ISO Standards: A Platform for Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2
1
UC Business School, University of Canterbury, Christchurch 8041, New Zealand
2
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, Canada
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2020, 12(22), 9332; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12229332
Received: 16 October 2020 / Revised: 2 November 2020 / Accepted: 5 November 2020 / Published: 10 November 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability and Standardization)
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has recently begun promoting the linkages between its standards and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, further research is needed to explore how ISO standards can serve as a platform for achieving the SDGs. In this paper, we discuss the interlinkage between ISO standards and SDG 2 (i.e., Zero hunger—End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture). We review the literature on a set of 77 ISO standards related to SDG 2 and study existing evidence pertinent to SDG 2 and its targets. Specifically, we review research in four key areas of interest: agricultural productivity of ISO certified firms, adoption of ISO standards amongst small scale producers, ISO standards development, and governance of standards. We found implicit evidence in the literature that ISO standards have the potential to contribute to two SDG 2 targets, namely targets 2.3 and 2.4. Some aspects of ISO standards, however, such as low levels of adoption amongst small scale farmers or a lack of multi-stakeholder standard development, contradict key aspects of the SDG agenda. We outline key areas for future research in the four areas of interest noted above.
View Full-Text
Keywords:
ISO; standards; sustainable development goals; SDG 2; sustainable development
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Zhao, X.; Castka, P.; Searcy, C. ISO Standards: A Platform for Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2. Sustainability 2020, 12, 9332. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12229332
AMA Style
Zhao X, Castka P, Searcy C. ISO Standards: A Platform for Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2. Sustainability. 2020; 12(22):9332. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12229332
Chicago/Turabian StyleZhao, Xiaoli, Pavel Castka, and Cory Searcy. 2020. "ISO Standards: A Platform for Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2" Sustainability 12, no. 22: 9332. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12229332
Find Other Styles
Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.
