The world’s top leaders from standards, business, civil society, academia and media are in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as ISO holds its first in-person Annual Meeting for more than two years.
This extraordinary event takes place at a critical moment in history from 19 to 23 September 2022, convening nearly 5 000 participants to tackle global issues and find solutions to the world's most urgent challenges including climate action, sustainability, water scarcity and energy.Â
In his opening speech, His Excellency Omar Suwaina Al Suwaidi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology, said: “Standardization has never been so important given the world’s economic and environmental challenges. This week’s meeting is vital not just to the global industrial ecosystem, but more broadly to trade, economies and climate action.”Â
He added: “With its impact on trade, standardization has a crucial and long-term role in supporting sustainable economic development. By extension, ISO plays an important part in enhancing trade in local, regional and global markets. The UAE shares ISO’s commitment to developing quality infrastructure, not just to support economic growth, but to enhance sustainability and consumer satisfaction.”Â
Collaboration is keyÂ
The meeting is centered around the theme “collaboration for good”. It happens at the most consequential moment of the past three years as the world undergoes profound change in many areas and moves towards achieving the UN Global Sustainability Goals by 2030. Â
ISO President Ulrika Francke commented: “In the spirit of collaboration that underpins everything ISO does, we come together this week to work toward solutions. I have seen first-hand how standards shape our world. It takes collaborative leadership, agreed standards and regulation, established policies, and great initiative to solve global problems.”Â
The climate crisis and other sustainability issues call for global collaboration. Participants will address urgent global challenges as they simultaneously advance long-standing economic, environmental and societal priorities – 💥all the while underpinned by the foundations of a global standards system.💥
Keeping up with global trendsÂ
The ISO Foresight Trend Report will be used for much of the week’s discussion and debate. Its goal is to make progress for standardization in the context of the unprecedented complexities of today’s world. The Annual Meeting provides a unique environment in which to reconnect, exchange insights and advance solutions for standards efforts.
Sessions address: Achieving global collaboration, Road to net zero, Innovative solutions for water scarcity, Cleaner energy in Africa, Circular economy going digital and Addressing sustainability challenges arising from demographic transition.
See the full programme.
Interested in learning more. Follow the meeting
Register for our livestreamed sessions and catch up with our coverage on ISO.org.
The official ISO Annual Meeting 2022 meeting hashtag is #ISOannualmeeting. Follow tweets on this hashtag to keep up with everything going on at the meeting.Â
Net-zero guidelines – Global first publishing soon
At the upcoming COP27 in November, ISO will launch net-zero guiding principles, providing, for the first time, a standardized definition of net zero and related concepts. The publication will offer:
- key guidance on how net zero should be incorporated into initiatives, strategies and policies, andÂ
- create the basis for accountability mechanisms and measurements, including all-important reporting indicators.
This milestone document will bring authoritative alignment of net zero across voluntary initiatives, standards, and national and international policy, to remove or reduce variation in definition and approach, increasing their impact.
