What are the global risks in a world threatened by COVID-19?
Climate change, economic imbalances, and, most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic, are among the main threats we will face in the next 10 years, according to the World Economic Forum’s latest report on global risks.
Raportul amintit identifică, pe de o parte, principalele riscuri la care suntem expuși, iar pe de altă parte evidențiază metodele de abordare și soluționare a acestora.
Environmental risks taken step by step
If last spring’s global gridlock led to up to a 17% drop in carbon emissions, according to a report released in early June 2020 by Nature Climate Change, in 2021 studies show new signs of concern.
The reason? As people become more active, carbon emissions will gradually increase.
Approach. An environmental management system such as ISO 14001 supports organisations and enables a better understanding of environmental impacts through strategic approaches to organisational activity.
Recommendation. Low carbon emissions on a global scale require significant investment. Sustainable finance can be an effective means to reach the 0 threshold.
The newly established technical committee ISO/TC 322, sustainable finance, prepares a framework of new standards to coordinate certain activities in the sphere of long-term investment in environmental measures.
Infectious disease risks at the forefront
The COVID-19 pandemic highlights inequalities in health systems when it comes to access. As such, the fact that the risk of infectious diseases tops the report comes as no surprise.
The reason? Weaknesses in health systems related to accessibility, number and quality of medical devices, lack of qualified staff, etc.
Approach. ISO has a lot of standards capable to ensure global quality and safety in the health sector. These includes the standard ISO 13485, which offers solutions to prevent errors caused by faulty product manufacturing, promotes easy access to the market and proposes measures to improve operations and reduce waste.
Cyber security risks just a click away
Internet activity has increased markedly over the past year as a result of the pandemic. Building on this, ISO’s information security experts have also noticed an increase in cyber attacks.
The reason? Weak information security management systems.
Approach. In a joint effort to strengthen the cybersecurity industry, ISO recently joined forces with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) to publish the ISO/IEC TS 27110, Information technology, cybersecurity and privacy – A guide to developing a cyber framework.
This technical specification provides a minimum set of internationally agreed concepts and definitions for harmonising approaches.
The standards outlined above are just some of those that, in addition to helping us manage and minimise future risks, allow us to contribute directly to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Further details on other standards, here.
