ISO standards and Rio+20 – brochure updated with user referrals - 17 May 2012.
ISO has just released a second edition of its
brochure for the upcoming Rio+20 summit* now including referrals from users and
stakeholders on how voluntary ISO International Standards help to achieve the
objective of sustainability.
The new edition of the brochure, Rio+20.
Forging action from agreement – How ISO standards translate good intentions
about sustainability into concrete results, includes quotes
from standards users worldwide, ranging from large corporations to small and
medium-sized enterprises, and from the public sector.
New material in the second edition also includes
examples of how ISO standards provide economic benefits both at the level of
national economies and at that of individual companies.
ISO Secretary-General Rob Steele comments. "ISO
standards developed through the strength of consensus among stakeholders from
business, government and society help to translate the global desire for a
sustainable world into practical actions."
Agreements reached at events like the Earth Summit
and the forthcoming Rio+20 at the intergovernmental level, between public and
private sectors, and with civil society, are supported by ISO’s current
portfolio of more than 19 100 standards. These standards provide tools for
tackling challenges in all three dimensions of sustainable development –
environmental, economic and societal. Examples given in the brochure include
the following:
- In the environmental dimension, the ISO
14000 family of standards for environmental management which translates
into action ISO's commitment to support the objective of sustainable
development discussed at the first Earth Summit
- The ISO 14064:2006 and ISO 14065:2007
standards which provide an internationally agreed framework for measuring
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and verifying claims made about them
- More than 650 International Standards for
the monitoring of such aspects as the quality of air, water and soil.
These standards are tools for providing business and government with
scientifically valid data on the environmental effects of economic
activity. They may also be used as the technical basis for environmental
regulations
- Other environment-related work includes
standards for designing buildings, or retrofitting existing ones, for
improved energy efficiency
- In the economic dimension, ISO standards
provide solutions and achieve benefits for almost all sectors of activity,
including agriculture, construction, mechanical engineering,
manufacturing, distribution, transport, healthcare, information and
communication technologies, food, water, the environment, energy, quality
management, conformity assessment and services
- In the societal dimension, ISO standards
help governments, civil society and the business world to translate
societal aspirations, such as for social responsibility, health, the
safety of machinery, access by the elderly and disabled to products, and
for safe food and water, into concrete realizations. In so doing, they
support the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals.
Rio+20. Forging action from agreement – How ISO
standards translate good intentions about sustainability into concrete results
(Second edition) published in English and French, is available free
of charge from the ISO Central Secretariat through the ISO
Store or by contacting the Marketing, Communication & Information
department (see right-hand column). It can also be obtained from ISO national
member institutes (see the complete list with contact
details). The brochure can also be downloaded as
a PDF file free of charge from the ISO Website.
* At the summit, whose official title is the UN
Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), ISO will be holding a side
event on "ISO International Standards and the green economy". ISO is
organizing the event with its member for Brazil, the Brazilian Association of
Technical Standards (ABNT). The event is scheduled to take place on 18 June,
from 09:30 to 11:00, in Room T-6 at the RioCentro, Rio de Janeiro. For
confirmation, interested participants should checkwww.UNCSD2012.org for
the latest updates.
Source:www.iso.org
17 May, 2012.