Kuala Lumpur, 5 August 2025 — ISO’s IWA 48:2024 — ESG Implementation Principles was conceived to answer a very practical problem: the ESG landscape had become crowded, inconsistent, and difficult to navigate. ISO’s own announcement framed the need plainly—disclosure rules and guidance had multiplied, leaving organisations of all sizes looking for principles they could apply to embed ESG in culture, operations, and reporting in a consistent, comparable way. IWA 48 was released as freely available guidance to meet that need.
Why IWA 48 was developed. ISO positioned IWA 48 to bring clarity and a common language to ESG practice across sectors. It sets a high-level structure and implementation principles that organisations can use alongside existing reporting frameworks (e.g., ISSB/TCFD or regional requirements) so that performance and disclosures become more reliable and comparable. The document was co-led by national standards bodies BSI (UK), SCC (Canada) and ABNT (Brazil) and drew input from over 1,900 experts across 128 countries, reflecting a deliberately broad, global consensus.
How ISO fast-tracked it. Rather than the multi-year development of a full International Standard, ISO used an International Workshop Agreement (IWA)—a faster, open-workshop route overseen by the ISO Technical Management Board (TMB). IWAs involve fewer consultation stages than a full standard, allowing useful material to reach the market more quickly. In April 2024, ISO formally invited members and stakeholders to participate in IWA 48 workshops following TMB approval of the proposal from BSI, ABNT and SCC. The programme scheduled virtual workshops from July through September 2024, with a draft circulated to registered participants beforehand—typical of the IWA’s accelerated, inclusive process.
When it launched. ISO officially introduced IWA 48 at COP29 on 14 November 2024 during the “Integrating ESG: Best practices and innovations” session at the Standards Pavilion. ISO’s launch article the same day underscored the guidance’s purpose—streamlining ESG practices, enabling clear communication of sustainability efforts, and supporting organisations at any stage of their ESG journey.
What the document does. In practical terms, IWA 48 helps organisations embed ESG by aligning leadership intent, governance, risk, resources, and measurement—so that reporting reflects real performance. ISO’s catalogue entry describes it as a high-level structure and set of principles for integrating ESG within organisational culture while supporting measurement and reporting under existing frameworks.
Building on the NISS 2025 discussion. At NISS 2025 in Kuala Lumpur, Gideon Richards, the Lead Editor of IWA 48, emphasised that the document is a practical entry point rather than another reporting layer. His session highlighted how the principles provide a shared language for leadership, operations, and assurance to work in sync, and how teams can map IWA 48 onto the systems they already use—turning commitments into disciplined, day-to-day practice.
Download while it’s free.
IWA 48 is currently available at no charge from ISO. We encourage you to download the document while free access remains in place:
https://www.iso.org/standard/89240.html
