The Thematic Chamber of Biodiversity and Biotechnology (CTBio) of the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS) presented to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), this Wednesday (19), the difficulties encountered by companies in reporting information on biodiversity in the format currently promoted by the institution.
The meeting took place before the GRI Standards Launch event in Brazil, in which the senior manager of Projects and Technical Consultancy at CEBDS, Ana Carolina Avzaradel Szklo, participated as a speaker.
The publication GRI Biodiversity Indicators – Analysis and proposals from the business sector was presented by the president of CTBIO, Mayra Abreu (Vale) and the vice-president, Moara Morasche (Eletrobrás), to the chairwoman of GRI, Christianna Wood, and to the director of Corporate and Institutional Relations of GRI, Nikki McKean-Wood.
According to CEBDS technical advisor and CTBIO coordinator André Ramalho, the meeting marked the conclusion of the first stage of the project, which consisted of preparing and presenting the study directly to the GRI. “In the second phase, we will make ourselves available to the GRI to help advance the review and adaptation of the indicators to megadiverse countries,” he added.
André Ramalho explains that the production of sustainability reports by companies operating in megadiverse countries such as Brazil requires instruments and methodologies that are more appropriate to this reality. In this sense, the publication presented provides specific recommendations for GRI managers, suggesting a review of the biodiversity indicators and guidelines defined by the institution. The study indicates that these proposals, if and when adopted, should increase the number and interest of companies in reporting their information on biodiversity.
GRI is an international organization based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, which was created to raise corporate sustainability reporting practices to a level of quality equivalent to that of financial reports. GRI guidelines are widely used worldwide and sustainability reports that follow its standards are considered the most comprehensive.
