Short answer
The answer, before the reasoning
GRI 102: Climate Change 2025 is effective for reports or other materials published on or after 1 January 2027, with earlier adoption encouraged. It withdraws GRI 201-2 and GRI 305-1 to 305-5 for climate reporting and introduces ten disclosures covering mitigation and adaptation plans, just transition, targets and progress, gross Scope 1-3 emissions, intensity, removals and carbon credits.
Preparation should begin in 2026 because the change affects governance, plans, people, Scope 3 data and evidence controls, not only disclosure numbering.
The effective-date trigger follows publication on or after 1 January 2027.
At a glance
What changes in one sentence
GRI 102 moves climate reporting from a mainly emissions-and-risk disclosure set to a connected impact-reporting system covering mitigation and adaptation plans, just-transition impacts, emissions-reduction targets and progress, gross Scope 1-3 inventories, intensity, removals and carbon credits. It is therefore a governance, strategy, people, data and evidence transition - not a numbering exercise.
Effective date and transition
GRI 102 is effective for reports or other materials published on or after 1 January 2027, and earlier adoption is encouraged. When it takes effect, Disclosure 201-2 on financial implications and other climate-related risks and opportunities, together with GRI 305 Disclosures 305-1 to 305-5, are withdrawn for GRI climate reporting. Other GRI 305 disclosures are not automatically replaced by GRI 102 and must be checked separately against the current standards set.
The ten disclosures in GRI 102
LRA disclosure architecture. Use the official Standard for the complete requirements and guidance.
Six practical shifts from the legacy approach
1. Plans become reportable management systems
The new Standard asks how the organisation manages its climate impacts through mitigation and adaptation plans. Reporting is not satisfied by attaching a glossy roadmap. The organisation needs a traceable account of the plan’s scope, actions, resources, governance, dependencies, progress and links to targets. Where a plan does not exist, the Standard provides a route to report that fact, explain why and describe intended steps. It does not create a fictional plan by wording alone.
2. Mitigation and adaptation are distinct
Mitigation addresses the organisation’s contribution to climate change and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Adaptation addresses impacts associated with adjusting to actual or expected climate effects. One programme may contain both, but the reporting team should not merge them so completely that objectives, affected people, environmental trade-offs and evidence can no longer be distinguished.
3. Just transition is embedded
GRI 102 requires the organisation to report on impacts associated with the transition, including impacts on workers and communities. This means the climate workstream must connect with HR, procurement, operations, social-impact and stakeholder-engagement evidence. A plant closure, technology conversion or supply-chain redesign cannot be reported solely as tonnes of carbon avoided.
4. Gross emissions remain separate from removals and credits
Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions are reported as gross inventories. Removals and carbon credits have their own disclosures and quality information. Netting credits against operational emissions would hide the emissions profile and weaken comparability. The inventory, target-progress calculation, removals register and credit register should therefore remain separate but reconciled.
5. Scope 3 moves closer to a category-controlled inventory
The Scope 3 disclosure expects a breakdown across relevant value-chain categories and contextual information on methods and data. Teams should screen all 15 GHG Protocol categories, document relevance and significance, assign owners, preserve source hierarchy and explain estimates. A single “Scope 3 total” without category logic will not support the new reporting architecture.
6. Climate and biodiversity controls intersect
Transition actions, adaptation measures, removals and credit projects can create biodiversity and community impacts. GRI 102 explicitly connects to GRI 101. Renewable-energy infrastructure, afforestation, carbon capture or water-intensive cooling should therefore pass location-specific impact review rather than being presumed automatically positive.
What GRI 102 does not require
It does not require an organisation to invent a transition or adaptation plan that does not exist; the absence must be reported and explained under the relevant disclosure.
It does not permit emissions to be reduced in the gross inventory by subtracting carbon credits or removals.
It does not make every one of the ten disclosures relevant to every organisation automatically; relevance follows the organisation’s climate-related impacts and the GRI 1 selection logic.
It does not turn financial-risk reporting under IFRS S2 or ESRS into a substitute for impact reporting. Common evidence can be reused only after framework-specific checks.
It does not treat a target announcement as proof of implementation or progress.
A 2026-2027 preparation roadmap
Hypothetical example: a diversified manufacturer
Weak versus stronger reporting
Common mistakes
Myth versus reality
Readiness checklist
☐ Publication dates and the GRI 102 transition decision are documented.
☐ Mitigation and adaptation plans are separately identifiable, approved and linked to evidence.
☐ Just-transition impacts and affected stakeholders have named owners and data sources.
☐ Scope 1 and Scope 2 inventories are gross, controlled and methodologically transparent.
☐ All 15 Scope 3 categories have been screened and relevant categories are reported with limitations.
☐ Targets, baselines, boundaries and progress calculations reconcile to the inventory.
☐ Removals and carbon credits are maintained and reported separately from gross emissions.
☐ Biodiversity and human-rights safeguards are tested for climate actions and projects.
☐ GRI content-index rows, locations and any omissions have been dry-run and reviewed.
Official sources and technical status
1. GRI 102: Climate Change 2025. Open official source - Effective for reports or other materials published on or after 1 January 2027.
2. GRI 102: Climate Change 2025 - Frequently Asked Questions. Open official source - Transition, effective date, withdrawal of legacy disclosures and application guidance.
3. GRI 1: Foundation 2021. Open official source - Reporting routes, omissions, content index, statements of use and notification.
Quick orientation
Quick orientation
- Applies to
- Organisations that have determined climate change to be a material topic under GRI, and reporting teams planning publications from 2027 onwards.
- Primary decision
- Which legacy climate disclosures change, what data and governance are newly needed, and how to prepare the 2026-2027 transition.
- Key source
- GRI 102: Climate Change 2025 and the official GRI FAQ.
- Common confusion
- The effective-date trigger follows when the report or other material is published, not simply the financial-year label.
Rule
PUBLICATION-DATE TEST
A report labelled “2026” but published in February 2027 falls on or after the effective date. The reporting team should therefore lock the intended publication date, standard set and transition statement before drafting.
In practice
Disclosure
| Disclosure | Subject | What it changes operationally |
|---|---|---|
| 102-1 | Transition plan for climate change mitigation | Connects the plan to targets, actions, resources, governance and progress; explains absence of a plan where relevant. |
| 102-2 | Climate change adaptation plan | Requires a distinct account of adaptation impacts, actions, resources and governance; explains absence where relevant. |
| 102-3 | Just transition | Brings impacts on workers, communities and other affected groups into climate reporting. |
| 102-4 | GHG emissions reduction targets and progress | Strengthens boundary, baseline, milestones, methods, progress and explanation of performance. |
| 102-5 | Scope 1 GHG emissions | Gross inventory with methods, gases, consolidation approach and contextual information. |
| 102-6 | Scope 2 GHG emissions | Gross location-based and, where relevant, market-based information with methods and instruments. |
| 102-7 | Scope 3 GHG emissions | Gross inventory across relevant value-chain categories, with category-level transparency and data quality. |
| 102-8 | GHG emissions intensity | Ratios linked to clear numerator, denominator, scope and methodology. |
| 102-9 | GHG removals in the value chain | Reports removals separately, including storage, permanence, reversals, uncertainty and impacts. |
| 102-10 | Carbon credits | Reports cancellations, project information, quality criteria, purpose and impacts on people and nature. |
In practice
1
| 1 | Lock publication timing and standards. Identify every report, web publication an |
|---|---|
| 2 | Map the legacy disclosures. Trace GRI 201-2 and GRI 305-1 to 305-5 to the new GRI 102 architecture and identify information that has no direct one-to-one successor. |
| 3 | Assess plan readiness. Inventory mitigation and adaptation plans, owners, approvals, actions, resources, dependencies and progress evidence. |
| 4 | Build the just-transition evidence stream. Map affected workers, communities, suppliers and stakeholder-engagement records to transition actions. |
| 5 | Upgrade the emissions inventory. Reconcile Scope 1, Scope 2 and relevant Scope 3 categories; lock boundaries, factors, gases, methods and review controls. |
| 6 | Separate the four ledgers. Maintain emissions, target progress, removals and carbon credits as distinct datasets with documented reconciliation. |
| 7 | Test nature and social safeguards. Review biodiversity, land, water, rights and community impacts of mitigation, adaptation, removals and credit projects. |
| 8 | Dry-run the content index. Prepare the proposed GRI 102 rows, locations, omissions, evidence owners and sign-off before the reporting year closes. |
Hypothetical scenario
ILLUSTRATIVE SCENARIO - NOT COMPANY DATA
A manufacturer has a 2035 emissions-reduction target and publishes annual Scope 1 and Scope 2 totals. Its current report does not distinguish a mitigation transition plan from a list of projects, has incomplete purchased-goods data, and treats forestry credits as an adjustment to reported emissions. Under a GRI 102 readiness review, the company creates a governed transition-plan record, separates adaptation, screens just-transition impacts at two plants, completes a 15-category Scope 3 assessment, reports gross emissions before credits, and establishes separate removals and credit registers. The company still reports limitations where supplier data are incomplete; it does not wait for perfect data to explain the boundary, methods and improvement plan.
Illustrative only. It shows how the decision is made, not wording that can be copied or relied on.
In practice
Weak statement
| Weak statement | Why it is weak | Stronger reporting pattern |
|---|---|---|
| “We are aligned with net zero and offset all remaining emissions.” | No boundary, target basis, gross inventory, progress, credit quality or distinction between reductions and compensation. | Report gross Scope 1-3 emissions, target boundary and baseline, progress from actual reductions, then describe removals and cancelled credits separately. |
| “Our transition will create green jobs.” | Unsupported positive claim; no affected groups, locations, losses, skills gap or engagement evidence. | Describe both positive and negative impacts, affected workers and communities, engagement, mitigation and indicators. |
| “Scope 3 is estimated.” | No category, source hierarchy, assumptions or coverage information. | Break down relevant categories and explain data sources, estimation methods, coverage, limitations and improvement actions. |
In practice
Mistake
| Mistake | Why it matters | Correction |
|---|---|---|
| Treating GRI 102 as a renumbered GRI 305 | Misses plans, adaptation, just transition, removals, credits and new evidence dependencies. | Re-design the disclosure architecture and ownership model. |
| Using the financial-year label as the effective-date test | Can result in using withdrawn disclosures in a report published after 1 January 2027. | Use publication date and document the transition decision. |
| Combining removals, credits and emissions in one net figure | Obscures operational performance and quality risks. | Maintain separate gross and supplemental datasets. |
| Reporting a target without progress logic | A commitment is not performance evidence. | Disclose baseline, boundary, milestones, methods, changes, actual progress and explanation. |
| Ignoring biodiversity impacts of climate actions | A climate-positive action can create significant nature or community harm. | Apply location-specific safeguards and cross-reference GRI 101 where relevant. |
In practice
Myth
| Myth | Reality |
|---|---|
| “We can wait until 2027 to begin because that is the effective date.” | For reports published in early 2027, 2026 is the data-building and governance year. Plans, Scope 3 categories, worker/community evidence and controls cannot be created after publication. |
| “If no transition plan exists, the disclosure is not applicable.” | The Standard provides specific reporting for the absence of a plan. The absence itself may be reportable and should not be disguised as non-applicability. |
| “One GHG inventory automatically satisfies GRI, ESRS and IFRS S2.” | A shared inventory can reduce duplication, but each framework has its own objective, materiality lens, boundary, contextual disclosures and claim requirements. |
Technical status
LEGAL AND TECHNICAL NOTE
This transition guide is based on the final GRI 102: Climate Change 2025 and official FAQ current at the source-check date. It does not determine which disclosures are relevant to a particular organisation, replace the official Standard, or provide greenhouse-gas assurance. Confirm publication timing, Sector Standard alignment and any later interpretations before release.
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The checklists as a working spreadsheet
Every checklist and table on this page, with empty status, owner and evidence columns for your team to fill in and keep.
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