The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), one of the major sustainability accounting framework organizations, called for the now-voluntary reporting of environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics be made mandatory. The GRI made the call in its response to the IFRS Foundation's consultation paper on the possibility of a new Sustainability Standards Board.

"For sustainability reporting to truly contribute to better decision-making, sustainability reporting should become mandatory," said the response. "Currently it is by and large a voluntary practice.The lack of mandatory reporting affects the consistency, comparability, transparency and overall quality of disclosures, even in light of sincere best efforts that reporting organizations may make.The challenge ahead for sustainability reporting is to reach the same level of consistency that the IFRS has achieved for financial reporting in almost all jurisdictions around the world."

The problems with the mostly voluntary nature of sustainability reporting has become increasingly apparent over the past few years. Steven S. Mezzio, who teaches sustainability accounting at Pace University, and who previously served as chair of the Society’s Future of Accounting Education Committee and a member of its Sustainability Committee, noted in a Trusted Professional article on the subject that, without mandatory standards, entities can be selective about what kind of information they disclose. So a soft drink conglomerate might release glowing reports about its water management work in Africa, while being more taciturn about, say, the public health impact of its products. This type of imbalance, he said, arises because sustainability accounting does not currently have the same reporting infrastructure as financial accounting.

The GRI, meanwhile, demurred when it came to the possibility of a new sustainability board run by the IFRS Foundation. Rather than a yes or no answer as to whether this would be a good idea, the GRI said in its response that the IFRS Foundation can play a key role in filling the gaps that are not covered by current organizations, particularly the financial implications of sustainability issues. While the GRI did not outright say it would be against the foundation forming a board of its own, it said, "[W]e believe it will be key for the IFRS to assess whether the creation of a new standards board is warranted. It would need to be evaluated whether the mandate of the new board is sufficiently distinct from the mandate of the IASB."