GRI expands its presence in Brazil: what changes in companies' sustainability reporting

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the organization behind the world's most widely used sustainability reporting standards, is expanding its presence in Brazil. On November 4, it holds a meeting in São Paulo with companies, small and medium-sized businesses, regulators and investors, and is expected to present a program aimed at SMEs. The moment coincides with significant changes in sustainability reporting, in Brazil and elsewhere. This text gathers the context and what it means for companies.

GRI in Brazil

According to GRI's own announcement, dated August 27, 2026, the organization appointed a leader for the country, based in São Paulo, and will develop a capacity-building program with Brazilian companies, institutions and other stakeholders. The announced priorities are to broaden access to learning and technical knowledge on sustainability reporting, strengthen dialogue with the private sector, create practical actions for companies at different stages of reporting and engage regulators and policymakers. The work is supported by Switzerland's State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

The country's relevance to GRI is large. According to the same announcement, 71% of large listed companies in Brazil use the GRI Standards, and the country ranks fifth among 132 jurisdictions in adoption and third by market capitalization. In a CEBDS survey cited by GRI, 97% of the 82 companies assessed use the standards, 84% of reports have external assurance and 75% apply double materiality.

What the GRI Standards are

The GRI Standards are a set of voluntary standards for organizations to disclose their impacts on the economy, the environment and people, including human rights. The focus is impact materiality: what the company causes to the world, not just what the world causes to the company. The structure combines universal standards, topic standards (such as emissions, water and labor) and sector standards.

Reporting is changing: the new GRI standards

The standards are being updated, and reporters need to get organized in advance:

• GRI 101, on biodiversity, in force since January 1, 2026, replaces the previous standard and calls for a more systematic analysis of context, location and value chain impacts;
• GRI 102, on climate change, and GRI 103, on energy, published in June 2025, take effect on January 1, 2027;
• GRI 102 consolidates emissions disclosures and brings new elements such as information on a climate transition plan, an adaptation plan, the use of carbon credits and greenhouse gas removals;
• GRI 103 reinforces expectations on energy consumption, efficiency and supplier engagement.

According to Sustainserv's analysis, reports for fiscal year 2026, published in 2027, should already apply the new climate and energy standards. This requires reviewing materiality, data collection processes and integration among sustainability, finance and risk areas.

GRI and IFRS: complementary standards

GRI works with impact materiality, and the IFRS S1 and S2 standards, from the ISSB, with financial materiality, aimed at investors. According to Anthesis, GRI and the IFRS Foundation signed a cooperation memorandum in 2022 and deepened the partnership in 2024, and climate is the most aligned area, since both draw on the GHG Protocol. In practice, many companies run a single materiality assessment and draw from it what serves each standard, using GRI for impacts and IFRS standards for investor information. GRI already offers, in its academy, a course on climate reporting with GRI and IFRS standards, according to the announcement.

The regulatory changes pressuring reporting in Brazil

The Brazilian scene is one of rules in motion, and reporting is becoming required or demanded through different routes:

• Capital markets: the CVM made IFRS S1 and S2 reporting voluntary, on a "comply or explain" basis, and opened a public consultation on the topic in October, according to Capital Reset (in Portuguese). The voluntary regime remains in force, and mandatory reporting may return to the debate.
• Financial system: BCB Resolution 586 overhauls the report on social, environmental and climate risks and opportunities of financial institutions, taking effect on January 1, 2027, which increases banks' demand for data from their clients, according to the text of the resolution (in Portuguese).
• Carbon market: emissions reporting under the Brazilian Emissions Trading System is due to begin in 2027, according to the Ministry of Finance (in Portuguese).

Supply chains and SMEs: where reporting becomes real

Large companies must disclose information about their value chain, and this turns into data requests to suppliers, usually small and medium-sized companies. They show up in customer questionnaires, banks' credit analyses and supplier selection criteria, often without the structure or guidance to respond.

In Europe, EFRAG created a simplified voluntary standard for SMEs, the VSME, to ease reporting and access to sustainable finance, according to Grant Thornton Brazil (in Portuguese), and a European Commission recommendation sets a limit on what large companies can demand from smaller suppliers, according to IAPMEI (in Portuguese). We did not find a Brazilian equivalent with defined rules, which makes capacity-building initiatives more valuable. GRI itself says it will launch the course Enhancing Sustainability Reporting for SMEs in Portuguese this year and, according to the event's promotion, more than 3,200 organizations in Latin America report with GRI, 90% of them SMEs. This figure comes from the event's promotion and was not checked against another source.

How companies can prepare

1. Define materiality, identifying the topics where the company causes impacts and those that affect its financial performance.
2. Choose the standard or combination of standards best suited to the audience of the report: customers, investors, banks or regulators.
3. Organize the data, with owners, sources and routines, and start with a small set of reliable indicators.
4. Map the supplier chain and understand what information it will need to provide, or what information the company will ask of it.
5. Follow the regulatory agenda and anticipate new requirements on climate, energy and biodiversity.
6. Structure governance and controls so that reporting withstands assurance and scrutiny by investors and financiers.

Questions for your company

1. Who do we report to today, and who may ask us for reporting in the coming years?
2. Is our materiality up to date and does it consider climate, energy and nature?
3. If a customer or bank asked for ESG data tomorrow, would we know how to respond?
4. Do we know the ESG risks and data of our supplier chain?

Talk to KICK

KICK Group supports companies of different sizes with materiality, structuring indicators, reporting with GRI and IFRS standards and managing ESG data across the value chain, including through the B.KICK platform. Get in touch to talk about your reporting.

Request more information

Write to contato@kickgroup.com.br. Sources: GRI, Sustainserv, Anthesis, Capital Reset, BCB Resolution 586, Ministry of Finance, Grant Thornton Brazil and IAPMEI. This text is informational and was updated as of October 30, 2026.