Codes and Standards: Enablers for Sustainable Growth

This presentation will focus on how codes and standards are enablers for injecting science into the deliberations on sustainability. Codes and standards are foundations for the design of new products and processes. Developed using a formal consensus process, codes and standards offer the opportunity for all stakeholders to vet and balance sustainability issues with other requirements. This open and balanced development period is a time when professionals and technical experts can bring data and credible evidence to the table. This would inject science and allow balancing issues affecting people and planet against performance, cost, safety and other design criteria. Such a proactive approach would be invaluable in guiding companies and organizations dedicated to sustainable growth.

The term ?standard? has a very different meaning to different stakeholder groups. This issue is explored to enhance understanding. In the business world, ?standards? are part of lean production, which has been proven to reduce environmental impacts. EPA and industry have found ?lean? to be a significant enabler of ?green? and sustainability.