UNDP: definition (ISO/UNDP 53001)
UNDP, the United Nations Development Programme (French: PNUD), is the UN agency dedicated to development. It developed ISO 53001 together with ISO, hence the name ISO/UNDP 53001, and describes it as the first international standard designed to help organisations integrate the Sustainable Development Goals.
Updated: · edition covered: ISO/UNDP 53001:2026
In an ISO/UNDP 53001 audit
UNDP plays no part in certification audits and issues no ISO 53001 certificates. Certification is the work of independent certification bodies applying ISO/IEC 17021-1, so the auditor verifies no relationship between the audited organisation and UNDP.
Its role lies upstream: joint development of the standard, under ISO project committee ISO/PC 343 with Danish Standards holding the secretariat; alignment with its SDG Impact Standards; and the announcement of further resources, including case studies, for early 2027. See the origins of the standard and the ISO/UNDP 53001 standard.
UNDP, ISO and the certification body
Three roles should be kept apart. ISO and UNDP wrote the standard; national standards bodies, such as BSI for the British edition, publish and sell it; certification bodies audit organisations against it. Any suggestion, on a certificate or a website, that UNDP itself certified an organisation would be misleading, and the auditor checks communications for it.
See also
- Publicly available specification: definition (ISO/UNDP 53001)A publicly available specification, or PAS (French: *spécification publiquement disponible*), is an ISO document developed faster than an International Standard to meet an urgent need, with narrower consensus.
- 2030 Agenda: definition (ISO/UNDP 53001)The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (French: *Agenda 2030*) is the framework adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015.
- Sustainable Development Goals: definition (ISO/UNDP 53001)The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), *Objectifs de développement durable (ODD)* in French, are the 17 goals adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015 to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity by 2030.
- ISO 53001 and UNDP: the origins of a jointly developed standard (ISO/UNDP 53001)ISO 53001 brings together ISO and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).