ISO proposal for a New work item: Management System for UN Sustainable development goals – Requirements for any organization

Scope 

This International Standard specifies requirements for a Sustainable Development Goals Management System when an organization:

a) Needs to demonstrate and enhance its work and performance towards the UN SDGs.

b) Seeks to manage its responsibilities in a systematic manner that contributes to the pillars of sustainability.

Consistent with the SDG policy of the organization, the intended outcome of an SDG management system is to:

c) Enhance the organization’s performance.

d) Fulfil compliance obligations.

e) Achieve selected SDG objectives

f) Increase success. 

Purpose and justification of the proposal

The purpose of MSS is to help organizations define and select relevant SDGs, establish objectives, set the requirements, and achieve the intended outcomes of its SDG management system, which provides value for the society, the organization itself and interested parties. If deployed by a significant share of organizations already certified or complying to an existing MSS, it will have a huge impact on contribution to SDGs

While other MSSs provide confidence in an organization’s products, services, environmental issues, and compliance this MSS will provide a framework for organization’s ability to define and deliver according to a sustainable strategy based on the SDGs and thereby create the foundation for transparent and fact based non-financial SDG- and ESG-reporting.

Even though the SDGs originally were to target governments and countries, many organizations have over the recent years found the SDGs necessary to include in their strategy to stay successful and sustainable and to timely respond to more demanding market needs.

The UNDP Global Impact Standards have been developed to support all type of enterprises in implementing the SDG and the UN Impact Standards are suggested to be an important base document for the ISO SDG MSS. Other relevant documents and organization will of cause also be considered and invited to join the work. A clear benefit of making an ISO standard based on existing supporting SDG documents is that an ISO document will combine existing framework the organizations know and use and will make the requirements of these document certifiable. Hence an ISO MSS will be beneficiary to those organization required to document their SDG work.

Potential stakeholders are: Industry and commerce, Government, Consumers, Labour, Academic and research bodies, Standards application businesses, non-governmental organizations.

In case of national interest, BDS can approve the development of new Management system standard  for UN Sustainable development goals – Requirements for any organization. If the new management system standard is accepted by the national standards bodies – members of ISO, Bulgaria can participate actively in the development of the new standard.

The national stakeholders can provide their position on the proposal for this new work item of ISO by 10.12.2022 to Petar Lozev, e-mail: petar.lozev@bds-bg.org, tel: +359 2 81 74 539.

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