If your organization is currently registered to any of the ISO Management System Standards (MSS), as of February 1st, 2024, you are now required to consider “climate change” within your management system. 

Effective immediately, all MSS requirements have added two new statements to your current registration – this can be found in the iso.org with the notation of “Amd 1:2024 (amendment)” to any number that you select (these small documents are free to download – example: https://www.iso.org/standard/88431.html): 

4.1 - Add the following sentence at the end of the subclause:

“The organization shall determine whether climate change is a relevant issue.”

4.2 - Add the following note at the end of the subclause:

“NOTE 2 Relevant interested parties can have requirements related to climate change.”

This means that going forward, your registration auditor can and will ask the management team how they are complying to the new “shall” that is in all ISO auditable standards, this includes: 9001, 14001, 22001, 22301, 27001, 45001, 50001 or any of the other MSS auditable requirements!

I have already heard some of my clients say that they will immediately add a phase in their management review that the management team is considering climate change in their internal system. OK, this is a good start.  However, you will also need to look at ISO to see how they are defining what climate change is and then think through how this could impact your management system.

“ISO 14093:2022: Mechanism for financing local adaptation to climate change — Performance-based climate resilience grants — Requirements and guidelines
3.1.1.1
climate change
change in climate that persists for an extended period, typically decades or longer
Note 1 to entry: Climate change can be identified by such means as statistical tests (e.g. on changes in the mean variability).
Note 2 to entry: Climate change might be due to natural processes, internal to the climate system, or external forcings such as modulations of the solar cycles, volcanic eruptions, and persistent anthropogenic changes in the composition of the atmosphere or in land use.
[SOURCE:ISO 14090:2019, 3.5]”

This looks confusing and will not be well understood by most registration auditors as this new requirement has seeming dropped out of nowhere to now become a requirement of the ISO MSS. And by creating the amendment to all MSS’s, the ISO has also stepped into a new world of how these documents may be released in the future as this dramatic type of change has never occurred before since the starting of the ISO 9001 in 1988.

It appears that ISO has also release several free publications talking about how ISO is working with worldwide stakeholders to address climate change.  Reviewing these documents might be of assistance to your management team in being ready to discuss what your company is planning on doing with your registrar.  Some of the free downloads include: 

PUB100449 Climate change adaptation
PUB100271 Environment Climate Change mitigation
PUB100067 ISO and climate change
ISO Climate Action Toolkit1

So how might this impact your management system?  With the add of a note in clause 4.2, any customer specific auditable standards now has full cart blanch permission to impose any sort of new requirements on your company under the guise of climate change!  In the past for the automotive industry, Ford Motor Company has already required all of their suppliers to also get registered to ISO 14001:2015 – now ISO 14001:2015 amd1:2024 and BMW has required their suppliers to get registered to ISO 45001:2018 now ISO 45001:2018 amd1 2024.  The idea that customers could now require your company to get registered to other management system standards may only be the tip of the ice burg that has now been set adrift. In the USA, adding the ISO 14001 should be relatively simple because they have the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the ISO 45001 as they have the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) as governmental regulation bodies.

One reaching example that may be starting to play out now, in the past year, I have noticed more organization wanting to claim that they are doing or using sustainability in their organizations. ISO does not have a standalone auditable standard, yet, so many organization are considering adding a combo of ISO 14001:2015 amd 1:2024 and ISO 50001:2018 amd 1:2024 (yes, there will be the new numbers) to their already existing 9001 or other auditable standards. This could easily become a mandate by your customers. 

Another angle could be starting to develop due to the number of companies experiencing cyber attach’s is to add the ISO 27001:2018 amd 1:2024. It would not be too much of a stretch that customer could require cyber security measures to be taken or the business continuity under the ISO 22301:2019 amd 1:2024.  Just looking at the number of ISO auditable standards is going to be confusing but customer will not be limited to using ISO standards. 

Any EHS professional knows the challenge of trying to keep up the regulations changes in the USA caused by the EPA or OSHA organizations. This new release of documents from the ISO in the MSS requirements could easily have a profound impact on how we run and manage our business in the very near future. 

Please stay tuned to Quality as we will attempt to help you keep track of what is happening in the ISO auditing arena. All of this is on top of the fact that we know a new updated ISO 9001 is planned for 2025. 

NOTE: 

Which ISO Technical Committees are working on aspects of climate change: 

Committee ISO/TC 207/SC 7

Greenhouse gas and climate change management and related activities

Standardization to manage GHG emissions, as well as to adapt to the effects of climate change in support of sustainability

Committee ISO/TC 17/SC 21

Environment related to climate change in the iron and steel industry

Standardization in the field of environment related to climate change such as low carbon process in the iron and steel industry.

Committee ISO/TC 82/SC 7

Sustainable mining and mine closure

Standardization of environmental, social and governance aspects of mining to:

minimize the negative impacts from mining through its life cycle and transition to post-mining land use,

take action to combat climate change and its impacts,

develop sustainable benefits and opportunities for local and regional communities,

respect community cultural connections to places,

adopt a long-term view that ensures inter-generational equity,

embrace opportunities for innovation by adopting the principles of the circular economy,

enhance transparency of mining practices.

Excluded: 

Occupational health and safety aspects related to workplace activities, covered by ISO/TC 283.

Risk management guidance, provided in ISO 31000.

Industrial wastewater treatment and reuse, covered by ISO/TC 282/SC4.

Machinery.

Committee ISO/TC 207

Environmental management

Standardization in the field of environmental management to address environmental and climate impacts, including related social and economic aspects, in support of sustainable development.

Excluded:

test methods of pollutants, setting limit values and levels of environmental performance, and standardization of products.

Note 1: TC 207 is focused on environmental management systems, auditing, verification/validation and related investigations, environmental labelling, environmental performance evaluation, life cycle assessment, climate change and its mitigation and adaptation, ecodesign, material efficiency, environmental economics and environmental and climate finance. 

Note 2: Where appropriate, the ISO/TC 207 works in cooperation with existing committees on subjects that may support environmental management.

Committee ISO/TC 59/SC 17

Sustainability in buildings and civil engineering works

Standardization in the field of sustainability of new and existing construction works in the context of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and climate change mitigation and adaptation. The environmental, economic, and social aspects of sustainability and circular economy are included as appropriate.

The author can be reached at: [email protected]