Bettercoal’s Executive Director appointed to the development of GRI Sector Standards Oil, Gas and Coal

Anne-Claire Howard, Executive Director of Bettercoal has been appointed by the Global Sustainability Standard Board (GSSB) to the working group that will lead the development of GRI Sector Standards for Oil and Gas and Coal. She brings extensive knowledge and expertise relating to the sustainable development of oil, gas & mining projects, and extractive sector governance.

The GRI Sector Standard project aims to identify and describe a sector’s significant impacts and stakeholder concerns from a sustainable development perspective, and to create a foundation for improving transparency and more consistent reporting within these sectors. In 2019, the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB), GRI’s independent standards-setting body, initiated a project to develop a GRI Sector Standard for the oil, gas, and coal sectors. These sectors were prioritized because of their widely documented impacts across the economic, environmental, and social dimensions, such as impacts on climate change, biodiversity, and human rights. In April 2020, the GSSB decided to split the original output of the project, leading to the development of two separate Sector Standards.

The development of these Sector Standards follows the  GSSB’s Due Process Protocol and led by a multi-stakeholder Project Working Group which will develop draft recommendations. The public comment period on the draft Sector Standard: Oil and Gas is open until 6 October. Stakeholders that would be interested in reviewing the draft and submitting feedback can do so here.  Further details on the project can be found on the GRI´s webpage.