ISO 26000: not the holy grail for sustainability

December 4, 2009

This week, I went to an informatory meeting about ISO 26000, the so called social responsibility guidance standard of ISO. Of course, I was very curious what the views of ISO were on how sustainability should be approached. And I must say that what I´ve seen is a brave attempt to combine all guidelines on sustainability into one global guideline that fits all organizations and countries. ISO 26000, which is not a certification standard and also not a management system, is intended to be a source of inspiration for institutions who want to embrace sustainability. Global initiatives like ILO, Global Compact and GRI are all involved with the development of ISO 26000. And it is supposed to be a guidance that applies for all countries and all institutions (companies, NGOs, governments, unions etc.).

While this represents great ambitions, this approach is not the holy grail for implementing sustainability. ISO 26000 tries to be a guide for every institution in every country. While the principles represent globally accepted subjects, the whole guideline (37 subthemes) results in too much information (hundred page document) which is not always relevant for every organization. If an organization wants to start with sustainability, going through so much information is a tough start. And it’s a fact that companies differ from NGOs and above all, from each other. Furthermore, regrettably, the focus is very much on the compliance side of sustainability. The opportunity side of sustainability gets little attention and that is something that especially companies are looking for. However, this omission is understandable since opportunities and standards are a poor combination.

ISO 26000 is nice reference material, but sustainability should be applied in a tailor made way and needs internal dialogue and thought. I´m afraid this guideline is too much a compilation of everything. It does not have the real potential to help organizations with implementing sustainability and thus it will not make a real difference. That is little substance after three years of work (and investments).
 

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