GRI: A step forward for nature reporting

November 19, 2025

Given the prevalence of nature and biodiversity themes highlighted during COP30 in Brazil, GRI supports the recent announcement by the IFRS Foundation that the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) will develop incremental disclosure requirements on nature-related risks and opportunities.

These ISSB nature-related standard setting efforts will draw from the recommendations of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD). Over the past three years, GRI and the TNFD have worked closely together to support the development of each other's activities, including TNFD recommendations, metrics and guidance, and the revised GRI 101 Biodiversity Standard.

Biodiversity has been a feature of GRI’s work since its first sustainability guidelines launched in 2000. Given the substantial update in 2024 through GRI 101, and coverage of topics such as water, waste and emissions, the GRI Standards comprehensively address reporting of nature-related impacts. Recent GRI and TNFD collaboration has included resources that help companies assess and disclose nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities – with corporate case studies illustrating how these dimensions interconnect, and interoperability mapping confirming strong alignment between the GRI Standards and the TNFD framework.

As jointly recognized by GRI and the IFRS Foundation, GRI and ISSB Standards complement each other and, when used together, facilitate reporting on an organization’s impacts, risks and opportunities. GRI and the IFRS Foundation first signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2022, renewed in 2024, under which the two organizations committed to coordinate work plans and standard-setting, including on nature.

GRI’s fruitful collaborations with both ISSB and the TNFD underline the opportunities for a comprehensive,  seamless future system of nature reporting for those looking to meet the information needs of both investors and a broader range of stakeholders, in which:

• The GRI Standards address the information needs of all stakeholders on nature-related impacts, including on biodiversity;
• ISSB’s forthcoming incremental disclosure requirements address reporting gaps on nature-related risks and opportunities, responding to the common information needs of investors.

 Robin Hodess, CEO of GRI, said:

“Nature and biodiversity are now widely acknowledged as critical to mitigate risk and build resilience, for people and planet. GRI has been at the forefront of nature reporting for more than a decade and has collaborated with the ISSB on its biodiversity and ecosystems project since 2024. We are therefore delighted to welcome the ISSB announcement to begin standard setting work to introduce incremental disclosure requirements on nature-related risks and opportunities.

Their take-up of TNFD’s work on risks and opportunities is significant. As cooperation between our three organizations is already well established, we are in an excellent position to ensure a coherent set of complementary nature-related standards that cover impacts, dependencies, risks and opportunities to drive accountability, strategy and investment.”

Tony Goldner, Executive Director of TNFD, said:

“GRI’s experience on impact assessment and reporting was instrumental in informing the TNFD’s approach and recommendations, while our two organizations have closely collaborated to respond to market needs for practical guidance on how to assess and report nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities. We look forward to continuing to support both GRI and ISSB as they draw on the TNFD recommendations to further evolve their respective standards for market participants.”