The ISEAL Code of Good Practice for Sustainability Systems v1.1 (‘the ISEAL Code’) came into effect 1 September 2025. It includes changes that aim to improve the consistency of the ISEAL Code with other ISEAL guidance. This guidance document explains why and how these changes were made. 

The ISEAL Code of Good Practice for Sustainability Systems (‘the ISEAL Code’) provides a globally recognised framework that outlines the core components of a credible sustainability system and how they fit together. More than 200 people attended the launch webinar, including representatives from sustainability systems, NGOs, businesses, government, consultants and researchers.

For an overview of clause and glossary changes between v1.0 and v1.1 of the ISEAL Code of Good Practice for Sustainability Systems, see the excel file or word document below. 

ISEAL’s Codes of Good Practice provide a globally recognised framework, defining practices for effective and credible sustainability systems. We are currently revising and integrating the ISEAL Impacts, Standard-Setting and Assurance Codes, along with essential practices from the ISEAL Sustainability Claims Good Practice Guide, into one single Code of Good Practice.

The ISEAL Code of Good Practice for Sustainability Systems v1.1 (‘the ISEAL Code’) came into effect 1 September 2025. It includes changes that aim to provide greater clarity on requirements relevant to remediation. This guidance document explains why and how these changes were made. 

This checklist distils the key elements in developing and implementing a benchmark of sustainability systems.

The Empowering Consumers Directive, Directive (EU) 2024/825, (ECD) marks a significant development in EU consumer and sustainability policy, aiming to enhance the credibility of environmental claims and strengthen consumer protection against greenwashing. Among its key innovations, the Directive sets requirements for how sustainability labels are used in the EU market, specifically restricting their use unless backed by credible certification schemes or developed by public authorities.
 

The COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted the ability of many sustainability systems to perform on-site audits. Many have had to implement new policies and adapt to new ways of working. In many ways, this forced many sustainability systems to rapidly innovate during the pandemic, by embracing novel technologies and piloting new approaches to assess sites remotely.  

Benchmarking guide for analysing or evaluating sustainability initiatives or performance.

This guide lays out good practices for developing and implementing benchmarks of voluntary sustainability systems (VSS).

This checklist distils key steps in the guidance for setting up and implementing a sustainability benchmarking exercise or programme.

Information about grants to conduct remote auditing pilots

This is a consultation draft for the revised good practice guide for benchmarking of voluntary sustainability systems. The consultation runs from 31 October to 15 December 2024. More details on the consultation.

This ISEAL Guidance seeks to capture some of the core elements and good practices that are emerging as a result of this innovation.

ISEAL has developed a good practice guide to help ensure that sustainability claims made by jurisdictions, landscape initiatives, and the companies that source from or support them, are credible. The guidance covers the structural and performance claims a jurisdictional entity may wish to make, along with the supporting action claims of other related stakeholders.

Please note: This consultation is closed. The final version of the revised Sustainability Claims Good Practice Guide v2 (2025) can be accessed here. ISEAL has revised its Sustainability Claims Good Practice Guide to improve clarity and reflect the changing context in which sustainability systems now operate.Below are two resources to support our public consultation on the revised Sustainability Claims Good Practice Guide:

ISEAL has developed a draft good practice framework to support sustainability systems to strengthen the effectiveness of improvement strategies.

Since we published our guide for credible benchmarking in 2020, many new benchmarking initiatives have been developed and practical experience gained. We want to capture some of that learning through a revision to the guide. Consultation will open at the end of October 2024.

This ASI research report identified possible approaches, good auditing practices, and potential areas for alignment between sustainability standards and has been presented in a webinar.

Catch up on this webinar from 10 April 2025 where we launched the public consultation for the