What Are the Relevant Standards for Voluntarily Sustainability Reporting?

AAEC Newsletter: February 2022

Now we know what information to report (see our January newsletter); the question is, which standards should the client use as a basis for the voluntary preparation of its sustainability report? The answer to this question is not a single option answer.

As of today, two options of standards are relevant for our clients:

If the clients are operating on a national level, as a basis, they should use the national sustainability standards. I assume that there are national sustainability standards in most EU member states. In Germany, for example, there is the Sustainability Code (“Deutscher Nachhaltigkeitskodex”, DNK). This Code can also be used in other countries if, for example, there are no sustainability standards on a national level;

If the clients are active in the international market, as a basis, they should use the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards. The GRI are much more complex than the German Sustainability Code standards.