How standards can help businesses unlock the potential of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals

The United Nations’ (UN) ambitious strategy to end poverty by 2030 and make significant global social and environmental progress could create almost 380m jobs and opportunities worth $12trn (£9trn) in sectors ranging from affordable housing and energy efficiency to circular economy models and advances in healthcare, according to the Business and Sustainable Development Commission.

However, when the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are underpinned by 169 targets, were formally launched in 2016, the Commission stated that 'most businesses have barely registered the importance of working sustainably'.

The challenge remains getting organizations at scale to recognize the benefits of working with sustainability in mind and to begin implementing measures that will lead to significant, transformational change.

The key, therefore, is to help businesses better understand the SDGs, ‘translate’ these into a business context and introduce impactful measures to align with the SDGs. In other words, to encourage them to take action in a meaningful, consistent manner that supports their individual purpose, strategy and sustainability experience/progress to date. Standards have a clear role to play in this process.

The 17 goals

•SDG 1 End poverty in all its forms everywhere

•SDG 2 End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture

•SDG 3 Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

•SDG 4 Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

•SDG 5 Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

•SDG 6 Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

•SDG 7 Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all

•SDG 8 Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth; full and productive employment; and decent work for all

•SDG 9 Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation

•SDG 10 Reduce inequality within and among countries

•SDG 11 Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

•SDG 12 Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

•SDG 13 Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

•SDG 14 Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development

•SDG 15 Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems; sustainably manage forests; combat desertification; halt and reverse land degradation; and halt biodiversity loss

•SDG 16 Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development; provide access to justice for all; and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

•SDG 17 Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development.

Standards as a framework for sustainability

'Voluntary International Standards can contribute not only to high-level policy initiatives, but also by providing solutions that will be needed in order to achieve many of the SDGs,' says the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

It adds: 'They provide a harmonized, stable and globally recognized framework for the dissemination and use of technologies, and encompass best practices and agreements that encourage more equitable development and promote the overall growth of society.'

In other words, standards help businesses to operate sustainably.

UNIDO notes that standards have 'always played an important role' in this area and have evolved to address other key components of the sustainable development agenda. This has been done by incorporating sustainable-related issues into traditional core standards and by developing specific standards that relate to sustainability issues.

This progress has meant that standards can now 'support the achievement of just about all the SDGs,' the agency argues.

What standards apply?

Speaking at last year’s annual meeting of the ISO Committee on developing country matters (DEVCO), Cecile Fruman, World Bank Group Director, Trade and Competitiveness Global Practices, put into context just how wide-ranging standards are today.

She said: 'ISO’s portfolio of more than 21,000 standards provides practical tools for all three dimensions of sustainable development: economic, environmental and societal.'

However, there are certain key standards which support sustainable development more broadly.

ISO 26000

The extent to which an organization contributes to sustainable development and its impact on society and the environment is known as 'social responsibility'. It is increasingly becoming a critical measure of performance, with it influencing everything from an organization’s reputation to its ability to attract high-calibre employees.

ISO 26000 ‘Guidance on social responsibility’ was dubbed the 'most comprehensive guidance of what an organization should do to contribute to sustainable development' by Fruman.

It provides guidance on how organizations can operate in an ethical and transparent way that contributes to sustainable development, while taking into account the expectations of stakeholders, applicable laws and international forms of behaviour.

ISO 26000 offers 450 recommendations related to the SDGs, addressing seven core areas of social responsibility:

•Organizational governance

•Human rights

•Labour practices

•The environment

•Fair operating practices

•Consumer issues

•Community involvement and development.

ISO 14000

The ISO 14000 family of standards provides practical tools for organizations looking to manage their environmental responsibilities.

ISO 14001 ‘Environmental management systems’ focuses on the environmental systems that allow organizations to manage their responsibilities but also covers specific approaches such as environmental audits, communications, labelling and life cycle analysis, as well as managing environmental challenges, such as the impact of climate change. The success of ISO 14001 as a tool for implementing a more systematic process of environmental management has been the growth of accredited certification, with ISO reporting in 2016 a year-on-year increase of 8% between 2014 and 2015, more than double the average 3% increase in other ISO certificates.  

The full suite of environmental management standards support many of the SDGs, such as those relating to clean water and sanitation, greenhouse gas management and climate action, life below water and life on land.

In addition to ISO 26000 and the ISO 14000 family of standards, there are other key standards which pertain to numerous areas of the SDGs, one recent, innovative example being BSI’s BS 8001 ‘Circular Economy’. This standard can support alignment to SDG 12 on resource consumption by providing organizations with guidance on the principles of ‘circularity’ (where resources used to manufacture products or deliver services are recovered at their highest quality and kept in circulation for as long as possible).

Finding the right standards for your business

Combined with other tools and mechanisms (such as national and international policies, fiscal measures, etc.), standards are a powerful knowledge tool that can support the global implementation and long-term achievement of the SDGs.

To maximize the strengths that standards and standardization offer, businesses could be, as a starting point, encouraged to work out how the SDGs fit in with their existing sustainability plans and activities – then identify what standards will help ‘translate’ and embed the goals into their strategy and enable them to put everything into practice.

Some businesses are further ahead in this journey; for those sustainability leaders, standards could prove a useful tool to further, maximize and disseminate their ongoing effort. Like governments, organizations won’t see fit to adopt all 17 goals but rather the ones which align to their individual businesses.

Those businesses that are successful in embedding sustainability in their organization will be duly rewarded, says Unilever’s CEO, Paul Polman.

'Business has the unique opportunity to embrace the SDG agenda and recognize it as a driver of business strategies, innovation and investment decisions. Doing so makes business sense and will give them an edge over their competitors,' he explains.

However, to fully support organizations trying to understand and contribute to the global achievement of the SDG targets, new standards may be necessary.

BSI is keen to hear about your experiences on all matters sustainability and welcomes suggestions for new standards that will support your objectives in this area. Please send your thoughts to sustainability@bsigroup.com.

BSI has also produced an online tool – the Sustainability Navigator – which can help improve understanding of the key standards that can support organizations trying to embed sustainability.