environmental Strategist, between the lines: Back in the 90’s when ISO was preparing for the release of their ISO 9000 and 14000 standards I strategized how ISO would change the way business operates. Since then major corporations around the world have initiated the ISO standards and at the same time required their vendors/subs to also meet the ISO certification in order to do business.
ISO 26000 is different in that it addresses social responsibility (SR) but will not include requirements and will thus not be a certification standard. ISO 26000 will aim to encourage voluntary commitment to social responsibility and will lead to common guidance on concepts, definitions and methods of evaluation.
Transparency is impacting public and private organizations, part of this generalized requirement of society is to behave in a socially responsible way. ISO 26000 will impact industry, government, labor, consumers, nongovernmental organizations…., in addition to geographical and gender-based balance.
The ISO 26000 standard is being designed to:
- assist organizations in addressing their social responsibilities while respecting cultural, societal, environmental and legal differences and economic development conditions;
- provide practical guidance related to operationalizing social responsibility, identifying and engaging with stakeholders, and enhancing credibility of reports and claims made about social responsibility;
- emphasise performance results and improvement;
- increase confidence and satisfaction in organizations among their customers and other stakeholders;
- be consistent with and not in conflict with existing documents, international treaties and conventions and existing ISO standards;
- not be intended to reduce government’s authority to address the social responsibility of organizations;
- promote common terminology in the social responsibility field; and
- broaden awareness of social responsibility.
I feel ISO 26000 will have a greater impact than either ISO 9000 or 14000 based upon its primary goal to assist to become sustainable. ISO 26000 will again raise the bar for organizations to compete. To be sustainable a business must develop and execute their environmental Management Strategy (eMS). Note: If you do not have the competitive environmental intelligence on development and executions of an eMS let me know and I will forward it to you.
As this competitive environmental intelligence points out, ISO 26000 is on schedule to come out in 2008. By assisting your client’s today for ISO 26000, you will assist them in gaining a competitive advantage while being a strategic partner.
ISO’s developing social responsibility standard
GLOBE-Net, 1 March 2007 – The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) reports the core themes of the standard it is developing for social responsibility have been agreed upon and that the standard is on track to be published in 2008.
The ISO 26000 standard on social responsibility will be for use by organizations of all types, in both public and private sectors, in all countries. The standard will contain guidelines, not requirements, and will not be used as a management system standard or a certification standard.
However, the standard will enhance social responsibility efforts, and add value to existing public and private sector initiatives in the field, says ISO. Developing consistent standards for companies and organizations to apply to their operations is seen as an important way of encouraging social responsibility.
The standard will be aligned with the ten principles of the United Nation’s Global Compact, which cover human rights, labour standards, the environment, and corruption to encourage the private sector to support environmental and social values.
At the most recent meeting of the ISO Working Group on Social Responsibility, which is developing the standards, 275 people from 54 ISO member countries and 28 international organizations gathered in Sydney to find consensus on the core issues for ISO 26000.
Attendees included representatives from industry, government, labour, consumers, nongovernmental organizations, research and others. The meeting included increase participation by experts from developing countries and included a developing countries workshop.
Core issues were agreed upon and grouped in the following four clusters, with each assigned a drafting team:
- environment,
- human rights and labour practices,
- organizational governance and fair operating practices, and
- consumer issues and community involvement/society development.
The groups will now work to produce a third working draft for circulation and comment before the fifth Working Group meeting in November 2007.
At this working draft stage, ISO is aiming to build consensus among individual experts, while the next stage will aim to build consensus among the national standards bodies and international organizations participating.
Canadian participation in the process is by the Standards Council of Canada (SCC).
National ISO members are represented in the Working Group, as are liaisons from a number of international organizations, industry associations, and nongovernmental organizations.
Developing common standards for best practices in relation to environmental and social issues has been an important goal for many corporate responsibility initiatives, as companies and stakeholders seek clear guidance on how to implement, track, and report on progress in these areas.
Two such examples are the United Nations Global Compact and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), both of which are involved in the ISO 26000 development process. The GRI provides corporations and other organizations with a framework to report on issues such as climate change, corporate governance, social concerns and environmental impacts, and has become the preferred standard for leading firms.
More than 1000 global organizations use the GRI guidelines, making them an important source of non-financial information for investors, shareholders, and other stakeholders. Increasingly, environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors are seen as relevant to the financial performance of a company, and therefore improved disclosure and better performance is needed.
The development of ISO guidelines will lend further standardization to corporate responsibility worldwide, aiding efforts to improve the performance of companies in this area and recognize those who enact best practices. For more, visit www.iso.org/sr .
This article is reproduced with kind permission of GLOBE-Net,
an initiative of the GLOBE Foundation of Canada.
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