On September 20, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) announced on its website that it had reached a new partnership with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), expressing its commitment to the role of International Standards in solving global development challenges. . This collaboration will focus on initiatives aimed at improving international standards that drive sustainability actions in both the public and private sectors, including the prospective development of the first international standard for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), based on the UNDP SDG Impact Standards and relevant ISO standards.

The importance of this standard lies in its ability to provide a common basis for documentation and certification, which will make it easier for organizations and companies to align their efforts and document their progress towards the SDGs.

ISO President Ulrika Francke highlighted that the collaboration between ISO and UNDP represents an opportunity to build a more resilient and equitable future through the unique contribution of each organization. Likewise, UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner stressed that this partnership will contribute to the creation of new management standards for companies and investors, ensuring that sustainability and the SDGs are an integral part of the way business is done.

This collaboration represents an opportunity to leverage the complementary competencies and reach of two of the world’s leading organizations in their respective fields and marks an important step towards aligning sustainability standards globally.

In the multilateral tendering market, it is increasingly expected that these certifications will have much greater weight when accepting tender offers from global companies. Therefore, adaptation to these certifications becomes more important if we want to be aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals and, as an ultimate goal, win contracts with multilateral organizations.