SINCE the pandemic, sustainable development reports have been getting thicker, more colorful and broader in scope. Yet those who have actually gone through them know that a glossy or dense report does not necessarily mean a transparent one.
There are sections on carbon emissions, employee programs, community projects and corporate governance, but still no clear sense of what these efforts mean for the business or the people affected by them. This is why the convergence between the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) deserves attention.
GRI covers all three pillars of sustainable development: economic, social and environmental. However, it approaches them from the perspective of an organization’s impacts. ISSB addresses a different question: how sustainability-related risks and opportunities could affect a company’s business, its finances and its value to investors.
Integrated reporting connects these perspectives with strategy, governance, performance and resources that a company relies on to create value over time. Sustainability thus becomes part of the corporate narrative rather than a separate function handled by another department.
Recently, I attended the GRI-ISSB interoperability training for members of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (Finex). Its main objective: to equip CFOs with the knowledge and tools to integrate sustainability into financial decision-making.
The first module was conducted by GRI Philippines Country Manager Vincent de Paz, who discussed double materiality and its implications for determining what companies should report. His session also explored how GRI disclosures can support compliance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), particularly IFRS S1 and S2 requirements.
A team from SGV & Co. led the second module, which was highlighted by a gamified workshop titled “Are You Climate Ready?” Participants were divided into groups, and they underwent exercises on asset ranking, hazard matching, vulnerability estimates and risk rating before coming up with a final decision on climate readiness. The discussion was brought closer to the choices that boards and top management face in real-life business situations.
For finance professionals, this has practical consequences. Sustainability information must be supported by reliable data, sound controls, clear definitions and appropriate assurance. Once these disclosures enter mainstream corporate reporting, issues about who owns the data and how it is validated become difficult to sidestep.
Interoperability matters because companies should not maintain completely separate reporting systems for every stakeholder group. Much of the underlying information can serve several purposes if it is properly gathered, controlled, documented and presented.
Now that sustainability reporting has evolved into a strategic finance function, GRI and ISSB are not interchangeable, although they answer varying questions and serve different reporting needs. When combined, they can provide a fuller account of a company’s approach to creating value and handling sustainability-related risks.
Response to changing expectations
Deloitte Philippines, in partnership with the Finex Foundation, launched the 2026 State of Corporate Sustainability Report last month at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati City. A useful reference material, the report examines how Philippine companies are responding to changing expectations around sustainability and corporate responsibility.
C-suite executives across diverse industries were surveyed by Finex Foundation and Deloitte in 2025. Their findings were complemented by interviews with business leaders, who gave deeper insights into how leading organizations are approaching sustainability beyond compliance.
Worth noting is the timing of the report, as many companies have already announced their sustainability commitments. The harder task is translating them into targets, budgets, operating plans and measurements that management can monitor. For boards and CFOs, stating that a company has an Environmental, Social and Governance program is only the beginning.
Management needs to know how the targets were established, what data supports them, what assumptions are involved and what could prevent the company from meeting them.
Finex and Deloitte occupy different roles from ISSB and GRI, which focus on the development of reporting standards and frameworks. Deloitte helps organizations interpret and apply these requirements, while Finex provides a professional platform for bringing developments in sustainability reporting to finance executives and the Philippine business community.
That may be the most useful way to think about a gold standard for sustainability reporting. It is not a matter of producing the longest report or adopting every available framework. The real test is whether the information is credible, relevant, understandable and useful to the people who have to make decisions based on it.
The author is The Manila Times Sustainability Magazine’s executive editor. He is a member of the Finex Foundation’s Environment Committee and its Sustainability Handbook’s Editorial Board.