Sustainability systems have the potential to increase their impact by designing digitally accessible standards that are easier for users to understand, navigate and apply.

Last year, we launched the ISEAL Code website to integrate user-friendly features to the ISEAL Code, increasing user understanding of requirements and improving access to supporting resources and guidance. In this blog, we highlight the need for accessibility, what users are looking for, and the role of digital solutions in achieving this.

The need for accessibility

The need for accessibility is clear when understanding the role sustainability systems play in setting ambitions to improve social and environmental performance. Users aiming to meet these ambitions rely on sustainability systems communicating clear and well-written standards that can be easily understood, consistently interpreted and applied.

When developing the ISEAL Code website, we conducted stakeholder interviews to identify the most common pain points preventing users from understanding, interpreting and applying clause requirements. We found that users were struggling to find relevant resources, understand the scope of the requirements, as well as aligning and translating technical terms, which often vary across industries.

We addressed these issues by linking our existing resources directly to relevant clauses within the ISEAL Code. Additionally, enhanced search and filter functions allow users to view and narrow down clauses by section and topics, such as due diligence, gender, integrity risks, and more. We also implemented an interactive glossary feature, that  provides user definitions for key technical terms within clause requirements, and includes similar terms users may be familiar with.

Overall, these features equip users to build their own understanding of, and familiarity with, the scope of the ISEAL Code and its requirements.

What users are looking for  

Sustainability systems are looking to drive meaningful change at scale, which often means reaching out to a wide range of audiences to achieve these ambitions. To do this, it is important they can communicate the value and potential use-cases for their standards to a variety of different users, including technical and non-technical users, such as businesses and policymakers.

We conducted a multistakeholder consultation during the development of the ISEAL Code – which involved over 400 stakeholders from 205 organisations, across 48 countries. Through this process,we recognised that different user groups have different entry points to engagement, and that they each required a different approach to match their user journey.

When developing the ISEAL Code website, we worked with developers at Salad to ensure that we only introduced digital enhancements that enabled users to navigate and discover relevant information in an intuitive manner. Supporting pages such as the About page and the FAQ page, allow users with varying levels of familiarity with the ISEAL Code to find relevant information tailored to their needs.

The role of digital solutions

Digital solutions play a key role in not just increasing the use and understanding of sustainability standards, but also in supporting the uptake of credible practice. Beyond the interactive features within clauses, the Resource library on the ISEAL Code website has allowed for greater discoverability of existing credibility resources on our other platforms. It demonstrates a commitment to putting in practice the Credibility Principles related to Transparency, Reliability and Continual Improvement.

Sustainability systems have an opportunity to bridge the gap between the ambitions set out in their standards, and those who will be driving the meaningful changes, by creating unique solutions tailored to the needs and priorities of their users.