Carol Adams, Professor of Accounting at Durham University Business School, will become Chair of the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB), the independent body that sets the standards used by Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), from April. Adams, a leading authority in sustainability accounting and reporting, will succeed Judy Kuszewski, who has served as GSSB Chair since 2017. She recently advised the United Nations Development Programme in creating impact standards for its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the UK government’s Implementation Taskforce on Impact Investing, and also advises the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy on sustainability reporting. Adams has been a critic of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), partly for not taking a more cooperative stance to the GRI since the standards-setters committed to a two-pillar approach to sustainability reporting last March. More recently, the ISSB voted to use of European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), partly developed by the GRI, as a source of guidance for firms reporting under its general requirements standard. Adams said the GRI’s standards were “he global blueprint” for quality and comprehensive impact reporting. “Identifying and measuring impacts on the economy, environment and society is an essential step in managing an organisation’s risks and opportunities, as well as assessing positive and negative impacts on achieving the SDGs,” she said.
We are pleased to confirm Carol Adams is to be the next GSSB chair starting 1 April. Outgoing chair @judykuszewski said she has every confidence Carol will “continue to advance the GSSB remit to deliver world-class #sustainabilityreporting standards” https://t.co/ZoDDbNFtG7 pic.twitter.com/K0z4vh5b9N
— Global Sustainability Standards Board (@GRI_Standards) March 13, 2023
