World Accreditation Day 2022

Jointly organised by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC), World Accreditation Day (WAD) is celebrated annually on 9^th June in over 100 economies across the globe.  Building on last year’s theme of supporting the implementation of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), WAD 2022 looks at how accreditation underpins sustainability in economic growth and the environment.

Across the world’s diverse geo-political and economic landscape, ‘success’ in economic growth is increasingly being evaluated against sustainability considerations.  By providing a robust and independent evaluation of bodies that test, calibrate, inspect and certify products and services, accreditation helps generate public confidence in an organisation’s sustainability credentials.  In addition to providing businesses with a platform for environmentally-friendly innovation, accreditation also supports the development and implementation of the appropriate government policies and regulatory frameworks which will be crucial to reaching SDG and net zero targets.

Get involved

WAD 2022 provides an opportunity for accredited certification, inspection, testing and calibration organisations to showcase how their accredited activities help improve quality and increase trade, whilst simultaneously addressing environmental concerns.

ILAC and IAF have created a poster and developed a suite of social media cards around each of the related SDGs (namely 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15: click here for more info on the SDGs).  Accredited organisations are encouraged to use these in their social media posts, along with the hashtag #WAD2022, when highlighting their SDG-related work.

IAF and ILAC have also released a joint statement and promotional brochure, which outlines accreditation’s SDG potential and provides numerous examples of accreditation’s ability to sustainably effect economic advancement from across the world.  All of these resources can be downloaded from the dedicated ILAC and IAF webpages, whilst additional support/examples are available at business-benefits.org and publicsectorassurance.org

Achieving sustainable growth in the UK

Here in the UK, UKAS accreditation is helping both government and industry reach SDGs and net zero targets in a number of ways.  From emissions monitoring and trading schemes to the measurement and sequestration of carbon, accreditation is generating confidence in the accuracy of emissions-related data, and in turn the reliability of environmental claims.  Similarly, the accreditation of microgeneration and certification schemes as well as bodies that inspect solar, wind and wave energy installations is helping renewable energy systems fulfil their potential and reduce the UK’s energy-related emissions further.  To read more about how accreditation of these areas is supporting net zero policies please, click here.