Tackling climate change through Standards – World Standards Day

World Standards Day is celebrated each year on 14 October to pay tribute to the efforts of thousands of experts worldwide who collaborate within the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to develop voluntary international Standards that facilitate trade, spread knowledge, and disseminate technological advances.

This year's theme is 'Tackling climate change through Standards'.

The world is facing a critical challenge. Increasing greenhouse gas emissions are raising the earth's average temperature. As a result, dramatic climate change is forecast and global scientific opinion predicts enormous developmental, economic, social, and environmental stresses on our planet.

Leading climate change experts have put forward a series of practical solutions to tackle climate change. These solutions include the technical Standards published by the world's three leading international standardisation organisations: IEC, ISO, and ITU.

In its groundbreaking report published in 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) cited technical Standards like those published by the IEC, ISO, and ITU, as a means of mitigating climate change now, while offering the potential to reduce its effects in the future as new technologies are developed and mature.

The ISO work on the Carbon Footprint of Products Standard (ISO/WD 14067) has benefited considerably from Standards New Zealand’s input. New Zealand stands to benefit from maintaining proactive and effective involvement in the Standard's development, which will influence the direction and practicality of future requirements.

The resulting international Standard will be technically better, and it will support New Zealand industries’ ability to operate in markets with credibility and, where necessary, to use internationally recognised, transparent, and validated carbon footprinting methodologies.

This is a great example of the real value of New Zealand’s participation in the development of an ISO environmental management Standard.

The three global Standards organisations are coordinating their work to ensure that government, business, and society are provided with the necessary tools to help combat global climate change and to support the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by increasing energy efficiency, while facilitating sustainable development.

The Standards produced by ISO, IEC, and ITU reach across all sectors identified in the IPCC report where mitigation technologies, policies and measures, constraints, and opportunities exist, including energy supply, transport, buildings, industry, agriculture, forestry, and waste.

The IEC, ISO, and ITU offer a system of standardisation whose output includes Standards for the following aspects of the fight against climate change.

• Monitoring and measurement of greenhouse gas emissions
• Measuring the carbon footprint of networks and products
• Designing and building energy efficient homes and workplaces
• Benchmarking for good practices including environmental and energy efficiency labelling
• Promoting good practice for environmental management and design, and for energy management
• Disseminating innovative technologies that promise to help reduce the effects of climate change
• Fostering the introduction of new energy-efficient technologies and services

International Standards offer policy makers, industry, and users the common tools they need to work together on tackling climate change. The three partner organisations also offer a comprehensive system in which nations and the private sector can participate to establish the priorities for tackling climate change in the years ahead. As such, they offer practical solutions with the potential to be used as part of any international agreement following on from the Kyoto Protocol.

Standards from the IEC, ISO, and ITU offer the world's governments and industry the best possible benchmarks to be referenced in any policy-making decisions or future climate treaties. The three organisations are working together with other international organisations to ensure that participants at the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference on 7–18 December 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark, will be fully aware of the solutions offered by existing and future international Standards.

The following Standards can be purchased individually or as a complete set.

Information systems work – update on RFI, RFPs soon to be issued

As advised in the August 2009 Touchstone, Standards New Zealand has started a new programme of work to deliver the first phase of our Information Systems Strategic Plan (ISSP) from mid 2010. Standards New Zealand has completed the request for information (RFI) process, is about to issue two requests for proposal (RFPs), and has added two new work streams.

The ISSP outlines how we will develop and implement the information systems we will need to meet our future business needs. Our ISSP team is aiming to deliver an updated finance system, a new desktop and server environment, and a modified webshop over the coming 2 to 3 years.

High quality response to RFI

'We issued a RFI in August 2009 to see what was available in the market to help us gain greater functionality for forecasting and enabling the business,' says Alison Holt, ISSP Programme Director. 'We received a range of high quality, good solutions for us and we learnt a lot through the process. It's informed our thinking and has helped us to write two very specific requests for proposals (RFP) so that we don't just buy a product – but we have a good idea of how it's going to be configured.'

Two RFPs to be issued

We are about to issue two RFPs to the successful providers selected from the RFI process. The RFPs are for an enterprise project management system (EPMS) and a desktop operating system and email replacement.

We are looking for innovative and agile solutions, which give us better information, business intelligence, and value for money.

'For the EPMS RFP we will provide vendors with a CD including some business processes and information,' says Alison. 'This will enable providers to demonstrate how their solution can help our business to deliver better business information, improve business processes, and increase usability. This will inform our proof of concept in 2010.'

Two new work streams added

We have added two new work streams to the ISSP programme as follows.

• Business alignment stream to deliver: the pre-identified business benefits (both tangible and intangible) of the ISSP programme; business policy and process review and alignment; and quality assurance, acceptance, and compliance criteria.
• IT compliance stream to deliver IT compliance framework including: systems and network (architecture and integration); support and maintenance; service management processes; and user and system policy.

Reappointments to the Standards Council

The Minister of Commerce Hon Simon Power has reappointed to the Standards Council:

• Dr Sharon Lynn Kletchko, of Richmond, as member and appointed her as the deputy chairperson for a term commencing on 1 September 2009 and expiring on 28 February 2011, in accordance with the Crown Entities Act 2004 and the Standards Act 1988.
• Richard Gordon Alexander Westlake, of Wellington, as a member and chairperson for a term commencing on 15 September 2009 and expiring on 31 October 2010, in accordance with the Crown Entities Act 2004 and the Standards Act 1988.

Summarised from the New Zealand Gazette, No. 131, 3 September 2009