, released draft reporting guidelines Monday for how companies should measure and report air and soil pollution, as well as “critical incident” reporting.
- This represents the standard setter’s first standard for soil pollution, according to a Monday press release. GRI is seeking public comment on the trio of drafts by June 8.
- The standards incorporate and replace prior emissions and spills disclosures that were previously a part of emissions and “effluents and waste” reporting standards GRI issued in 2016.
Dive Insight:
GRI called pollution “one of the most pervasive and underreported environmental challenges facing businesses today,” but noted that “consistent and comparable corporate reporting is lacking.”
The release of the draft standards follows research on air pollution disclosures the standard-setter released last month, which found reporting on quantifiable air pollution data from high-emitting organizations to be “patchy and inadequate,” according to GRI.
The report — which surveyed 1,000 organizations across eight sectors including agriculture, chemicals, construction, mining and transport — found that while 91% of companies published sustainability reports between 2023-24, less than one-third of them provide quantitative emissions data for one or more specific air pollutants.
“Pollution is not confined to a single emission source or environmental medium, it affects human health, quality of living in communities and biodiversity,” GRI Standards Director Harold Pauwels said in the release. “Achieving strengthened reporting on pollution requires both greater transparency and a wider scope.”
Over 14,000 global organizations use GRI’s reporting standards, according to its website. Such standards take a double-materiality approach of examining impacts on business and broader stakeholders.
The trio of draft standards were commissioned by the Global Sustainability Standards Board, which oversees GRI, in 2024 to replace prior reporting guidance on “ozone-depleting substances,” nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides and “other significant air emissions,” in addition to prior significant spills guidance.
The draft air pollution standards incorporate and expand on prior emissions reporting guidance, and include revised reporting guidelines on nitrogen and sulfur oxides and other significant air emissions. The framework outlines how companies should disclose their air pollution impact, air pollutant emissions, related emissions reduction targets and progress and any incidents related to air pollutant emissions. The last set of disclosures include requirements for companies to report the percentage of its sites permitted for air pollutant emissions, the number of incidents of non-compliance based on those permits and more.
In establishing soil-specific pollution reporting standards, GRI issued guidelines on how companies should disclose how they manage the impacts of soil pollution, report soil pollutants they release and expectations for disclosures of “soil pollution incidents.”
The critical incidents standard covers “emergencies and accidents characterized by a low likelihood and severe impact (also referred to as low-probability, high-consequence).” The standard incorporates revisions to GRI’s prior significant spills standard. The scope of the standard has been broadened to include other incidents, including those stemming from natural causes and human error.
GRI plans to present all three drafts during global webinars on April 15 and 16, according to a webpage tracking the progress of the pollution standards. Pauwels said in the release that GRI is looking for stakeholder engagement across industries and regions to help ensure the final standards reflect global corporate realities and deliver “complete and effective new and revised pollution standards.”
