The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has initiated a public consultation process on new pollution disclosure standards that will mandate companies to report their effects on the pollution of air, water, and soil.

The objective of the consultation is to seek comments and input from companies, investors, regulatory authorities, civil societies, and other interested parties before finalizing the standards. The new set of standards has been designed to create requirements for the disclosure of pollution effects by companies.

According to the draft standards, companies will have to report on their sources of pollution, pollution released into the atmosphere, ecosystem and community effects, and efforts made to control pollution. Requirements for disclosures will include reporting on pollutants released into air, water, and soil.

The proposal also includes disclosure requirements related to pollution incidents, regulatory breaches, remediation activities, and pollution management systems. Companies would be expected to report how pollution risks are identified, monitored, and addressed within their operations.

GRI has explained that the new standards would make environmental disclosures related to pollution more consistent and comparable. The organization is looking for feedback on the potential scope of disclosure requirements, definitions of technical terms, and suggested disclosure metrics.

This move is coming at a time when the impact of other environmental aspects besides climate change is being increasingly monitored. New laws have been passed by governments in some countries with regard to the release of pollutants into the environment, while investors have widened their scope in assessing environmental risks.

Pollution continues to be a serious environmental and public health issue across the world. According to estimates, air pollution results in millions of deaths each year, while water and soil pollution have adverse effects on the environment and agriculture. This has resulted in increasing pressure on companies to disclose details about their pollution-related operations.

These standards form part of GRI's effort at revising its environmental reporting standards. The organization has made continuous revisions to its topic-based standards from time to time.

Feedback received during the consultation period will be reviewed before the standards move to the next stage of development. Once finalized, the standards will guide companies reporting pollution-related impacts through the GRI framework.

The consultation is open until September 2025, after which GRI will assess stakeholder submissions and consider revisions before issuing a final standard.