Sustainable Development Standards

Dear Colleagues,

Within human development, human existence is endangered by humans themselves. Climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, waste disposal, and resource scarcity, to name just a few environmental concerns, are some of the drivers of global crises. Diminishing fundamental resources like clean water, fresh air, fertile land, and critical raw materials are examples of additional problems. Social crises result from neglecting human rights, food supplies, health, and elderly care, maintaining non-equalities, unemployment, etc. Economic sustainability requires a balance between economic growth, resource efficiency, social equity, and financial stability; it involves renewable sources and their efficiency, zero waste and circular economy, innovations, quality management, and good corporate governance.

The United Nations accepted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 to address the above problems. The International Organization for Standardization has accepted many ISO standards dealing with the SDGs. The United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards (UNFSS) has published many Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSSs) that “guarantee that the products you buy do not hurt the environment and the people that make them”. The G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance are the international standard for corporate governance in shareholder rights, corporate disclosure and reporting, climate-related and other sustainability risks, and opportunities. The EU’s European Green Deal was realized in many directives on Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D).

Several boards were recently established to develop and approve sustainability disclosure standards, e.g., International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) established by the IFRS Foundation, Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB) issuing GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) standards, and EFRAG with European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). However, a lot of work still needs to be conducted in the future.

This Special Issue aims to present recent publications, plans, proposals, and needs for additional standards, which could ensure a better future for humanity. Some of the main topics include:

• Air, water, and soil pollution.
• Climate change is caused by excessive greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere due to human activities.
• The loss of biodiversity.
• The overexploitation of natural resources, zero waste, and circular economy.
• Economic models that involve unsustainable consumption.

• Poverty and socioeconomic inequality.
• Discrimination, prejudice, and social exclusion.
• Lack of access to resources, and critical raw materials.
• Insecurity and conflict, locally, regionally, and globally.
• Poor governance, which includes phenomena such as corruption and institutional inefficiency.

• The responsible management of resources.
• The capacity for efficiency and innovation of economic systems and enterprises.
• Financial stability at the macro level.
• State-level social innovation, that is, each country’s commitment to promoting policies, programs and initiatives that address crucial social issues such as poverty, gender equality, access to education and health care, environmental sustainability, and other social issues.
• International cooperation and partnerships between public administration and private enterprises.
• The level of equity and social inclusion.
• Corporate responsibility.

Prof. Dr. Peter Glavič
Guest Editor

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• standard
• sustainability
• environmental
• social
• economic
• governance
• reporting