The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) have signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement to advance the Improving Transparency for Sustainable Business (ITSB) Initiative in Bangladesh’s Textile and Apparel sector.
Building on close collaboration since 2025, the formal signing of this agreement marks a significant step in institutionalizing the partnership between BGMEA and GRI under the multi-year ITSB Initiative.
As a Strategic Partner, BGMEA will provide sector leadership to advance a shared vision for transparent, responsible, and sustainable business practices in Bangladesh’s Textile and Apparel sector.
The collaboration will strengthen the capacity of businesses and wider stakeholders to identify, manage, and report their most significant sustainability impacts using the GRI Standards, complementing evolving investor-focused sustainability disclosure requirements with information on organizations’ impacts on the economy, environment, and people.
The partnership comes at an important time as Bangladesh continues to strengthen its sustainability disclosure architecture and align with evolving global reporting expectations.
For a sector deeply connected to international markets and value chains, credible sustainability reporting can help businesses respond to buyers, investors, regulators, workers, communities, and wider stakeholders, while supporting more informed decision-making on risks, opportunities, impacts, and long-term value creation.
The ITSB Initiative is designed as a multi-stakeholder capacity-building platform for businesses — including small, medium, and large enterprises — as well as regulators, industry associations, investors, and other national stakeholders.
The collaboration will include online and in-person dialogues, trainings, webinars, workshops, consultations, surveys, and other engagement activities during the initiative. The initiative will go beyond a single thematic focus and progressively address sector-relevant environmental, social, and economic impacts aligned with the GRI Standards.
The partnership also creates an important opportunity for Bangladesh’s Textile and Apparel sector to contribute to global sustainability reporting developments.
The ITSB Initiative is aligned with GRI’s ongoing standard-setting work, including the Textile and Apparel Sector Standard, as well as projects related to Labor Topics and Economic Impact Topics. Through consultations and structured stakeholder engagement, organizations will have the opportunity to share sectoral priorities, practical realities, and feedback with the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB).
The Sustainability Nexus (SusNex), as ITSB’s Training and Outreach Partner in Bangladesh, will support the development and delivery of nationally contextualized trainings, workshops, webinars, and stakeholder engagements.
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The initiative has already demonstrated strong sectoral traction through successive engagements in May and July 2026, attracting close to 300 registrations collectively, from businesses, associations, regulators and wider stakeholders across Bangladesh’s Textile and Apparel sector.
The May Masterclass established a practical foundation around environmental and social impacts, enabling participants to identify impacts, prioritize stakeholders, and determine material topics through relatable hypothetical business cases.
A baseline survey conducted ahead of the engagement helped validate the programme’s approach and highlighted participants’ expectations for continued capacity building on GRI standards, especially the upcoming Textile and Apparel Sector Standard, and access to digital reporting tools and solutions.
Building on this foundation, the July roundtable and Masterclass – Edition II expanded the focus to social and economic impacts, regulatory linkages, disclosure quality, and the decision-usefulness of sustainability information for investors. Through the “Impact-to-Disclosure Lab” and “Investor Lens on Disclosures,” participants translated business impacts into meaningful GRI disclosures and assessed their relevance from an investor perspective.
The strong appreciation for these practical group workshops has established a solid foundation for continued sector engagement, enterprise-level support, consultations, and future impact reporting initiatives under the partnership.
Speaking on the partnership, Bastian Buck, Chief of Standards, GRI said:
“This ITSB Strategic Partnership Agreement with BGMEA marks an important step in strengthening sustainability transparency and impact-based reporting in Bangladesh’s Textile and Apparel sector. Through ITSB, we look forward to working collaboratively with BGMEA, businesses, regulators, investors, and other stakeholders to strengthen the practical application of the GRI Standards—supporting organizations to identify, manage, and transparently report their most significant impacts.”
He aded, “The partnership also creates an important channel for the sector’s experience, priorities, and practical realities to inform wider sustainability reporting discussions, including GRI’s ongoing work on the Textile and Apparel Sector Standard. By connecting global reporting standards with nationally relevant capacity building and stakeholder dialogue, we aim to support more credible, decision-useful disclosures and contribute to a more transparent, responsible, and competitive sector in Bangladesh.”
Mr. Wasim Zakariah, Chairman, Standing Committee on Responsible Business Hub (RBH) and Sustainability Reporting, BGMEA, said:
“Bangladesh’s garment industry is making significant progress in environmental sustainability, workplace safety, and responsible business practices. The next step is to strengthen how companies measure, manage, and communicate their sustainability performance.”
He also said, “Through this partnership with GRI under the ITSB Initiative, we hope to support businesses in building practical knowledge on sustainability reporting and impact disclosure. Greater transparency will not only help companies respond to evolving expectations from international buyers, investors, and regulators, but also enable them to better understand their own risks, opportunities, and areas for improvement.”
By combining GRI’s global expertise in sustainability reporting, BGMEA’s sector leadership, and SusNex’s training and outreach support, the partnership aims to foster a stronger national dialogue on responsible business conduct, support a more coherent sustainability reporting architecture serving both capital markets and wider stakeholders, and contribute to a more transparent, competitive, and future-ready Textile and Apparel sector in Bangladesh.