The Bristh Standards Institution views that purpose is a driver of more sustainable growth, built upon a foundation of respect and ethical business practice, all behaviours thatare grouped under the term Environment, Social and Governance (ESG).
ESG is an acronym coined by financial investors looking for measurable indicators of business performance beyond simple profitability. ESG measures recognize that there needs to be greater transparency in terms of company behaviours, and how these impact on operations. By acknowledging the impact of climate change and resource depletion, and how that will impact on current supply chain models, companies with strong ESG credentials have begun to outperform those with a less agile business culture.
BSI’s contribution to the debate on ‘Purpose’ comes in the form of a Draft International Standard (DIS) BSI ISO/DIS 32210:2022 Sustainable finance - Principles and guidance (released on 14 Jan 2022) (at stage 40.20 which is expected to be published in 2022. The document provides the financial sector with practical guideance on how to integrate key sustainability principles into its operations. A Publicly Available Specification (PAS) (NOTE: PAS is also known as a Product Assessment Specification) is being sponsored and shaped by a number of organizations within the UK finance industry (investment, commercial banks, life assurance, pensions, risk, funds and investments, insurance, regulators) that are keen to share their own knowledge on how businesses can take a transformative step forwards to demonstrating a real public interest commitment.
The PAS is also an attempt to answer the fundamental questions such as ‘what defines purpose, how can it be embedded into an organizations’ governance and decision-making processes, how can it be monitored and, as importantly, how can progress be communicated to stakeholders. PAS's are fast-track standardization documents that are intended to define good practice for a product, service or process; a powerful approach to establish the integrity of an innovation or approach.
The PAS is the latest from BSI in a number of standards that are more principles-based, especially with regard to standards that can measure the performance of a product being manufactured or a service being delivered, and the processes that support product manufacture and service delivery.
https://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/standards/british-standards-online-database/bsol-sustainability/purpose-and-esg-standards/
