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IWA 48: 2024 - Introduction to ESG Management Practice Guidelines

A. Introduction to the standard
Corporate sustainability has been a hot topic for a long time. The era of simply talking about 'environmental protection' or 'ethical management' is over. What is truly important is how to practically integrate ESG into the entire organization. One of the answers is IWA 48:2024 published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

B. What is IWA 48: 2024 ?
IWA: Short for International(I), Workshop(W), and Agreement(A), an international agreement developed by ISO with various countries and stakeholders. Among them, IWA 48:2024 is a practical framework for ESG implementation, providing specific guidance on how to integrate and operate ESG in an organizational culture, not only reporting.






C. Who are ‘IWA 48: 2024’ for ?
IWA 48:2024 is intended for organizations of all types and sizes, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), that seek to integrate ESG principles into their strategies, operations, and reporting practices. They are particularly beneficial for:
- Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs)
- Organizations in developing countries
- Top-level decision-makers in any organization looking to embed ESG practices

D. Expected Effects of IWA 48: 2024
- Gain a competitive edge: By implementing robust ESG practices, organizations can attract socially conscious customers and investors, potentially opening up new markets and funding opportunities
- Enhance reputation and trust: Improved ESG performance leads to greater transparency and stakeholder trust, bolstering an organization's reputation in the market and community
- Mitigate risks: A comprehensive approach to ESG helps organizations identify and address potential environmental, social, and governance risks before they become costly issues
- Contribute to global sustainability: By aligning with global sustainability goals, organizations can play a meaningful role in addressing pressing global challenges, from climate change to social inequality






E. ESG Management Core Principles of IWA 48: 2024
• Integrity : applying commonly shared ethics, utilizing elements of independence, objectivity, openness and transparency in all ESG decision-making and reporting; with effective accountability mechanisms based on sound leadership, systems and controls, including feedback from interested parties.
• Outcomes-focused : identifying, evaluating and managing the direct and indirect, strategic and operational outcomes, as well as the outcomes of environmental and social impacts based on decisions and activities, including intended and unintended consequences on and from the organization.
• Equity : ensuring shared values and a balance of interested parties’ interests in as objective, fair and impartial way as possible, bearing in mind long- and short-term risks and opportunities, practicalities such as resource availability, materiality dimensions and the interests of all relevant interested parties, including future generations.
• Integration of risks and opportunities : integrating the identification, understanding and management of risks and opportunities into ESG strategies and operations, including across the value chain and broader impacts on and from the environment and society.
• Evidence-based : identifying and evaluating outcomes as scientifically or analytically as possible, using reliable, verifiable evidence, prioritizing external and internal risks and opportunities and their materiality.
• Maturity : continuous improvement, embedding and updating of good practice to integrate ESG as a core value within the organization with effective risks and opportunities management, measurement and reporting, ensuring that ESG becomes integrated and owned as part of the DNA, core values, drivers and learning, rather than an external one-off, tick-box requirement.

- Emphasize communication with stakeholders
It presents a structured way to interact with various stakeholders, including customers, employees, communities, and supply chains.
- Establishing a Materiality-Based Strategy
It guides the 'materiality analysis' as an essential procedure, which selects ESG factors with high impact, prioritizes them, and develops strategies.
- KPI-based ESG performance measurement
IWA 48 quantifies and tracks ESG through key performance indicators (KPIs) for each of Environment (E), Society (S) and Governance (G).


F. Key components of IWA48: 2024
- Materiality Reporting: Materiality assessment method, identified key ESG issues, industry characteristics, climate change, organization's exposed risk factors, etc. 
- Governance Reporting: Overview of the organization (company information, location, purpose and scope, etc.), relevance of financial and non-financial information, organizational model, ESG risk internal control procedures, organizational structure and ESG reporting responsibility.
- Strategic Reporting: Strategy and effectiveness on risks and opportunities, impact on business model, resilience to risks
- Sustainability Risk Management: Identifying ESG-related risks and opportunities, establishing a management cycle 
- Reporting on KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and Objectives: Setting clear indicators and objectives, ensuring transparency, presenting relevant laws and requirements, and presenting data sources and verified evidence.







Even at this moment, companies around the world are strengthening their ESG capabilities. IWA 48:2024 is a compass that provides a common language and direction in the ESG era. If an organization is considering ESG management, ESG management through IWA 48:2024 can be a good guide to securing global consistency and reliability.

For more information about IWA 48:2024, please see the link below.
IWA 48:2024 - Environment, social and governance (ESG) Implementation principles

Reference)
IWA 48:2024 - Environment, social and governance (ESG) Implementation principles
ISO and ESG Principles: IWA 48 Published – Supporting Systematic Approaches for SMEs
Source: Korea Economic Daily