How standards contribute to sustainable development

Introduction
The planet we all inhabit faces dire consequences if people in the developed world continue to consume finite resources at the current rate. Population growth is exerting ever increasing pressure on food production, energy and mineral reserves, biodiversity and water. Meanwhile, the impacts of climate change are already being felt and are set to increase in severity, leading to flooding, drought, wildfires, insect plagues, sea level rises, food shortages and social dislocation.

The repercussions of this are considerable. In 2007, The Economics of Climate Change (also known as The Stern Review) noted that unabated climate change alone will cost between 5% and 20% of global consumption1.

However, sustainable development is not just about our impact on our environment and the planet as a whole. Practically every decision we make, from where we source our supplies to who we employ has the power to influence not only our local community but society as a whole. Nor can organisations operate sustainably if the only thing that matters is protecting the environment or society. Organisations need to secure investment and make money to be able to buy resources and pay staff to make the goods and services that we need to sustain us. So running sustainable business means a balanced approach to addressing issues relating to people, the planet and profit.

Action to implement sustainable development measures is already leading to tangible gains: from the health benefits of lower air pollution, higher energy security and efficiency savings, higher yields in agriculture, and greater employment opportunities2. In response, national governments are increasingly adopting regulatory mechanisms which act both nationally and internationally. In the UK we can see this in everything from the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme to the Working
Time Directive.

In similar ways, individual entities can derive substantial benefits from the implementation of sustainable development at the organisational level. This includes significant energy and materials savings, robust risk management, fewer work related injuries and deaths and avoidance of the costs of regulatory infringements; and reputation and brand enhancement leading to investor, customer and staff loyalty. Not least, organisations will ultimately benefit from contributing to the future wellbeing of the planet, as no planet equals no customers.

However, how can organisations best engage with sustainable development? This paper outlines one significant approach – the use of management systems standards. Management systems standards already have a strong track record of enabling organisations to pursue sustainable development. For instance, up to the end of 2008 around 189,000 certificates of compliance with the environmental management systems standard ISO 14001:2004 had been issued in 155 countries.

This paper, therefore, sets the scene on some of the challenges that we currently face, and then focuses in detail on the management systems standards which organisations can adopt to pursue more sustainable development in the future.

Contents

1. Sustainable development in context
2. What is sustainable development?
3. How standards contribute to sustainable development
4. The sustainable toolkit
5. The sustainability toolkit explained
6. Summary of standards and how they fit together
7. Summary
8. Taking the next step

Download the 20 page sustainable white paper to find out how standards contribute to sustainable development