Sustainable World 2008

8/8/2019 Sustainable World 2008

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How ISOs technicalprogramme and standardscontribute to a sustainable world

International

Organization for

Standardization

environmental integrity

social equity

economic growth


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How ISO contributes to a sustainable world 2008

The purpose of this brochure is to pro-

vide a concise overview of how ISOs

technical programme, which has so far

produced more than 17 400 Internation-

al Standards, contribute to a sustaina-

ble world.

To learn more about ISO, how it works,

what its standards can help to achieve,

how to participate. Access these pub-

lications free-of-charge on ISOs Web

site :www.iso.org

ISOs technical programme in support o a sustainable world

ParticipatinginInternat

ionalStandardization


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How ISO contributes to a sustainable world 2008 1

ISO a multi-sector, multi-stake-

holder international organization is

the leading producer o consensus-

based International Standards. ISOs

membership comprises the national

standards bodies o 157 countries.This network is complemented by

more than 600 international and re-

gional partners and the direct partic-

ipation o close to 100 000 experts.

With a current portolio o more than

17 400 International Standards and

related documents, ISO delivers al-

most 100 new or revised standardseach month covering a broad scope

o issues, technologies and econom-

ic sectors. The system allows or ex-

tensive stakeholder involvement and

consultation.

ISOs national members are respon-

sible or organizing national input to

the development o ISO International

Standards and are open to, and en-

gage, dierent stakeholder groups.

A liaison mechanism also allows awide range o international or broad-

ly based regional stakeholder organ-

izations to participate directly in the

technical work o ISO committees.

Key principles such as transparency,

openness and consensus are un-

damental to ISOs working practices

and global relevance. These under-pin and complete the whole system

to ensure that ISO is a trusted part-

ner or developing standards con-

tributing to the objectives o sustain-

able development.

The ISO standards development system


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2 How ISO contributes to a sustainable world 2008

Indeed, International Standards o

the type developed by ISO, based

on a double level o consensus

between stakeholders and between

countries contribute to the three

dimensions o sustainable develop-ment economic, environmental and

social. They:

support the facilitation of glo-

bal trade, the dissemination o

new technologies, good business

practice and the relations between

economic actors

supportgoodenvironmentalprac-

tice and inormation, energy ei-

ciency and the dissemination o

new, eco-riendly and energy per-

ormance technologies

contributetoconsumerprotection,

saety at work, healthcare, securi-

ty and other social interests which

may require technical or manage-

ment standards or the related

products and services.

The ISO Strategic Plan 2005-2010

relects and enhances this contribu-

tion and is placed under the general

heading o Standards or a sustaina-

ble world.


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Market and regulatory requirements or

products and services now demand

not only the specication o technical

characteristics, but also those related to

the management o production and

distribution. Impacts on the environ-ment, energy consumption, health and

saety risks, security, traceability and

social responsibility are issues which

must be taken into account in the

design, production and distribution

o products and services. Interna-

tional Standards help to avoid such

considerations becoming unjustied

barriers to trade and can acilitate thedissemination o good practice and

related technical solutions.

ISO has closely reviewed its technical

work in the context o sustainable de-

velopment. In particular, a Task Force

was established under ISOs Technical

Management Board (see next page)

and given the responsibility o iden-tiying ISOs current and potential

contribution to sustainable develop-

ment, It was also asked to investigate

the establishment o mechanisms

to enable a coordinated approach

across all ISO technical committees,

the bodies which actually develop

ISO standards.

As a irst step, ISOs technical com-

mittees were asked how their stand-

ards contributed to sustainable

development. For some committees

dealing with broad subjects, the con-

tribution to one or more o the three

components was obvious. However,

the responses rom committees in

very speciic technical ields were

also revealing.

Some examples o ISOs work which

illustrate current and potential u-

ture contributions to sustainable

development are highlighted in the

ollowing pages. It is worth noting that

during the consultation exercise, there

was great interest among the ISO

technical committees as a whole to

consider and address sustainabledevelopment matters in their work

programmes.

ISOs technical programme and sustainable development


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In addition to the technical inputs de-

scribed, ISOs standardization work

beneits rom strategic management

and policy inputs that also contribute

to sustainability.

The ISO Technical Management

Board (TMB) oversees the technical

committees and their standards de-

velopment programmes. It helps to

ensure that the development o ISO

standards is carried out eiciently

and eectively. By launching the de-

velopment o only those standards

or which a market requirement hasbeen established, the TMB makes

certain that redundant eort is avoid-

ed and that resources are used op-

timally.

In addition to this good steward-

ship o the process and associat-

ed resources, which is itsel a con-

tribution to sustainable development,

the TMB explores the strategic need

or new standardization initiatives tohelp solve challenges acing the glo-

bal community and then attributes

the practical realization o the work to

existing technical committees or new

structures. Recent examples include

energy management, societal securi-

ty and supply chain security.

The ISO system also includes threepolicy development committees which

explore the standardization needs o

the broad categories o stakehold-

ers whose interests they represent.

They then make recommendations

or these needs to be taken account

o in the development o standards,

or, in the case o ISO/CASCO (see

next page) develop standards them-

selves.

The ISO Committee on consumer pol-

icy (ISO/COPOLCO) helps to ensure

that ISO standards support the devel-

opment and trading o products and

services that better meet consumers

expectations in areas such as design,

perormance, saety, quality and reliabil-

ity. Policy recommendations and/or ex-

ploratory work by ISO/COPOLCO haveled to the launching o ISO standards in

areas o clear relevance to sustainable

development such as environmental

labelling, services and social respon-

sibility.

Policy inputs to ISOs standards development programme


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The ISO Committee on developing

country matters (ISO/DEVCO) advis-

es on training, capacity building and

inormation programmes to help de-

veloping countries derive optimal

benets rom International Standardsand to participate to the maximum in

international standardization. Its work

thus impacts positively on the eco-

nomic and social aspects o sustain-

able development.

Many developing countries are also

keenly interested in such matters as

environmental management and so-cial responsibility or questions o in-

telligent use o resources and socially

responsible develoment, Thus, ISO/

DEVCO provides a practical comple-

ment to responsible, inclusive and

sustainable standardization and de-

velopment.

The ISO Committee on conormity

assessment (ISO/CASCO) develops

standards and guides or conorm-

ity assessment. Conormity assess-

ment is the name given to the proc-

esses that are used to demonstrate

that a product, service, management

system, or organizational processes

meet specied requirements.

The use o ISO/IEC* conormity as-

sessment standards allows or harmo-nization o such activities throughout

the world and this, in turn, not only a-

cilitates trade within countries, but al-

so acilitates trade internationally by

giving all purchasers o the product

or service greater condence that it

meets the requirements. In acilitating

international trade and creating con-

dence among regulators, users and

consumers, conormity assessment

standards contribute to global e-ciency and the economic dimension

o sustainable development.

* IEC (International Electrotechnical Com-

mission)


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Examples o contributions to sustainabledevelopment by ISOs technical programme

Buildings

ISO has a strong standardization pro-

gramme or the building sector with

several technical committees active.

ISO/TC 59, Building construction, isparticularly relevant to sustainable de-

velopment, producing standards that

address environmental aspects. They

also address broader issues such as

accessibility and usability which have

a social dimension.

Another committee, ISO/TC 163, Ther-

mal perormance and energy use inthe built environment, is dedicated to

improving the energy perormance o

buildings. By providing accurate meas-

urement methods or the thermal prop-

erties o building products and whole

buildings, the committee is providing

tools or the ecient use o energy and

the reduction o greenhouse gas emis-

sions.

ISO/TC 71, Concrete, notes that the de-

terioration o concrete can be a signi-

cant problem in buildings and civil en-

gineering structures. A large amount o

resources and energy are consumed

during construction o these structures.

Thereore, it is very important to pro-

long their lie span. The committee is

in the process o developing standards

or the maintenance and repair o con-crete structures that will have important

impacts on their useable lietime. The

committee has also started work on a

standard or environmental manage-

ment in the sector.


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Energy

ISO has recently ocused on activities

in the ield o energy. At the strategic

level, an advisory group on energy

eiciency and renewable energysources has been established to

examine new opportunities in the

ield and to ensure optimal use o

ISOs existing contributions in these

important areas. At the technical level,

ISO has established a new project

committee to develop a standard on

energy management. This is intended

to be a systems approach to tackleenergy eiciency improvement in

all organizations in developed and

developing economies.

optimal eiciency, energy is lost in

the orm o heat. Individual machine

energy losses may be relatively small

but, considering the vast number o

mechanical machine installations in

the world not operating at their op-timum, the total loss may be enor-

mous. Standards rom ISO/TC 108,

help machines to run eiciently.

ISO technical committees already

dealing with renewable energies

include ones working on solar (ISO/

TC 180) and hydrogen (ISO/TC 197)

standards, while another committee

is working on standards or technicalenergy systems (ISO/TC 203). ISO

is also developing standards or

biouels

An example o an indirect contri-

bution o ISOs work to energy sav-

ing was provided by ISO/TC 108,

Mechanical vibration and shock. The

committee noted that careul moni-toring and maintenance o machines,

vehicles and structures result in both

improved eiciency o operation and

longer operating lie. For example,

when a machine is not operating at Hydrogen passenger vehicle.


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Environment

Since 1993, ISO/TC 207, Environ-

mental management, has been a

leader in this ield. All o the commit-

tees work contributes to improvedenvironmental management and sus-

tainable development. Speciically, it

has developed standards on environ-

mental management systems (EMS),

greenhouse gas accounting and ver-

iication, environmental auditing, en-

vironmental labelling, lie-cycle as-

sessment, and environmental per-

ormance evaluation. ISO/TC 207 isnow working on new areas such as

carbon ootprint quantiication.

However, ISOs activities to support

environmental improvement are not

limited to one committee there is a

wealth o other technical work which

may be considered to make important

contributions to environmental protec-

tion and related matters. One exam-

ple, ISO/TC 43, Acoustics, provides

methods or measuring noise emis-

sions rom a range o sources and in

dierent environments. These stand-

ards aim to create a better sound en-

vironment and can thereore help im-

prove quality o lie.

ISO also has committees developing

standards on air quality. A good in-

door environment is dependent on the

quality o the supplied air. ISO/TC 142,

Cleaning equipment or air and other


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gases, develops standards or air l-

ters. The correct specication o lters

is a prerequisite or the correct unc-

tioning o ventilation systems, to pro-

tect humans and the environment and

to improve indoor air quality.

ISO/TC 146, Air quality, develops stand-

ards or characterisation o emissions,

workspace air, ambient air and indoor

air. In particular, the committee provides

measurement methods or air pollutants.

Horizontal resources also exist to

assist committees in their eorts to

urther sustainable development. For

example, ISO/TC 207, Environmental

management, can advise committees

on any environmental issue they ace

when developing their standards.

In addition, ISO/TC 207 helped to

develop ISO/IEC Guide 67, Guide

or the inclusion o environmental as-

pects in product standards.

Existing technical committees also

deal with soil quality (ISO/TC 190)and water quality (ISO/TC 147)


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Fire saety

ISO has two committees involvedwith ire saety, both strongly sup-porting the social pillar o sustaina-ble development, in addition to cer-

tain considerations o environmentalissues. ISO/TC 21, Equipment or ireprotection and ire ighting, has de-veloped standards or eicient waterdelivery and dispersal equipment.For example, an eective sprinklersystem results in less water beingused to extinguish a ire. The com-mittee has also developed stand-

ards or systems using oam andpowder, and standards or systemsusing gaseous extinguishing mediaagents, that contribute to improved

design and increased eiciency o

the system, thus preventing the use

o excessive amounts o agents that

would unnecessarily harm the envi-

ronment.

The other ISO committee in this area

is ISO/TC 92, Fire saety, which has

recently started two new projects,one on a standard to assess the ad-

verse environmental impact o ire

eluents and another on contain-

ment systems or the prevention o

pollution arising rom uncontrolled

ire water run-o.


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Food

ISO/TC 34, Food products, has been

providing essential test methods or

the ood industry or more than 50

years. Its standards have acilitated

trade in speciic ood products, thus

helping developed and developing

countries to trade whilst helping to

ensure consumer saety.

From the environmental and social

perspectives, the committee has pro-

duced several methods or detect-

ing genetically modiied organisms

in ood products. More recently, the

committee has developed standards

which are dedicated to improving the

management o, and traceability in,

the entire ood chain.

Health

ISO has extensive and long-estab-

lished activities in support o health

care, which is a major issue in the so-

cial dimension. Seventeen ISO com-

mittees currently address matters re-

lated to health. One ocus is on the

quality, saety, clinical evaluation and

cleanliness o medical devices to im-

prove patient saety.

There is also strong activity in the eld

o health inormatics (ISO/TC 215)

where the standards will be used to

help achieve compatibility and interop-

erability between computer systems, in

order to improve access to healthcare

inormation to the benet o patients

and those who und healthcare.


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Nanotechnologies

Many ISO committees develop stand-

ards which will help bring new tech-

nologies to market and disseminate

them to everyones beneit. ISO/TC

229, Nanotechnologies, provides a

good example. This technology has

great potential or healthcare and

scientiic applications. In addition

to tackling environmental and sae-

ty challenges with nanotechnologies,

the committee will examine standards

that have the potential to reduce ma-

terial usage and to support improvedenvironmental clean-up methods and

operations.

People with disabilities

The work o ISO/TC 173, Assistive

products or persons with disabil-

ity, is helping to improve the quali-

ty o lie or persons with disability

another contribution to the social di-

mension. This committee has nearly

70 standards or a diverse range o

products rom wheelchairs to envi-

ronmental controls or daily living.

The subject area has also been dealt

with in the context o construction

where ISO/TC 59, Building construc-

tion, has developed standards or

accessibility and usability o the built

environment.


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Quality management

It can be argued that all ISO stand-

ards contribute to the economic di-

mension. However, the work o ISO/

TC 176, Quality management and

quality assurance, perhaps pro-

vides the best known example o

how standards support the economy.

Standards rom ISO/TC 176 such as

ISO 9001 are used in all types o or-

ganizations all over the world. They

cover subjects which are undamen-

tal to economic development such as

the eicient use o resources to sat-isy customer and regulatory require-

ments, continual improvement o per-

ormance and complaints handling.

A generic guide (ISO/IEC Guide 71)

to help standards writers to address

the needs o older people and peo-

ple with disabilities has also been

published. This makes available im-

portant knowledge o these areas to

all ISO technical committees.


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Social responsibility

Organizations around the world and

their stakeholders are becoming in-

creasingly aware o the need or so-

cially responsible behaviour. The aim

o social responsibility is to contrib-

ute to sustainable development. ISO is

working on an International Standard,

ISO 26000, to give voluntary guidance

or social responsibility (SR). The work

aims to encourage voluntary commit-

ment to SR and will lead to common

guidance on making SR operational in

organizations.

The standard will be usable by organ-

izations o all sizes and in all coun-

tries, at every stage o development.

To refect the innovative nature o the

project, ISO and its members have

made strong eorts to ensure that the

standard will have a broad input by all

stakeholders with a serious interest in

SR.


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Transport

ISO/TC 8, Ships and marine technol-

ogy, works closely with international

and regional governmental authorities

in both the maritime and supply chain

elds. It thereore responds to regula-

tory needs wherever possible and, as

such, sustainable development princi-

ples have been a driver or the commit-

tee in all its work. As well as acilitating

trade and, thereore, the economic di-

mension o sustainability, the commit-

tee has addressed issues such as sup-

ply chain security (social dimension)and, more recently, recycling which will

help lower the environmental impact o

decommissioning ships.

The work o ISO/TC 104, Freight con-

tainers, has standardized the interna-

tional reight container, helping to un-

derpin the trade in goods and signi-

icantly contribute to the reduction o

pollution associated with the move-

ment o reight. The committees work

has also helped to greatly increase the

security o goods in transit. On the ba-

sis o tons o cargo moved, a typical

modern containership utilizing stand-

ards rom ISO/TC 104 consumes 60 %

less uel and produces 60 % less CO2

emissions than would a similar capac-

ity series o break bulk ships. In addi-tion, much o the worlds aid shipments

are supplied using the ISO standard-

ized reight container.

Another committee, ISO/TC 204, In-

telligent transport systems, provides

standards or road telematics and sat-

ellite navigation technology which can

be used to support ecient and eec-

tive transport policies with economic,

environmental and social implications.


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Water

There are a number o activities in this

sector where a contribution to sustain-

able development is evident. The work

o ISO/TC 224, Service activities relat-

ing to drinking water supply systems

and wastewater systems Quality cri-

teria o the service and perormance

indicators, is directly aimed at promot-

ing sustainable development in the wa-

ter services eld, ocusing on improve-

ment o the services to users and im-

proving the management o wastewa-

ter and drinking water utilities.

In addition, ISO/TC 147, Water quality,

is dedicated to providing harmonized

methods or measuring and monitoring

water quality.

ISO/TC 30, Measurement o fuid fow

in closed conduits, has a subcommit-

tee which develops standards or wa-

ter meters, contributing to sustainable

development in the social and environ-

mental dimensions. Direct measure-

ment in homes helps individual water

consumption monitoring, thus encour-

aging improved drinking water usage,

water conservation and reduction o

water waste. Standards developed by

ISO/TC 30 also help water suppliers to

reduce water losses in their distribution

systems.

Finally, the ISO International Workshop

Agreement IWA 6, Guidelines or the

management o drinking water utilities

under crisis conditions, disseminates

good practice in keeping the worlds

drinking water supplies sae and se-

cure.


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The uture

To guide individual ISO committees that

wish to better address sustainable de-

velopment in their work and to ensure

coordination across ISOs technical

activities, the ISO TMB has approved

a resolution establishing a number o

general principles. When a commit-

tee in any sector wishes to develop a

standard dealing with sustainable de-

velopment :

Thestandardmustremainwithinthe

context o the committees scope o

work

ThecommitteeshouldnotifytheTMB

o the title and scope o the proposed

standard as early as possible

The committee undertaking such

work should clariy its intentions in

the introduction o the specic pro-

posed standard(s)

The committee should note that

the most widely used denition osustainable development is the one

rom the 1987 Report o the Unit-

ed Nations World Commission on

Environment and Development (the

Brundtland Commission) : meet-

ing the needs o the present with-

out compromising the ability o

uture generations to meet their own

needs.

In summary, ISOs standards help to

provide the international community

with the practical tools necessary or

achieving its aspirations or sustaina-

ble development and the organization

will continue to use its capacity to sup-

port the concept. The theme o Stand-

ards or a sustainable world is central

to the ISO Strategy 2005-2010and will

undoubtedly be reinorced in its strate-

gic planning or 2011 and beyond.


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More inormation

ISO Online

ISOs Web site www.iso.org provides a

wealth o inormation on the organiza-

tion, its activities and standards.

The Standards development link on thehome page leads to inormation includ-

ing the complete list o ISOs technical

committees, the standards they have

developed, their work programmes

and business plans.

The About ISO link on the home page

leads to inormation including on the

ISO system, its structure, and its man-agement organs including the Techni-

cal Management Board.

The Management standards link on the

home page leads to inormation includ-

ing on the ISO 9000 and ISO 14000

amilies.

The Resources or section on the

home page includes links or ISOspolicy development committees or

consumers, developing country mat-

ters and conormity assessment and

to the ISO social responsibility site

www.iso.org/sr


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ISOs magazines

ISO Focus News and views on

ISOs positive contribution to econom-

ic growth, environmental integrity and

societal equity through standards or

technology dissemination, global in-

teroperability, testing and conormi-

ty assessment, quality, health, sae-

ty, security and the environment.

Eleven issues a year. English only.

www.iso.org/isoocus

ISO Management Systems World-

wide coverage o ISO 9000 and ISO

14000 developments. Plusnew man-

agement system standards or inor-

mation security, ood saety, supply

chain security. Plus new initiatives

or important business and societal

issues such as social responsibili-

ty, sustainability, occupational health

and saety and conormity assess-

ment. Plussector developments and

national initiatives. Six issues a year.

English, French and Spanish edi-

tions. www.iso.org/ims


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ISO and international standardization

ISO is the International Organiza-

tion or Standardization. It has a

membership o 157 national standards

institutes rom countries large and

small, industrialized and develop-ing, in all regions o the world. ISO

develops voluntary technical standards

which add value to all types o busi-

ness operations. They contribute to the

dissemination o technology and good

business practices. They support the

development, manuacturing and sup-

ply o more efcient, saer and cleaner

products and services. They make

trade between countries easier and

airer. ISO standards also saeguard

users and consumers, and make many

aspects o their lives simpler.

ISO develops only those standards

that are required by the market. This

work is carried out by experts coming

rom the industrial, technical and busi-

ness sectors which have asked or thestandards, and which subsequently

put them to use. These experts may

be joined by others with relevant

knowledge, such as representatives

o government agencies, consumer

organizations, academia and testing

laboratories.

Published under the designation o In-

ternational Standards, ISO standards

represent an international consensus

on the state o the art in the technol-

ogy or good practice concerned.

environmental integrity

social equity

economic growth


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ISO Central Secretariat

International Organizationfor Standardization

1, chemin de la Voie-Creuse

Case posatle 56

CH-1211 Genve 20

Switzerland

Tel. + 41 22 749 01 11

Fax + 41 22 733 34 30

E-mail [email protected]

Web www.iso.org

ISBN 978-92-67-10484-3 ISO, 2008-09 / 2 500 Printed in Switzerland

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Sustainable World 2008