Event description
Voluntary standards can be a key resource in making progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This webinar will explain how standards are developed and how they support the achievement of the SDGs.
Standardisation:
The key to unlock the Sustainable Development Goals?
Webinar | Thursday, 9 February 2017 | 12:00 – 13:00 UTC (13.00-14.00 CET)
The adoption of the 2030 Agenda marks an unprecedented engagement by the international community to take action at all levels and across borders to respond to global challenges and steer resources towards a path of socially and environmentally sustainable and resilient development. The pillars of the Agenda – the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Sendai Framework for Action, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the New Urban Agenda – offer a cohesive, coherent and holistic framework.
The challenge of translating the framework into action on the ground is upon all UN member states, as well as the business community, the civil society and all stakeholders. Success will depend on appropriate policies and strategies, in each sector and at each level. Crucially, we need practical and replicable means of implementing the agenda and measuring our collective progress.
This is where voluntary standards – which use simple and agreed metrics and a language and format familiar to businesses, local governments and communities all around the world – can be a key resource.
There is a broad range of standards that already relate to goals like Zero Hunger (SDG 2), Good Health and Well-being (SDG 3), Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG 6), Affordable and Clean energy (SDG 7), and Climate action (SDG 13). ISO 26000 – Guidance on social responsibility – also provides an overarching guidance to businesses and organisations to operate in a way that fosters sustainable development in a holistic way.
With this webinar, organised by DiploFoundation and the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), Ms Lorenza Jachia, Secretary of the UNECE Working Party on Regulatory Cooperation and Standardization Policies, will explain how standards are developed and how they support the achievement of the SDGs.
For more information, please contact Barbara Rosen Jacobson at barbarar@diplomacy.edu.
