At mid-term, the SDGs will have their own management standard

You’ve probably already heard of the SDGs. The SDGs stand for Sustainable Development Goals, a series of 17 major projects formulated as calls to action to eradicate poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all human beings live in peace and prosperity. They are the successor to Agenda 21, a major UN program adopted at the end of the Rio Earth Summit in 1992.

Formalisés en 2015 avec une cible arrêtée à 2030, les ODD en sont à leur demi-vie. L’occasion, pour les acteurs de la normalisation internationale, d’en faire une norme volontaire ! C’est le sens de la proposition de Danish Standards, l’équivalent d’AFNOR au Danemark. L’Organisation internationale de normalisation (ISO), au sein de laquelle AFNOR représente la France (et donc DS le Danemark), a donné son feu vert pour constituer une commission de normalisation, dénommée ISO/PC 343, chargée d’écrire le texte. La norme, qui sera libellée ISO 53001, donnera des lignes directrices pour bâtir un système de management sur le sujet, c’est-à-dire décrire le processus organisationnel requis afin de planifier, réaliser, contrôler et ajuster des actions visant tel ou tel ODD, dans un esprit d’amélioration continue.

A complement to ISO 26000

Against all expectations, despite their incantatory nature, the SDGs are attracting the support of economic players. Many see it as a guideline for their CSR approach, a grid of simple, tangible objectives enabling them to organize their actions and communications, at a time when public opinion expects them to be increasingly exemplary and to demonstrate extra-financial performance. In this respect, the SDGs are a good complement to ISO 26000, the voluntary standard that proposes a seven-point questioning matrix for implementing a CSR approach. The Danish project is not intended to replace ISO 26000, which continues to be the benchmark in its original 2010 version, but does not claim to provide the keys to deploying a management system. As a reminder, AFNOR has published a guide, FD X30-037, which proposes a grid of equivalences between ISO 26000 and ODD. What’s more, as indicated by the suffix “1” in the ISO 52001 wording, this standard will be certifiable. As in the case of quality, the environment, energy or health and safety in the workplace, a company that manages the SDGs well will be able to display this in its showcase!

A first meeting has been announced at ISO for June 20 and 21, 2023, initially to validate the project title and scope. Do you represent a large group, a mid-sized company, an SME or even a very small business? With a CSR, purchasing, QSE or OHS function? You have everything to gain by investing in standardization: the rules of the game are being written today. And certainly not without you!