In 2024, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) launched the new GRI 101 – Biodiversity, which will become mandatory from 2026, replacing the old GRI 304 – Biodiversity (2016).
The GRI is an independent international organization that develops widely used standards for sustainability reporting, aiming to make the economic, environmental, and social impacts of organizations transparent.
The new GRI 101 provides a more comprehensive, detailed, and structured methodology for disclosing organizations’ impacts on biodiversity, considering both their own operations and impacts throughout the value chain.
Furthermore, GRI 101 significantly expands the scope of reporting and requires organizations to disclose information on, among other aspects:
• Policies, commitments, and targets aimed at halting and reversing biodiversity loss;
• Management, prevention, mitigation, and compensation processes for impacts on biodiversity; • Identification and assessment of actual and potential impacts on biodiversity;
• Location of operations and activities in areas with significant impacts;
• Direct drivers of biodiversity loss (such as changes in land use, pollution, and resource exploitation);
• Dependence on and impacts on ecosystem services; and
• Access to genetic resources and fair and equitable sharing of benefits, where applicable.
Although the adoption of GRI standards is not legally mandatory in Brazil, it is a widely recognized and recommended framework by investors, financial institutions, and regulators, frequently used as a reference for environmental and sustainability risk assessment.
In the international context, it is noteworthy that the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) now requires the disclosure of sustainability information by large European companies and non-European companies with significant operations in the bloc. Within this regulatory framework, GRI is the main framework adopted to meet reporting requirements.
Therefore, for organizations that already use the GRI in preparing their sustainability reports, from 2026 onwards it will be mandatory to disclose specific information on biodiversity, including data on compliance with applicable legislation, especially on the topics of biodiversity, genetic resources, and access and benefit-sharing.
If you have any questions, the Environmental and Regulatory team at Nascimento e Mourão Sociedade de Advogados is available to provide further clarification on the subject, as well as to assist in adapting to and complying with the requirements of the GRI standard.
Evelini Oliveira de Figueiredo Fonseca | evelini.fonseca@nascimentomourao.adv.br
Partner in the Environmental, Regulatory and Biodiversity Law area.
Bruna Aveiro Santos | bruna.aveiro@nascimentomourao.adv.br
Lawyer in the Environmental, Regulatory and Biodiversity Law area.
