GRI to roll out sector-specific sustainability standard for food and beverage companies

# What GRI is launching and why it matters Initiative (GRI) is developing a dedicated Food and Beverages Sector Standard. It targets companies involved in food and drink processing and manufacturing, including tobacco products. The standard will cover companies' own operations and the value chains that connect farms, fisheries and processing facilities with manufacturers, retailers and consumers.

GRI positions the standard as guidance on the sustainability topics most likely to be material for this sector. The aim is to help companies identify which impacts they should disclose and to make reporting more consistent across different markets and supply chains.

# Scope and focus The standard will address environmental and social issues common in the sector, including climate, biodiversity, labor and public health risks across complex supply chains. It will draw companies toward relevant existing GRI Topic Standards while summarizing the industry's most significant impacts.

# Streamlined development model and peer review GRI has selected the food and beverage sector as the first pilot for a faster standard-development approach designed to shorten timelines while maintaining the organisation's multistakeholder due process. To test credibility and industry relevance under this model, GRI is recruiting up to 20 global experts to join a multistakeholder Peer Review Group. Applications are open until October 23, 2026.

Peter Dawkins, GRI Standards Senior Manager, said the sector's value chains intersect with major sustainability challenges and encouraged sector stakeholders to get involved in the process to ensure the standard is practical and credible.

# How the standard fits into GRI's reporting architecture GRI uses a modular framework. Companies begin with the Universal Standards, use applicable Sector Standards to identify sector-specific material topics, and then report disclosures through the relevant Topic Standards. The Food and Beverages Sector Standard is intended to clarify which impacts warrant disclosure for companies operating across varied and complex supply chains.

For companies already using GRI, the new standard could require reviewing current reporting to ensure sector-specific issues are captured. For investors and other stakeholders, the standard aims to produce more comparable disclosures across businesses operating in different markets.

# Practical implications for companies and investors

• Companies: Expect clearer direction on which topics are material for the sector and which existing Topic Standards to apply. Firms may need to adjust impact assessments, data collection and value-chain disclosures to align with the sector standard once finalised.
• Investors and stakeholders: More consistent sector-level guidance could improve comparability between companies and support better decision-making on sustainability-related risks and opportunities.

# Next steps and timing GRI is developing the standard now and running the pilot of its faster development model. The organisation has opened applications to form the Peer Review Group, with a deadline of October 23, 2026. No final publication date is provided in the announcement.

# Bottom line Standard aims to give companies more specific, sector-tailored guidance on reporting material sustainability impacts across their operations and value chains. The pilot of a streamlined development process will test whether GRI can deliver sector standards faster while keeping multistakeholder input and credibility intact.