WORLD ACCREDITATION DAY Joint Statement By Emanuele Riva, IAF Chair, and Etty Feller, ILAC Chair

TEXT: World Accreditation Day 2022 Accreditation: Sustainability in Economic Growth and the Environment. The global accreditation organizations IAF and I LAC once again come together on 9 June to celebrate World Accreditation Day. The 2022 theme is Accreditation: Sustainability in Economic Growth and the Environment and aims to draw attention to how accreditation and conformity assessment provide global solutions for global issues.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have provided clear objectives for the globe to focus on now and in the future.

Two of the core elements of the SDGs are simultaneous economic growth and environmental performance, linked by a common desire for sustainable delivery of both objectives.

The collaboration of IAF and ILAC illustrates that seemingly differing focuses can be brought together to achieve positive action.

Our two accreditation organizations have long worked to support business, government, consumers, and other groups in accessing accreditation as a means to deliver enhanced economic and environmental performance. There has always been a focus on achieving these two things sustainably, but with heightened awareness, not least through COP 26, the wide range of solutions that accreditation provides, helps all organisations deliver more.

Whether through environmental protection performance, helping manage climate change, developing the circular economy or providing tools to measure performance, accreditation and conformity assessment are constantly reviewing and evolving to ensure that the right tools are available to support the SDGs both now and moving forward.

From some of the earliest testing laboratory accreditation activities supporting environmental regulations, to the more recent accreditation certification bodies for ISO 14001, a sector specific standard focused on environmental performance, and the introduction of standards for validation and verification, IAF and ILAC are seeking to help organisations measure, manage and/or report sustainable economic growth and environmental performance.

As Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria has become an increasingly popular method for measuring organisational impact and basing sound investment decisions the accreditation community will continue to engage with a range of organisations, with different needs and priorities, to deliver the relevant accreditation and conformity assessment solutions.

The phrase, 'There is no Planet B' highlights the ever more pressing need for simultaneous sustainability in economic growth and the environment.

World Accreditation Day 2022 enables the International Accreditation Forum (www.iaf.nu), the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (www.ilac.org) and their members to highlight how accreditation is delivering sustainability in economic development and the environment. IAF and ILAC provide a range of information to explain accreditation's role in sustainability, economic growth and environment, including further illustrations of its use: Economic development - Public Sector Assurance and Environmental Protection - Public Sector Assurance.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022