The notion that business should be accountable to the society in which it operates is not new. Increased emphasis on businesses’ practices by a range of stakeholders has meant that the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has also come under greater scrutiny. There is a growing international trend towards mandatory regulation and an increasing number of codes of conduct and voluntary standards for business to report on their social and environmental impacts.

International standards have been created as a response to the market requiring a common standard framework to facilitate trade and technology transfer. The International Organization for Standardization is a network make up of 157 standards institutes worldwide. As social responsibility (SR) has become increasingly important to the corporate world, and although a variety of guidelines related to SR already exist (such as AA1000 and the OECD guidelines), there was a need to establish a framework that could be used by organisations worldwide.

Download the full guide: ISO 26000 Guidance on Sustainability – Beyond Compliance?

Download the follow-up guide: ISO2600 Applicability