Recent sustainability reporting developments

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06 Nov 2015

A summary of recent developments at the WBCSD, the GRI/GSSB and the WFE.

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) has released the 2015 edition of Reporting matters. The 2015 research shows that 62% of the leading companies have improved their disclosures on non-financial information since the first WBCSD baseline report in 2013, with materiality disclosures in particular showing the greatest signs of improvement. In addition, an increasing number of companies are reporting on impacts beyond their direct operations. The report also shows that GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) guidelines remain the most widely used. Please click to access a press release and the full report on the WBCSD website.

The Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB), founded to strengthen GRI’s role and credibility as a public standard-setter, has held its inaugural public meeting on 4 November 2015 and has approved plans to transition the GRI G4 Guidelines to GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards (GRI Standards). The plans focus on a new modular structure and on transitioning the existing G4 content into this new format. In future, the GSSB will no longer issue generations of Guidelines as it has done historically. Instead, GRI Standards will be updated on an ongoing basis following public input into the GSSB work programme. The GSSB aims to issue the initial set of GRI Standards during the third quarter of 2016. Please click for the press release detailing the planned development phases on the GRI website.

The World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) has issued guidelines for its member exchanges on how to implement its sustainability policies. The guidelines identify key environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics that exchanges can include in their disclosure guidance for listed companies. For more information, see the press release, guidelines, and ESG metrics on the WFE website.

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