The importance of this Standard

Agriculture, aquaculture, and fishing industries share common impacts associated with the production of food as well as non-food products and are fundamental to the world's food systems and the making of a variety of materials - such as fibers and fuels. These sectors have been prioritized based on their widely documented impacts across economic, environmental, and social dimensions - including those on climate change and biodiversity, food security, farming and fishing practices, and community engagement.​

The Standard will increase the completeness and comparability of sustainability information for all organizations around the world involved in crop cultivation, animal production, aquaculture or fishing.  ​

GRI 13: Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fishing Sectors 2022 comes in effect for reporting from 1 January 2024, with early adoption encouraged. This Standard is used together with the GRI Universal Standards and the GRI Topic Standards.​

Basis for conclusions

The exposure draft of the Standard was made available for public comment from 19 May to 30 July 2021. ​

​The Basis for Conclusions for GRI 13: Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fishing Sector 2022 provides a summary of the significant issues raised through public comments. A complete record of the received comments can be found here. It also provides a summary of how the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB), the independent body responsible for setting the GRI Standards, responded to these comments based on the Working Group's discussions and recommendations during the finalization of the Standard.

About this project

In 2019, the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB) initiated a project under the Sector Program to develop a Standard for Agriculture, Aquaculture, and Fishing. 

GRI 13 was developed by a multi-stakeholder project working group, in line with GSSB's Due process.

​The new Standard is part of the 40 planned GRI Sector Standards prioritized based on their widely documented impacts on sustainable development – including those related to climate change, biodiversity, economic development and human rights.

Learn more about the GRI Sector Program here.