URB-B.01.E - Quality Management System Certification
Is the company certified by international standards on its quality management system?
About the data
The WBA Urban Benchmark measures and ranks the world's most influential companies on their efforts to shape sustainable, inclusive and resilient urban environments, tracking how companies address essential urban needs while respecting planetary boundaries across dimensions including decent work and human rights, environmental and climate impacts, social inclusion, and sustainability leadership. The 2026 edition assessed 300 companies across four key industries shaping urban environments: real estate, construction and engineering, transport, and utilities. Companies were scored on 24 urban-specific indicators plus 18 core social indicators, spanning four measurement areas: sustainable governance, inclusive cities, healthy cities, and climate change and resilient cities. The benchmark is designed to incentivise the private sector to take adequate responsibility for its role in ensuring affordable, safe and inclusive urban environments for all. More information can be found here.
Methodology
Globally, 2.8 billion people experience some form of housing inadequacy (UN Habitat,
2023)) and only half of urban residents have convenient access to public transport systems (UN,
SDG11). The growing number of informal settlement dwellers, particularly in East Asia, South Asia and
Sub-Saharan Africa, has resulted in inadequate and overburdened infrastructure systems for waste
management, water and sanitation, with negative impacts on public health and livelihoods.
Addressing these challenges requires companies to comply with international quality standards and
take concrete actions to improve the quality and reliability of their products and services, including
minimising gaps and outages, ensuring regular monitoring and maintenance, and implementing
changes to designs and building methods.
Research Guidance
The company discloses certification of relevant ISO standards for its quality management system, such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 24510, ISO 24511, ISO 24512, ISO 50001.
This certification should still be in date (the period of validity is written on the certificate).
Certification should cover all of its operations, rather than just some locations, projects, business functions or subsidiaries.
ISO 27001 (Information security management) and ISO 45001 (Operational health and safety) are not sufficient on their own. We are looking for certification of broader quality management systems that govern process improvement, operational optimisation, and monitoring and evaluating performance.
Even if the company meets this element, it is still expected to set targets and report progress (elements b and c) - ISO certification ensures that the management system has the capacity to produce high quality, whereas other metrics measure actual levels and improvements in the quality of products/services.
2023)) and only half of urban residents have convenient access to public transport systems (UN,
SDG11). The growing number of informal settlement dwellers, particularly in East Asia, South Asia and
Sub-Saharan Africa, has resulted in inadequate and overburdened infrastructure systems for waste
management, water and sanitation, with negative impacts on public health and livelihoods.
Addressing these challenges requires companies to comply with international quality standards and
take concrete actions to improve the quality and reliability of their products and services, including
minimising gaps and outages, ensuring regular monitoring and maintenance, and implementing
changes to designs and building methods.
Research Guidance
The company discloses certification of relevant ISO standards for its quality management system, such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 24510, ISO 24511, ISO 24512, ISO 50001.
This certification should still be in date (the period of validity is written on the certificate).
Certification should cover all of its operations, rather than just some locations, projects, business functions or subsidiaries.
ISO 27001 (Information security management) and ISO 45001 (Operational health and safety) are not sufficient on their own. We are looking for certification of broader quality management systems that govern process improvement, operational optimisation, and monitoring and evaluating performance.
Even if the company meets this element, it is still expected to set targets and report progress (elements b and c) - ISO certification ensures that the management system has the capacity to produce high quality, whereas other metrics measure actual levels and improvements in the quality of products/services.
License
Topics
Framework Mappings
Value Type
Category
Options
Yes
No
Assessment
Steward Assessed
Report Type
Aggregate Data Report