European Financial Reporting Advisory Group publishes final comment letter on GRI pollution standards and seeks closer ESRS alignment

The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group has published its final comment letter on the Global Reporting Initiative exposure drafts for the Air Pollution, Soil Pollution and Critical Incidents standards under GRI’s pollution project. EFRAG backs the overall direction of the drafts, saying they can strengthen global corporate transparency on pollution and provide useful entity-specific disclosures, while also arguing that stronger alignment with the European Sustainability Reporting Standards is still needed. The letter highlights that many requirements in the draft GRI topic standards are not explicitly covered in ESRS E2, meaning preparers may incorporate them into sustainability statements as entity-specific information. EFRAG says the drafts already show strong interoperability with ESRS, but calls for further refinement of key concepts, terminology and the way pollution requirements are split across standards. It also points to inconsistencies in the granularity of disclosure requirements, including differences between the air and soil pollution standards and the disaggregation of spill information, and flags feasibility issues around permitting limits because those limits are not generally applicable to soil pollution. EFRAG said its analysis drew on a public consultation and two stakeholder workshops. The feedback submitted to GRI is intended to inform the next phase of the pollution project, with approval of the standards by the Global Sustainability Standards Board expected in 2027.