Focus on ESG Principle 10 Continual Improvement

ESG is not a one-time project, it is an ongoing journey that evolves as risks, expectations, and opportunities change. Clause 10 of ISO IWA 48:2024 focuses on continual improvement, ensuring ESG systems remain effective, relevant, and aligned with organisational purpose over time.

This microcredential explores how organisations can review ESG performance horizontally and vertically, learn from results, and feed insights back into materiality, risk and opportunity assessment, and stakeholder identification. You’ll examine how trends, KPIs, and lessons learned drive corrective, preventive, and innovative actions.

ISO IWA 48 positions continual improvement as the mechanism that keeps ESG alive — linking governance, strategy, performance, and reporting into a closed-loop system that supports maturity, resilience, and long-term value creation.

Who this course is for

This course is designed for professionals responsible for maintaining, improving, or overseeing ESG systems and performance, rather than just designing them.

It’s ideal for:

• ESG, sustainability, and governance professionals
• Risk, performance, and strategy managers
• Internal auditors and assurance practitioners
• Consultants supporting ESG maturity and transformation
• Leaders responsible for ESG KPIs, targets, and outcomes

No prior ESG or ISO certification experience is required.

What you’ll learn

By completing this microcredential, you’ll learn how to:

• Interpret the intent and role of ISO IWA 48:2024 Clause 10
• Understand continual improvement as a core element of ESG maturity
• Apply horizontal and vertical ESG performance reviews
• Use trends and KPIs to identify when ESG outcomes are off track
• Feed lessons learned back into materiality, risk, and opportunity processes
• Evaluate ESG goals, KPIs, and resource alignment
• Apply a management system approach to ESG improvement
• Use ISO’s continual improvement lens to support transparency and accountability

What you’ll be able to do

After completing the course, you’ll be able to:

• Support organisations in strengthening ESG performance over time
• Identify gaps between ESG intent, action, and outcomes
• Use KPI trends and feedback to trigger corrective or innovative action
• Improve the integrity and credibility of ESG programmes
• Help embed ESG improvement into governance and decision-making
• Prepare organisations for ongoing ESG assurance, audit, and reporting expectations

This microcredential can be stacked with other ISO IWA 48 ESG modules — including Reporting (Clause 9), Governance (Clause 7), and Compliance & Conformity (Clause 8) — or used as a foundation for ESG Internal Auditor and Lead Auditor pathways within ATOL.