The Spanish Association for Standardization - UNE, is firmly committed to the United Nations Global Compact, with sustainability, and with Spanish society, which it demonstrates is various ways.
In 2024, UNE celebrated 10 years as a member of the Spanish Network of the United Nations Global Compact. As a founding partner, it has encouraged other organisations to measure and demonstrate their commitment to the ten universal principles on human rights, labour standards, the environment and the fight against corruption.
In addition, with its desire to constantly improve, UNE has published its fifth Progress Report, which refers to the progress made by the Spanish standardisation body in 2021 and 2022 in its commitment to the ten universal principles, ESG objectives (environmental, social and good governance) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
The Report includes numerous standards and other actions with which UNE contributes to meeting ESG objectives. Thus, UNE has published the report "Supporting standards for ESG reporting" (Apoyo de las normas para el reporte ESG) with the aim of helping Spanish organisations to comply with the reporting obligations laid out by the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) with regard to ESG (environmental, social and governance).
An example of environmental reporting is the 'Net Zero Guidelines', which establishes common understanding and provides a series of measures for organisations to achieve zero net carbon by 2050.
As part of its social policy, the Spanish Association for Standardization, UNE, has created the UNE Gender Equality Committee to promote Spanish participation and leadership in the first international standard on Gender Equality in organisations, the recently published UNE-ISO 53800. This standard is an example of the effective response provided by standardisation to manage major challenges in Spanish society.
With regard to good governance, the international benchmark standard UNE-ISO 37000 Standard Guidance on the Governance of Organisation, is also relevant.
The role of standards as tools in meeting the SDGs is recognised by many organisations worldwide. The UNECE web portal on standards to support each SDG shows specific examples of this contribution.
Similarly, UNE promotes the importance of the Spanish quality infrastructure. UNE, the Spanish Metrology Centre (CEM), and the Spanish National Accreditation Body (ENAC), form the three basic pillars of quality infrastructure in Spain. Their collaboration in standardisation, metrology and accreditation drives the competitiveness of the Spanish production network, in addition to ensuring reliability and building trust. An example of these joint actions is the website “Spanish quality infrastructure", which contains information of practical interest on this infrastructure.
In short, ten years of UNE commitment to best practices in sustainability has been fulfilled, giving meaning to the Organisation's purpose: to contribute to the shared progress of society and to the building a safer, more sustainable and competitive world".
The Global Compact promotes the implementation of these Principles with a view to fostering sustainable development. This UN initiative for sustainable development in the business world appeals to companies and organizations to align their strategies and operations with the ten universal principles, and to take measures to promote the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
