Enabling a Sustainable Future for the Business Community
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Recent research has shown that fewer than one in four of the world’s largest companies are on track to meet basic climate change targets, and that Europe will miss its 2030 climate goal by 21 years. Although there are an increasing number of net-zero corporate commitments and government targets, there is a lack of real direction for business leaders as to how these targets can be met. Governments and industry need clear, practical guidance to meet their net-zero ambitions. Standards can play a key role in providing that guidance, thereby accelerating progress.
The international standards system, which uses national delegations to develop consensus on best practices, is a trusted global framework that can deliver real, practical change through the promotion of common approaches to solving complex problems. For example, the international standard BS EN ISO/IEC 27001:2017 on information technology, based on British Standard BS 7799, has provided easy-to-use insight into managing cybersecurity risks for more than 15 years. And consensus doesn’t mean slow: International standards can be produced very rapidly; PD ISO/PAS 45005:2020 for safe working during Covid was developed during lockdown and published last year.
A large number of international standards are already available—and new standards are published all the time—that can support organizations in developing more sustainable processes, products and services. Standards are poised to redefine best practices around, among other things, energy-smart appliances and innovation in battery production—essential technologies that will accelerate our journey to a net-zero economy.
This year, BSI has worked with the other national members of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to agree that the content of all our standards should be aligned with the latest climate science. Together with President Eddy Njoroge and Secretary-General Sergio Mujica of ISO, we signed the London Declaration in September, committing BSI and ISO to embed key climate considerations into every new standard created. We will also retrospectively add these requirements to all existing standards as they are revised. This is change on an unparalleled scale because it is both systemic and highly practical at an organizational level.
BSI and ISO presented our work on sustainable finance, industrial biotechnology and voluntary carbon markets at COP26 in November. With ISO, we have developed a Climate Action Kit to illustrate through case studies how governments, industry and other stakeholders, working together on the role of standards and regulation to stimulate industry transformation, can accelerate market uptake and scale change.
There has never been a more important time for consensus best-practice standards that can respond to the global challenges of today and build trust and resilience to accelerate our transition to a more sustainable world. Sustainability and the digital economy are the principal drivers of our work to support government, industry and society in the decade ahead, and we welcome engagement with organizations and with business leaders, experts and consumers who want to get involved in shaping the standards we need for a future net-zero economy.
—Industry view from BSI
For more information about how BSI can help your organization be future-ready, please visit bsigroup.com.
This article originally appeared on Business Reporter. Image credit: iStock id1254709312
