GRI and Climate & Company Sign MoU To Drive Uptake of Impact Reporting

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the non-profit global sustainable finance think-tank Climate & Company have entered into an agreement to work together to grow the adoption of international sustainability reporting standards throughout the value chain – enabling informed decision-making by companies, investors and other stakeholders.   

Climate & Company links policy-making, the financial industry and academia, and provides strategic advice on making regulatory standards work in practice. Under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), GRI and Climate & Company will engage in mutual collaboration to emphasize the alignment of values, mission and vision for the future.

The MoU was finalized in September, during Climate Week NYC. As a next step, GRI and Climate & Company are co-hosteding an event on the challenges and opportunities of climate reporting, to take place in Baku on November 15, during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP29).

Identified areas that the two organizations intend to engage in include:

• Joint working to support the uptake of impact reporting and use of the GRI Standards to address the impact side of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), and encourage disclosure by SMEs and value chain actors globally.
• Coalition building – through engagements and events that foster the acceptance of ambitious sustainability standards, including the GRI Standards, as authoritative instruments for managing impacts on the environment and on human rights.
• Jointly submitting funding proposals to ecosystem supporters with the goal of pooling resources, relationships and aligning funders toward deeper engagement on sustainability reporting, focusing on the EU and G20 jurisdictions.