The three major International Standards formulation bodies, The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the International Organisation for Standardization (ISO), and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have declared this year’s World Standards Day theme as our shared vision for a better world.
This is a timely and very appropriate theme as now we need to develop a better world not only for us but also for future generations to live happily, safely, and in harmony. These three major International Bodies work in three different sectors and all of them formulate standards for the enhancement of operational aspects of those sectors.
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), is a nonprofit organisation that formulates and publishes International Standards for all electrical, electronic, and related technologies which are often used as a basis to globally harmonized technical requirements. Moreover, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is an agency of the United Nations (UN) and formulates recommendations for standardizing telecommunication operations globally. Furthermore, for all other products and systems, the International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) which is a non-governmental organisation established in 1947, formulates and publishes international standards.
Each year the above-mentioned, three major international standards bodies identify a relevant theme and issue a statement to pass on a very important message to the world on October 14 - World Standards day. To have a shared vision for a better world this year’s message indicates the necessity of the use of international standards for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). There are 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and all United Nations member states including Sri Lanka adopted these goals as a response to the universal request made by the UN to initiate actions within the countries to change world activities and enrich the lives and prospects of all citizens while protecting the planet.
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, decent work and economic growth, industry, innovation, and infrastructure, Reduced Inequality, Sustainable Cities and Communities, Responsible Consumption and Production, Climate Action, Life Below Water, Life on Land, Peace and Justice Strong Institutions, and Partnerships. To work together to accelerate the 2030 Agenda by working towards 17 SDGs as 195 nations including Sri Lanka agreed with the United Nations in the year 2015, that they can change the world for the better.
Moreover, another objective of celebrating World Standards Day is to recognize significant contributions made by experts who are involved actively in the formulation of international/national standards. And to this end, each country organises different events at the national level and within public and private sector organisations.
International Standards
International Standards provide a set of agreed-upon minimum requirements for doing an activity in a consistent and repeatable way. However, ISO defines a standard as a document that provides best practices that have been agreed on by international experts. To develop international standards at any given time a number of experts from the participating countries work in different technical committees in a collaborative way and share their knowledge and as a result of that process, international standards are published. It was found through various studies that international standards provide a major contribution to enhancing productivity and quality of products and services while paving the way to protect the environment and also giving a significant contribution to the economy.
Moreover, international standards support eliminating non-tariff barriers while boosting the export performance of countries when considering the macro perspective of the economy of any country. To practically implement 17 SDGs in the respective countries ISO has developed and published more than 22, 000 International Standards and related documents that represent globally recognized guidelines and frameworks based on international collaboration so that it is now possible to contribute significantly to the United Nations’ sustainable development programme with the use of these standards as those are addressed best practices.
Seventeen SDGs for Sustainable Development
The seventeen Goals are very broad-based and addressed the whole spectrum of activities of society therefore when acting on these goals any country can progress towards sustainable development because 17 SDGs cover the three important pillars Economic, Social, and Environmental they provide a shared internationally accepted framework for a more peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable future for all. It is necessary to have a collaborative effort of Government, Industry, and Consumers to obtain significant progress on the achievement of every single SDG within the country. To measure the progress of the 17 SDGs UN has also developed 169 targets linking to each SDG therefore it is much easier to understand the activities to be done to meet the said goals. In this context, for certain activities to be done with regards to each SDG the respective international standard best practices approach can be adopted and used as that facilitates the enhancement of that activity while bringing the process up to the international best practice framework leading the country towards sustainable development. In this process, it is worthwhile to understand the connection between international standards and SDGs because that would facilitate meeting the expected target in the year 2030 to a very great extent.
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SDGs and International Standards
To get an understanding of the connection between SDGs and international standards, we focus on three goals but in the same way, the rest of the goals are also connected to international standards which are published and available.
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SDG 1 – No Poverty
Under SDG 1, the UN has introduced seven targets and those targets can be used as measuring indicators to determine the progress with respect to this goal. For example, given below are two targets linked to this goal;
• By 2030, reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women, and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions.
• Create sound policy frameworks at the national, regional, and international levels, based on pro-poor and gender-sensitive development strategies, to support accelerated investment in poverty eradication actions
If we study the above targets, it is clear that to achieve this goal, it is necessary to do changes across society covering a wide range of activities in any country stemming from the Policy level of the government to ordinary level citizens. World Bank - Macro Poverty Outlook for Sri Lanka: April 2022 in its Spring Update on the South Asian region indicated that the poverty rate in Sri Lanka would increase to 11.7 percent in 2022, compared to 10 percent in 2019. The update also highlighted the necessity of structural adjustments to overcome this situation. There are 365 international standards with respect to this goal that describes best practice in all areas of economic activity, from agriculture to banking. It is a fact that bribery is a major cause of poverty in many countries around the world as it creates an imbalance of wealth among the citizens of a country. Sri Lanka can use the international standard to further enhance this area and to upgrade activities to meet the internationally accepted best practices by following the requirements specified in the below-mentioned international standard and that would definitely contribute to economic enhancement. ISO 37001, Anti-bribery management systems – Requirements with guidance for use support businesses and government in their efforts to build integrity and combat bribery. Moreover, another example is we normally designed and implemented poverty-eliminating projects but the question remains whether the expected benefits have gone to the village and the villagers. In order to ensure that such projects such as integrated rural development programmes focusing on the infrastructural development of the villages including income enhancement for the beneficiaries, it is possible to use the international standard best practices. For instance, ISO 37101:2016 establishes requirements for a management system for sustainable development in communities, including cities, using a holistic approach, with a view to ensuring consistency with the sustainable development policy of communities.
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SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
To track the progress of the achievement of this goal the UN has introduced eight targets and out of that two targets are given below;
• Increase the access of small-scale industrial and other enterprises, in particular in developing countries, to financial services, including affordable credit, and their integration into value chains and markets
• By 2030, upgrade infrastructure and retrofit industries to make them sustainable, with increased resource-use efficiency and greater adoption of clean and environmentally sound technologies and industrial processes, with all countries taking action in accordance with their respective capabilities
The above targets when we examined them carefully provide a valuable message as they indicate the necessity of strengthening the SME sector because for any country the SME sector is the most important segment because it contributes heavily to the economic development of any country while paving the way to address the unemployment. Sri Lanka is at present at a critical juncture however, it is evident that it is very much important to strengthen the SME sector as that helps them to manufacture quality products to compete in international markets which bring in foreign exchange to the country that is what we require to overcome this situation. The second target also provides the necessity of upgrading the existing industries for them to produce quality and environmentally friendly safe products at affordable prices so that these products can compete equally in the international markets leading to bringing in foreign exchange while ensuring sustainability.
In this regard, international standards like ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems, ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems, ISO 14064-1 Greenhouse Gas emissions, and ISO 45001 OH& S Management Systems provide a common platform to maximize the benefits of collaborative working and assist companies in establishing a healthy business. It is worthwhile to indicate that 13445 international standards are published connected to this goal and all those standards’ best practices can be used to get the best results in this area.
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SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production
The UN has introduced eleven targets to track the achievement of this goal while clearly indicating what exactly we need to focus on in this area to bring sustainable development. Out of eleven targets four targets are given below;
• By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses
• By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling, and reuse
• Encourage companies, especially large and transnational companies, to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle
• By 2030, ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature.
When examining some of the above targets it is evident that waste reduction and prevention have been given much emphasis as that has a significant impact on the economy of the country. In public and private organisations’ inefficient or duplication of processes creates huge waste but there is no proper idea or tools used in most of the organisations to capture and track these wastages. It is very much important to have a huge programme within the country to make employees aware of the curtailing of wastages while running their operations and to train them about the application of internationally accepted best practices within the work environment as that would really enhance the bottom line of the organisations leading to a significant enhancement of economy of the country.
Some of the international standards covering best practices approach that is connected with this goal are ISO 20400, Sustainable procurement – Guidance, which helps organisations incorporate sustainability into their procurement function, ISO 14020 series provides guiding principles for the development and use of environmental labels and self-declarations, as well as preparing for third-party Certification Programmes, and ISO 15392, Sustainability in building construction – General principles, identifies and establishes general principles for sustainability in buildings and other construction works throughout their whole life cycle, from inception to end of life. There are 2,865 international standards available connected to this goal out of those few of them were given above.
An international framework covering the whole spectrum of activities is given under the SDGs to have a better country for all of us leading to a better world. It is apparent from the foregoing discussion that this international framework can be used with the application of international standards as part of the country’s strategic direction and certain areas can be enhanced considering the Sri Lankan situation. It is a fact that this kind of integrated framework with best practices has incorporated short-term and long-term actions that would facilitate the reduction of waste taking place in the economy as the best practices provide concepts and tools to meet this expectation. Furthermore, since SDGs are interconnected and provide targets to the industry sector, they pave the way to improve the quality and safety of the products and services which is the most essential factor to competing in the international markets and also creating an export-oriented economy while paving the way to bringing prosperity to the nation.
Sri Lanka at this stage should revisit the progress of SDGs and need to have a coordinated effort across all government organisations and the private sector boiled down to consumers in a cascading way as one of the concrete solutions to overcome this crisis situation.
(Dr. Lalith Senaweera is a retired Director General – SLSI)
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