Climate Action ISO Standard Amendment: What does it mean to us?

On Monday I opened my email early, before anyone else was at their desks. In my inbox was a notification from ISO Customer Service advising of the latest changes to the ISO items I follow. I scrolled down as I usually do not expect to see much that would impact me or the industry, we work in.

I was pleasantly surprised. There it was in black and white right in front of my eyes Amendment 1: Climate action changes for ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015, ISO 45001:2018 amongst others. 

The amendment is consistent across all of the Standards that I reviewed and is simply stated as: 

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: Relevant interested parties can have requirements related to climate change. 

I’m going to be honest - my first thought on reading these additions was in a comment I shared on LinkedIn: 

“What I’m confused about is how far do we go as auditors or consultants when it comes to the relevance or consideration of climate change, especially in the standards other than 14001? Do we have to follow the path of 14001 to determine what we are looking for? Where does Climate change start and end in this context?” 

  “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”
– Charles Darwin

But don’t take this information just from me. Go straight to the horse’s mouth to find the amendment announcement from iso.org for ISO 9001:2015.  

Simple yet Far-Reaching 

You may be surprised by the simple and seemingly small change that this amendment has introduced and wonder exactly how this will impact existing systems, audit processes and implementation of new systems. 

What will be the influences of this change on ISO 9001:2015 Quality management systems?  

Quality systems are all about the customer, product and service. Climate-related risks should be taken into consideration, which could include: 

• Product lifecycle – consider the environmental impact of your products throughout the life cycle, which includes raw materials, production, installation, decommissioning and disposal. 

• Production efficiency – consider the improvement of waste management, lower carbon footprint of the operations of your business 

• Customer expectations – which of course we know ISO 9001 is focused on, means that you should also consider that your customers may increasingly demand products that are more sustainable and eco-friendlier. 

• Supply Chain management – what external climate change impacts could impact the stability of your supply chain? Severe weather events impacting transport or accessibility, availability of natural resources or even insurance and financial risks that lead to higher premiums. 

What will be the influences of this change on ISO 45001:2018 OH&S management systems? 

OH&S management systems are all about the worker and keeping them safe and healthy. Climate-related risks should be taken into consideration, which include: 

• Hazards – further consideration of hazards and risks as a result of climate change could be heat stress, air quality, severe weather events, infectious diseases. 

• Supply chain disruptions – inability to source personal protective equipment. 

• Psychosocial risks – concerns over job security due to climate change in certain industries can have psychosocial impacts.  

What will be the influences of this change on ISO 14001:2015 Environmental management systems? 

Environmental management systems are all about the environment and minimizing the impact that the businesses activities, products and services have on the environment. Climate-related risks should be taken into consideration, which include: 

• Changes in legislation – as climate change impacts and controls are introduced into legislation, the change rate of requirements may increase so it is important to stay abreast of these changes.
• Significant environmental aspects – while arguably climate change is already included in what is being identified specifically as an environmental aspect, this amendment highlights further awareness for consideration. 

These lists above are not exhaustive, they are simply an exploration of what this amendment may influence.  

But this is already in the Standards! 

My takeaway when creating this exploration list was that I could already see where this would be taken into account across the 3 standards in the existing clauses.  

The existing clauses where climate change impacts could have been considered prior to the amendment would be: 

Clause 4.1 – would or should have already considered external issues, including climate change. 

Clause 4.2 – interested parties, including customers, suppliers and regulators would all have climate change related needs and expectations  

Clause 6.1.2 – hazard identification should already have identified these new hazards and risks influenced by climate change and relevant to the activities conducted. 

Clause 8.1 – operational planning and control should consider the risks identified from climate change and implement the relevant controls. 

Honestly, I can probably go on with a longer list of existing clauses where climate change could have been identified as part of the existing process and requirements. 

Climate Change Focus: Balancing Act 

The positive aspect of this amendment is that it will now ensure that there is a focus and an awareness within any ISO management system of the impacts of climate change on our business.  

The key takeaway from this is the direction of this awareness. If we use ISO 14001 as an example, this is about the impact of what WE do on the environment. With the introduction of the consideration of climate change in the Context of our systems, it is about what climate change does to impact US. By considering this ‘two-way’ impact it is a balancing act for us to make a positive change. 

Your Next Steps

1. Conduct a Risk Assessment

Consider Climate Change impacts on your quality, OH&S and environmental management systems. 

2. Determine actions to address these risks.

3. Implement actions and monitor for improvements 

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