Abu Dhabi, 20 October 2023 — The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges (UN SSE) initiative launched a joint capacity-building program at the UNCTAD World Investment Forum. The training program was announced at a roundtable discussion “Sustainability Reporting Standards and Regulations”. 

The roundtable was moderated by Mr Peter Paul van de Wijs, Chief External Affairs Officer, GRI. Participants included Ms Tiffany Grabski (SSE Academy Head), Ms Monica Foerster (SME Advisory Group Chair, International Federation of Accountants), Mr Chulendra de Silva (Co-Founder and Partner, InterBalance Consulting), Mr Brad Sparks (Executive Director, A4S), Ms Ralitza Germanova (Program Lead, IFC) and Ms Esther Paez (Sustainability Reporting Director, e&). 

Roundtable participants discussed the key role that capacity building will play in advancing sustainability reporting requirements and in particular building technical skills and understanding of the practices and processes behind the final report. Speakers also highlighted the importance of collaboration both within and between organizations. 

The UN SSE Academy Head highlighted how stock exchanges were helping on both of these fronts and announced additional support that the SSE and GRI are now providing exchanges through a joint capacity-building program. “In response to demand from exchanges and their market participants, we are proud to announce today that we have developed a joint training program with the Global Reporting Initiative to build capacity on sustainability reporting globally.” 

The two organizations will facilitate training together with host stock exchanges, providing live, high-quality, expert-led capacity building to a global audience. For more information, visit https://sseinitiative.org/academy