Whenever we talk about standards, one has the stigma of restriction, stagnation, and boundaries in mind. But is that really the case? We simply argue with NO!

There are many bodies and institutions around the world that write and publish standards. But there are few who have understood the concept of the 17 Sustainable Development goals and how they can impact them through standardization. ISO, the International Organization for Standardization with its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, have understood just that purpose.

With 165 national standardization bodies and a selection of 23760 published standard documents written by 764 technical committees, the output is just impressive.

But output should not always be a measure for success. Over the past years, ISO has been rigorous working on fine-tuning their standards, ranging from the simple specification of a power plug to the entire safety specification of an oil rig, towards a sustainable ethos. The standards are built around consensus and therefore thrive through a strong culture of stakeholder engagement. This engagement can range from interest driven by some of the poorest nations in this world, to some of the powerhouses in our society. To manage these different interests and establish a standard that is sustainable is at the core of the ISO international standardization.

“With ISO standards, we can contribute to making the 2030 Agenda a reality, so no one is left behind,” says Sergio Mujica, ISO Secretary-General, as published on the Foundation website. Each set of standards is carefully mapped against a set or a single SDG goal to ensure the impact it has on the world is quantifiable and serves a larger community.

So, did we manage to argue the case for standardization? A standard does not need to result in restrictions but instead can be treated as a mutual understanding between different interests of various stakeholders.

Thank you, ISO, for engaging stakeholders since 1946!