On 22 February 2024, IAF and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) published a Joint Communiqué to highlight the upcoming publication of Climate Action Amendments to new and existing ISO management systems standards.
In support of the ISO London Declaration on Climate Change, ISO passed a resolution that will result in two new statements of text being added to several existing management systems standards and will be included in all new standards under development/revision. The changes will be introduced initially as Amendments to these published standards. These new statements will apply to ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015, ISO 45001:2018 and ISO 27001:2022 (amongst others).
The purpose is to address the need to consider the effects of climate change on the ability to achieve the intended results of the management system in response to the London Declaration on Climate Action.
The changes are as follows:
4.1 Understanding the organization and its context.
The organization shall determine external and internal issues that are relevant to its purpose and that affect its ability to achieve the intended result(s) of its XXX management system.
Added: The organization shall determine whether climate change is a relevant issue.
4.2 Understanding the needs and expectations of interested parties.
The organization shall determine:
• the interested parties that are relevant to the XXX management system.
• the relevant requirements of these interested parties.
• which of these requirements will be addressed through the XXX management system.
Added: NOTE: Relevant interested parties can have requirements related to climate change.
Clauses 4.1 and 4.2 have always required the organization to consider all internal and external issues that can impact the effectiveness of their management system. These new inclusions are assuring that Climate Change is to ensure that this important topic is not overlooked. It should be noted that Climate Change can have a different effect on each management system, and it is not the intention to turn the management system audit into one that disproportionality considers Climate Change.
Climate change should be determined as relevant or not within the scope of the management system, and if so, the risk to the organisation will need to be evaluated. It is noted that some climate change aspects and risks may be of a general nature, whilst others will be specific to industries, e.g., energy production, agriculture, fisheries, or specific geographical locations.
During your next audit, your auditor is looking to ensure that you have considered Climate Change aspects and risks within the development, maintenance and effectiveness of your management systems, including any objectives and mitigation activities as required.
This is a minor amendment to the current version of the ISO Standard(s). The version of the Standards remains the same and will not require a certificate to be revised and re-issued.
