The standards against risks such as COVID-19

To reduce the negative impact of humans on our planet, we need political will, concrete measures, but certainly also the right standards and instruments. These include international standards, says ISO. The international standards of ISO, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), as well as European standards and many national standards and other quality marks deal with technical challenges and appropriate solutions. An important prerequisite, however, is a common language for standards.

Standards exist for almost all industries, for products and services. The construction sector, for example, has many interfaces and opportunities for protecting the environment. For the global efforts to protect the planet, we need not only, but also standards. They define measurement methods and standardized protocols - even across political and linguistic boundaries.

International standards contribute to the sharing of knowledge and expertise in industrialized and developing countries alike, covering a wide range of aspects of environmental protection, biodiversity, energy conservation and, not least, water and air quality. ISO is convinced that the widespread use of internationally recognized standards helps to reduce the environmental impact of industrial production and processes, to facilitate the reuse of limited resources and to provide guidance even in crises such as the current COVID 19 waves.

Where standards protect us

The extraordinary events of 2020 may have brought some sectors to a standstill and caused major disruption in many others, but there is too much at stake for ISO to simply wait to implement standards. In the press release for World Standards Day 2020, there is a key phrase: "To reduce the human impact on our planet, we need political will, concrete action and the right tools. International standards are one such instrument." But can our world be protected with standards? Can it? The slogan, however, comes more timely than ever from the Geneva-based ISO.

Strengthening standardization in times of crisis

The Earth, ISO states in its World Standards Day media release, is "like a ship full of life" in the vastness of our solar system. Life on Earth depends directly on the energy that comes from the sun. In the last century, however, human and large-scale industrial activities of our modern civilization have produced greenhouse gases, wastes, and chemicals that did not exist before in this kind and quantity, and which now threaten the existence of planet Earth. But it is not only the chemicals, but also our use of animal food and the Corona pandemic that are giving us an unmistakable and painful reminder of the threat this year. What to do about climate change? All over the planet we are feeling the negative effects on our climate and therefore on all forms of life. Even though there are people, even nations, who still refuse to admit it: The earth is heating up, we have extreme weather, more drought and dryness, more floods, more hurricanes and more heavy rains - this is becoming more and more noticeable even here at home. At the same time, global population growth and increasing urbanization require the responsible use of limited resources. Eating wild animals from jungle areas is certainly not the solution - as we are seeing with the emergence of more and more new viruses. It lies in the right embedding of norms.