Quality Infrastructure for Trusted Climate Action
International standards are powerful tools for driving climate action, offering clear frameworks to measure, manage, and improve environmental performance. For example, ISO’s Environmental Management System standard (ISO 14001) helps organizations develop robust strategies to manage their environmental responsibilities. By providing a structured approach, ISO 14001 enables businesses to reduce their environmental impact while fostering transparency and accountability, paving the way for effective climate action and sustainable practices.
Achieving effective and equitable climate governance relies on trust, scalability, and verifiability—qualities enabled by a system of public and private sector collaboration known as Quality Infrastructure system. This system exists in most countries already, which underpins the economy and provides trust and credibility to the market, comprising of standards, conformity assessment, accreditation, and measurement and market surveillance. When leveraged to support the net zero transition, quality infrastructure will increasingly help ensure that climate policies are consistent, reliable, and aligned with the Paris Agreement.
At COP29, BSI advanced its objective of fostering scalable and effective climate governance by showcasing the role of international standards in addressing global climate challenges. As the UK’s National Standards Body, BSI collaborates with the global network of 170+ National Standards Bodies around the world to develop governance mechanisms that support credible and verifiable climate action.
These initiatives are essential for aligning governments, businesses, and communities with shared climate goals. By leveraging the powerful and robust market mechanism of quality infrastructure and focusing on standards that drive a fair and inclusive transition to net zero, BSI reinforced its commitment to advancing global collaboration and delivering impactful solutions.
ISO Net Zero Standard: A Unified Framework for Global Climate Action
The ISO Net Zero Standard, which is expected to launch at the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil, in November 2025, aims to provide clarity on the net zero transition, enable robust climate action and accelerate progress towards a sustainable world. It will provide a global solution to guide organizations as they embark on the net zero transition and will act as an actionable framework for businesses and governments to set and achieve net zero targets, addressing challenges such as varying baselines, inconsistent metrics, and credibility in climate commitments.
By converging and scaling the principles of credible and comprehensive net zero strategy development into a framework with independently verifiable requirements, the standard enhances transparency and accountability. This initiative builds upon the ISO Net Zero Guidelines introduced at COP27, transforming them into a rigorous, internationally recognized standard that enables organizations to demonstrate the integrity of their net zero commitments.
The development process involves collaboration among thousands of experts from over 170 countries through the ISO Climate Change Management Committee (ISO TC207/SC7), ensuring inclusivity and alignment with the latest climate science.
Experts from across business, policy, research, and civil society organisations are encouraged to apply to their country’s National Standards Body’s national climate change standards committee to participate in the development process and ensure all voices are heard.
ISO Transition Finance Standard: Driving Sustainable Financial Practices
The finance sector is key to sustainable transformation, providing the funding needed to support low-carbon projects and drive the shift to a greener economy. By prioritizing investments in renewable energy, sustainable infrastructure, and climate-resilient technologies, the sector plays a pivotal role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, conserving natural resources, and fostering long-term economic and environmental stability.
The ISO Transition Finance Standard provides a critical framework for the organization and delivery of transition planning, leveraging existing guidance developed by the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) and others. This groundbreaking initiative is laser-focused on the finance sector, setting comprehensive guidelines that enable financial institutions to demonstrate thoroughness, rigor, and quality in their transition planning.
During the Sustainable Finance Roundtable at COP29, Vanessa Howard-Williams, Chair of the Transition Finance Market Review, stressed the need for effective governance and methodologies in transition planning. She remarked, "The governance and methodologies for transition planning need standardization to scale and operationalize transition finance globally. At the moment, everything is bespoke and incredibly expensive. To succeed, we need standards that are well-crafted, simple, and broadly applicable."
Currently under development, with the Committee Draft (ISO/CD 32212) available for review, the standard is anticipated to launch at COP30 in November 2025. This new addition to the suite of BSI and ISO standards ensures that all sectors, from SMEs to financial giants, can effectively contribute to global climate transition efforts.
The standard will emphasize the role of transition planning in supporting financial institutions with delivering economy-wide transition, including the need to scale up the flows of private finance for transition. The standard will also consider a financial institution’s processes for considering climate resilience and opportunities, impacts and dependencies relating to stakeholders, society and the natural environment, as part of its transition planning.
The introduction of this standard marks a significant step toward high-quality, consistent, and globally recognized sustainable finance practices. Developed through collaboration among experts worldwide, the standard fosters international consistency, enabling stakeholders to trust climate-related financial strategies.
ISO ESG Implementation Principles: Embedding Sustainability into Business Practices
Organizations around the world face growing challenges in adapting to the evolving landscape of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting. Variations in reporting frameworks and data quality can make it difficult to ensure transparency and comparability in ESG disclosures. Meanwhile, increasing expectations from investors and regulators highlight the importance of integrating ESG principles effectively into organizational practices.
The Finance, Investment & Trade Day at COP29 marked the launch of the ISO ESG Implementation Principles. The event, live streamed from the ISO Pavilion, was co-moderated by BSI. These principles were developed through a collaborative effort led by BSI, alongside the national standards bodies of Canada (SCC) and Brazil (ABNT), with input from over 1,300 participants across 128 countries.
The guidance aims to bring much-needed clarity and consistency to the complex ESG reporting landscape, addressing the growing demand for transparency from stakeholders, including investors and regulators.
With ESG regulations rising 155% globally over the past 10 years, the ISO ESG Implementation Principles offer a structured approach to navigating this complexity. The guidance supports organizations in embedding ESG practices into their culture, managing performance, and reporting with greater consistency and comparability. It complements existing reporting standards (such as those developed by EFRAG for the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the ISSB’s IFRS S1 and S2) by signposting ISO standards that organizations can use to evidence ESG performance.
The principles focus on holistic ESG integration, addressing environmental impacts, social considerations, and governance practices. By improving the comparability and consistency of ESG reporting, they enable organizations to align with global benchmarks and meet stakeholder expectations for transparency.
Susan Taylor Martin, Chief Executive of BSI, underscored the importance of this initiative: “I am delighted that BSI has co-led the development of these Implementation Principles to help organizations of all types embed ESG measurably and consistently. This can help society drive real change in areas including emissions, biodiversity protection, mobilizing green investments, and fostering inclusivity, ultimately accelerating progress toward a fair society and sustainable world.”
Why all three standards are essential for the market?
Achieving sustainability goals requires an integrated approach to address challenges in climate action, sustainable finance, and ESG practices. The ISO Net Zero Standard, Transition Finance Standard, and ESG Implementation Principles work together to fill critical gaps, providing a comprehensive framework for global stakeholders.
By addressing interconnected issues in governance, finance, and reporting, these standards enable businesses, regulators, and financial institutions to collaborate effectively and meet climate commitments. This unified approach fosters trust, transparency, and scalability—key elements needed to achieve long-term sustainable progress.
Next Steps Towards COP30
The months leading to COP30 will focus on advancing and integrating the progress made at COP29.
The ISO Net Zero Standard is set to open for public consultation in 2025, allowing for global input to ensure it meets the needs of diverse stakeholders. This first international standard on net zero aims to provide clarity and robust requirements for the global net zero transition, enabling independently verified climate action and accelerating progress toward sustainability.
The ISO Transition Finance Standard will continue to move through its development stages, with public consultation set for May 2025, reviews and expert feedback refining its benchmarks for sustainable financing practices.
Meanwhile, the ISO ESG Implementation Principles, already launched, will be actively promoted to encourage adoption across regions and industries, particularly among SMEs and organizations in developing countries. Since their release, the principles have been downloaded in key industries across 152 countries, reflecting strong global interest.
Key activities in this period will include pilot projects, stakeholder engagement sessions, and capacity-building workshops to test and demonstrate the practical application of these standards. BSI, alongside its international partners, will lead these efforts, ensuring the standards are globally relevant and actionable.
At COP30, the anticipated launch of the finalized ISO Net Zero and Transition Finance Standards will represent a pivotal moment in global climate governance. Together with the ongoing integration of the ISO ESG Implementation Principles, this coordinated effort will solidify the role of quality infrastructure in addressing climate challenges and reinforce global trust in sustainability initiatives.
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