ISO/UNDP PAS 53002:2024
Guidelines for contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

What is ISO/UNDP PAS 53002:2024?

ISO/UNDP PAS 53002:2024 — Guidelines for contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — is a guidance document developed by ISO together with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It gives an organisation a single, systematic way to manage and improve its contribution to the SDGs, rather than reporting against them after the fact.

What it asks an organisation to do

• Identify, prioritise, and manage its impacts on interested parties.
• Embed sustainable development into strategy, operations, and day-to-day decision-making, across all its activities.
• Improve and demonstrate its performance towards the SDGs — maximising beneficial impacts and minimising adverse ones, particularly on under-recognised and vulnerable groups.

What is a Publicly Available Specification (PAS)?

A PAS is published to respond to an urgent market need. It carries the consensus of the experts in a working group, or of a body outside ISO, and is released for immediate use. It also collects feedback for possible development into a full International Standard later.

This matters in practice: ISO/UNDP PAS 53002:2024 is written as guidelines, not as auditable requirements. It is not a management system standard, so there is no accredited certification against it. Organisations use it to structure and evidence their SDG work, and certify the management system standards that carry the underlying requirements.

Who it applies to

The guidance is written for organisations of any type, size, or sector — private companies, public bodies, and non-profits alike. It is most useful where an organisation already reports on sustainability and wants that reporting tied to how decisions are actually made.

How the SDGs fit an organisation

The 17 SDGs were written for countries, not companies, which is the practical problem PAS 53002:2024 addresses. Rather than an organisation claiming alignment with a list of goals, the guidance works from the organisation's actual activities outward: what it affects, who it affects, which of those impacts are significant, and what it can change. That produces a shorter, defensible set of goals rather than a long, decorative one.

Benefits of applying ISO/UNDP PAS 53002:2024

• Sustainability work is tied to strategy and decision-making instead of running alongside it.
• Impacts on interested parties are identified and prioritised on evidence, not assumption.
• Claims about SDG contribution can be supported when a buyer, investor, or regulator asks.
• The approach is consistent with the ISO management system standards an organisation may already hold.

How it relates to certifiable standards

PAS 53002:2024 sits above the certifiable standards rather than replacing them. The environmental, energy, health and safety, and anti-bribery requirements that underpin much SDG work already exist as auditable standards, and UCS certifies those:

• ISO 14001:2026 — environmental management
• ISO 50001:2018 — energy management
• ISO 45001:2018 — occupational health and safety
• ISO 37001:2025 — anti-bribery management

Working with UCS

Universal Certification and Services (UCS) is an accredited certification body. Because ISO/UNDP PAS 53002:2024 is guidance rather than requirements, there is no certificate to issue against it. What we can do is audit and certify the management system standards listed above, where your SDG-related controls actually live.

Contact us for a quotation, or read the document itself on iso.org.