ISO Certification Support

Demonstrate Improvements Between ISO Certifications Periods

• Ongoing Performance Metrics: ESG reporting offers regular, quantifiable insights into a company’s environmental, social, and governance performance. These metrics—such as energy efficiency, emissions reductions, or workplace safety—can be used to demonstrate progress between ISO certification audits.
• Baseline Comparisons: ESG reports often establish a baseline for various sustainability and governance metrics. Companies can compare this baseline to performance data from subsequent periods, showcasing tangible improvements in areas critical to ISO certification.

• ISO’s Focus on Continuous Improvement: ISO standards, such as ISO 9001 (Quality Management) and ISO 14001 (Environmental Management), require organisations to show that they are not only compliant but also actively improving. ESG reports provide a clear audit trail of actions taken, results achieved, and plans for future improvements.
• Demonstrating Action Plans: ESG reporting doesn’t just present outcomes—it also details action plans, initiatives, and strategies aimed at enhancing performance. These documented plans align with ISO’s requirement to continuously enhance systems and processes, providing a roadmap that can be reviewed and adjusted at subsequent certification audits.

• Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) Cycle: ESG reporting fits well with the PDCA cycle used in many ISO standards. It helps companies Plan their sustainability initiatives, Do by implementing these initiatives, Check the results through regular ESG reviews, and Act on findings to drive improvements.
• Root Cause Analysis: ESG reports often include detailed analyses of challenges or underperformance, such as an increase in emissions or workplace incidents. This allows companies to identify root causes, implement corrective actions, and demonstrate measurable improvements at the next certification.

• ESG Report Publication: Regular ESG reporting can demonstrate transparency, showing external auditors and ISO assessors how the company is holding itself accountable to its goals. ISO certifications often emphasise transparency in management systems, and public ESG reports provide strong evidence of this.
• Third-Party Verification: In some cases, ESG reports are verified by third-party auditors, which further supports ISO’s requirement for independent, objective reviews of progress. These third-party verifications can serve as an added layer of credibility during the ISO recertification process.

• Introduction of New Technologies: ESG reports can capture and highlight innovations that the business has introduced to improve sustainability, such as energy-efficient processes, renewable energy investments, or waste reduction strategies. These innovations demonstrate a company’s commitment to improvement and compliance with ISO’s innovation and sustainability guidelines.
• Best Practices and Lessons Learned: ESG reporting often includes insights into best practices and lessons learned from sustainability efforts. Sharing these practices demonstrates the organisation’s learning culture and proactive efforts to improve between ISO certifications.

• Proactive Risk Management: If ESG reporting identifies areas of risk—such as an increase in carbon emissions or workplace safety incidents—it often recommends corrective or preventive actions. ISO standards require organisations to implement corrective actions as part of their management system. By integrating these actions into regular ESG reports, companies can provide concrete evidence of how they’ve responded to issues and reduced risks.
• Preventing Recurrences: ESG reporting helps ensure that issues identified in previous certification audits are not repeated. It documents improvements made to prevent recurring problems, which ISO auditors often review during follow-up assessments.

• Showcasing Holistic Improvements: ESG reporting goes beyond operational improvements by demonstrating advancements in areas such as social responsibility, governance, and environmental impact. This broader scope can help companies demonstrate a more comprehensive approach to improvement, aligning with newer ISO standards that incorporate sustainability, such as ISO 50001 (Energy Management) and ISO 26000 (Social Responsibility).
• Meeting Stakeholder Expectations: ESG reporting shows how a business meets both regulatory requirements and stakeholder expectations. It demonstrates a commitment to addressing broader environmental and social concerns, which ISO auditors consider as part of the organisation’s broader management approach.

• Strategic Target Setting: ESG reporting often includes sustainability targets, such as reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, energy use, or waste production. These targets can align with the objectives of relevant ISO standards, providing a framework to measure and demonstrate progress over time.
• Year-on-Year Improvement: By setting and meeting annual targets through ESG reporting, organisations can present clear evidence of continuous improvement between ISO certification periods. This structured approach to goal setting supports the ISO requirement for regular reviews and adjustments to management systems.

• Consistent Data Collection: Regular ESG reporting ensures that data relevant to ISO standards is consistently collected and monitored. This not only prepares organisations for ISO audits but also reduces the risk of gaps in data or documentation when recertification occurs.
• Comprehensive Reporting Framework: By integrating ESG and ISO-related metrics into a single reporting framework, organisations can streamline the certification process. This saves time during ISO audits, as much of the data required for recertification is already compiled and presented through ESG reports.