FAQs
v1.1, September, 2025
Do you have a question that you think should be included in this FAQ? Or further questions about any of the answers? Please contact isealcode@isealalliance.org.
What is the ISEAL Code?
The ISEAL Code of Good Practice for Sustainability Systems (‘the ISEAL Code’) defines practices for effective and credible sustainability systems. It provides a holistic picture of all the components of a credible sustainability system and how they fit together.
What is the ISEAL Code website?
The website allows users to view the ISEAL Code interactively, which supports their understanding and implementation of requirements. Interactive features include a search and filter function to navigate through clauses, an integrated live glossary, and direct links to relevant resources for implementation.
ISEAL Community Members and Insight users can login with their existing ISEAL Platform account to get access to the full range of resources available on this website.
What is a ‘sustainability system’? How do they use the ISEAL Code?
A sustainability system is a market-based tool that has been designed to address the most pressing social and environmental challenges of our time. The term includes a range of organisations and approaches that have common elements of: defining sustainability performance levels or improvement pathways; measuring, monitoring, or verifying performance or progress; and allowing for claims and communications. Other terms you may be familiar with include Voluntary Sustainability Systems, scheme, or certification programme.
The ISEAL Code is relevant to all types of sustainability systems, from certification programmes to improvement programmes, or in-house sustainability programmes to landscape and jurisdictional approaches. The ISEAL Code can be used to inform strategy development and help recognise and understand what is needed to improve system effectiveness.
As a researcher/consultant/technical expert, why is the ISEAL Code relevant to me?
The ISEAL Code is applicable across a breadth of sectors and sustainability issues. Researchers, consultants or technical experts can use the ISEAL Code to better understand what credible practice looks like at a holistic level, or from the perspective of a specific issue or Credibility Principle.
As a policymaker, why is the ISEAL Code relevant to me?
The ISEAL Code can help policymakers design effective and holistic sustainability policies. It can help guide policy implementation as it provides clear definitions and criteria for credible sustainability practices.
As a business, why is the ISEAL Code relevant to me?
The ISEAL Code helps businesses identify credible tools and partners that can support them to minimise risk, meet regulatory requirements and drive impact. It defines what credible practice looks like for sustainability tools and partners.
What is the difference between the ISEAL Code and the ISEAL Credibility Principles?
The key difference is the level of detail in which credible practice is defined. The ISEAL Credibility Principles define the core values of credible and effective sustainability systems. The ISEAL Code is underpinned by these values, but takes a more detailed approach, defining practices for effective and credible sustainability systems.
What is the relationship between the ISEAL Code and ISEAL’s other guidance about credible practice?
To complement ISEAL’s Credibility Principles and the ISEAL Code, ISEAL has a wide range of resources that explore the role of credible and effective sustainability systems in addressing critical sustainability challenges. This includes resources such as ISEAL’s Sustainability Claims Good Practice Guide v2.0, Benchmarking Good Practice Guide v2.0, and guiding framework for making credible living wage claims v1.0. These resources are aligned and complementary to the ISEAL Code and can be used to build understanding of foundational concepts addressed in the ISEAL Code, or to recognise practices that go above and beyond ISEAL Code requirements and reflect best practice on a topic.
I’ve seen an organisation claim to be compliant with the ISEAL Code. What does this mean?
ISEAL Code Compliant status recognises organisations that implement the practices defined in the ISEAL Code, and in doing so, demonstrate a rigorous approach to improvement. From October 2025, independent evaluations against the ISEAL Code will begin. To maintain Code Compliant status, organisations must demonstrate adherence to the requirements in the ISEAL Code through independent evaluations within a four-year period.
Guidance for allowed claims and references to the ISEAL Code and ISEAL Code Compliant status is published in the ISEAL Community Member Claims Guidelines.
Which organisations are ISEAL Code Compliant?
You can find a full list of current ISEAL Code Compliant organisations here, by selecting the filter for ‘ISEAL Code Compliant’.
How did ISEAL Code Compliant organisations transition from compliance against the previous Codes, to compliance with the ISEAL Code?
When the ISEAL Code came into effect on 1 March 2024, ISEAL Code Compliant organisations had a transition period to align their systems to the ISEAL Code. This included conducting self-assessments, developing alignment plans, and implementing changes across the scope of their system.
ISEAL Code Compliant status during this transition period recognised ISEAL Community Members that adhered to the Standard-Setting, Impacts and Assurance ISEAL Codes of Good Practice and committed to adhere to the ISEAL Code.
What is the value of compliance against the ISEAL Code?
The ISEAL Code can be used as a framework for improvement, and compliance with the ISEAL Code equips sustainability systems to be more focused on impact strategies and performance monitoring. This makes them more effective at driving improvements in the areas that matter. Code Compliant status demonstrates independent evaluation against a globally recognised framework for effective and credible sustainability systems. ISEAL Code Compliant organisations can convey their Code Compliant status by using the ISEAL Code Compliant logo and related claims.
Where can I find information about the evidence needed to demonstrate compliance with a clause?
Compliance criteria are available to ISEAL Community Members.
What do independent evaluations against the ISEAL Code look like?
Independent evaluators are contracted by ISEAL to complete the evaluations, where they will review documentary evidence to determine whether the member has adhered to requirements in the ISEAL Code. Evaluations are completed against the full ISEAL Code at least once every four years, and ISEAL Community Members can choose to be evaluated against the full scope of the ISEAL Code, or three phased specific scope evaluations.
I’m interested in being assessed against the ISEAL Code. Where can I find out more?
Only organisations that have been in good standing as an ISEAL Community Member for at least 12 continuous months are eligible to apply for ISEAL Code Compliant status. ISEAL Community Members interested in becoming ISEAL Code Compliant should contact compliance@isealalliance.org to discuss this in more detail, as the timescale and system context will determine next steps.
What is the ISEAL Code v1.1?
The ISEAL Code v1.1 was published and came into effect on 1 September 2025. It includes editorial and non-substantive changes to address feedback received during the ISEAL Code transition period, with changes that aim to improve the clarity and intent of certain requirements. The changes do not affect the performance levels or expectations for compliance.
The changes address three objectives:
- To provide greater clarity on requirements relevant to remediation
- To improve consistency with ISEAL’s resources
- To provide additional guidance and editorial improvements
Where can I find out more about what has changed?
This webpage includes a range of resources, including
- an overview of all changes to v1.1
- a change log between v1.0 and v1.1
- detailed overviews for each objective; remediation requirements, consistency changes, and editorial
How was the ISEAL Code v1.0 developed?
Formal development of the ISEAL Code began in May 2020, when the ISEAL Board approved the revision and integration of the ISEAL Impacts, Standard-Setting, and Assurance Codes of Good Practice, along with the incorporation of essential practices from the ISEAL Sustainability Claims Good Practice Guide. Following this, a multi-stakeholder steering group was created, and with additional input from the ISEAL Technical Committee, drafting of the ISEAL Code began. After two rounds of stakeholder consultation in 2022 and 2023, the ISEAL Code was approved by the ISEAL Board in November 2023 and published in the following month. For more information on the public consultation and development process, see ISEAL Code of Good Practice revision and integration.
What is the difference between the ISEAL Code v1.0 and the Assurance, Impacts and Standard-Setting Codes of Good Practice?
The ISEAL Code v1.0 superseded these previous Codes of Good Practice when it came into effect on 1 March 2024. Development of the ISEAL Code included the revision and integration of these three Codes, but much of the intent and level of ambition remains the same. For a summary of the changes, including a summary of new content on claims, due diligence, and gender, see this overview. To see how the ISEAL Code v1.0 changed on a clause-by-clause basis, see this comparison table.
The ISEAL Impacts/Assurance/Standard-Setting Code are still mentioned in normative documents and guidance. Are these resources still relevant?
A number of normative documents and guidance refer to the previous ISEAL Codes, and these will be updated on an ongoing basis. We are prioritising updates to normative documents, which unless stated otherwise, are still applicable. For guidance and resources, the content remains relevant as much of the intent and level of ambition is the same as in the previous ISEAL Codes. If you are unclear about the relevance of a document, please contact isealcode@isealalliance.org.
The terminology used in the ISEAL Code is different to phrases we use in our organisation. Is it still relevant?
The ISEAL Code has been designed to apply to a wide range of sustainability systems, including certification programmes, certification systems, jurisdictional or landscape-level verification schemes, enterprise-level certification, improvement monitoring programmes and ratings systems. The terminology used is intended to be applicable to all these organisations, but may differ from terms you use (e.g., the ISEAL Code refers to assurance providers, which is inclusive other terms that organisations may use, such as certification bodies or conformity assessment bodies). The glossary within the ISEAL Code includes similar terms which can help identify which phrases can be used interchangeably.
How does the ISEAL Code align to the EU Green Claims Directive and other upcoming claims regulations?
The rapidly changing regulatory context was a factor that informed revision and integration of the ISEAL Code, where increased scrutiny on the accuracy and relevance of sustainability claims will affect a sustainability system’s own claims and how they support and communicate with wider stakeholders. However, as a globally recognised framework for credible practice, the aim of the ISEAL Code was not to specifically align with the content within any one regulation, but to ensure that the claims and communications made by the sustainability system about its approach and users performance results are clear, accurate and reliable. It aims to provide the foundations to underpin efforts to meet these regulations.
I need more information about a topic in order to understand the ISEAL Code and inform how to make changes. Where can I find further information?
Within the ISEAL Code, a number of clauses include non-mandatory guidance that is intended to support users understand the requirements. Viewing the ISEAL Code website will also provide more information within each clause, including links to relevant resources and glossary definitions, designed to support the implementation of requirements. This includes links to implementation guidance, which is guidance that has been designed to explain how the ISEAL Code addresses specific topics such as gender, risk assessment, due diligence, and remediation.
For ISEAL Community Members, the ISEAL Platform has ISEAL’s full range of resources on topics addressed in the ISEAL Code.
How does the ISEAL Code support sustainability systems to identify opportunities for collaboration and alignment?
During strategy development or revision, the ISEAL Code requires that sustainability systems identify where they are and are not well-placed to exert influence, recommending that this is informed by identifying complementarity with other sustainability systems with overlapping scopes (see clause 1.2). Identifying opportunities for alignment between standards is also required at the outset of standards development or revision (see clause 6.2). You can find more information about how to evaluate and compare different sustainability tools in the Sustainability Benchmarking Good Practice Guide v1.1.
Multiple clauses ask for review and revision of procedures or processes. How do these all fit together?
As the ISEAL Code intends to support sustainability systems to improve over time, review and revision are important processes for ensuring scheme components remain effective and relevant. Each sustainability system is best placed to determine how these revision and revision processes are aligned, from the order in which scheme components are reviewed, to how learnings are shared with relevant staff. Clause 1.3 underpins each review, ensuring all learnings can be used to inform the schemes’ intended impacts and strategies.
Do you have a question that you think should be included in this FAQ? Or further questions about any of the answers? Please contact isealcode@isealalliance.org
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