GRI recognized at UN conference as a common ground for global impact reporting
Published date: 03 July 2025
Outcome document calls for GRI Standards to ensure comparable sustainability reporting across countries
GRI has been recognized during the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) as foundational for the global sustainability reporting system.
Paragraph 34e of the ‘Compromiso de Sevilla’ – the outcome document of FfD4 – explicitly encourages UN Member States to “Consider utilizing standards, such as those of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) among others, in a flexible and country-specific manner”.
This recognition follows months of active engagement by GRI and its partners with UN Member States and it marks the first time GRI has been referenced in a UN intergovernmental agreement alongside ISSB, highlighting their complementary roles in sustainability reporting.
The outcome document:
- calls on countries to adopt disclosure standards that cover impacts, risks, and opportunities (IROs)
- affirms double materiality as an appropriate approach, and
- encourages credit rating agencies and financial institutions to integrate these standards into their ratings and financing decisions.
Governments around the world have recognized GRI standards as a critical element to drive sustainable finance. Double materiality is the new global norm. Moving forward, reporting on impacts, risks and opportunities, as part of a streamlined global reporting system, will be essential to enable capital to close the $4+ trillion financing gap for sustainable development.
Robin Hodess, GRI CEOThis acknowledgement of comprehensive sustainability disclosures is key to aligning private capital with development goals, coming at a time when policymakers, financial institutions, development agencies, and civil society are working together to find practical solutions to today’s complex financing for development challenges.
The Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), taking place in Seville from 30 June to 3 July 2025, aims to mobilize financing for national development priorities. Its outcome document, the ‘Compromiso de Sevilla’, outlines these commitments. During the conference, GRI is engaging in discussions on sustainable finance, interoperability, and impact reporting to explore how sustainability disclosures can help unlock private sector capital for people and planet.
In the lead up to FfD4, GRI played an active role in shaping the negotiations, building on global advocacy to strengthen sustainability disclosure provisions and ensure alignment with both development priorities and financial market needs. This included co-hosting preparatory events with UNDP and convening a global coalition of organizations to advocate for the inclusion of double materiality-based reporting and the complementary use of GRI and ISSB standards.