ISOCERT announce the inclusion of climate change issues in the requirements of standards for the certification of management systems.

Top News02/02/2024

We are pleased to inform you that on 22 February 2024, the ‘IAF-ISO Joint Statement on the Integration of Climate Change Considerations into All Management Systems’ was published.
Two new statements have been added to several existing management system standards and will be incorporated into all standards currently being developed or revised.
The standards affected by these changes are: ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, ISO/IEC 27001, ISO 22301, ISO 50001, ISO 22000, ISO/IEC 20000 and ISO 28000.

The purpose of the changes is to take into account the need to consider the impact of climate change on the ability to achieve the intended results of the management system.

Two new statements have been included in the new text of the Harmonised Structure in Annex 2 of Annex SL to ISO/IEC Directives Part 1 (23 February 2024).

Changes:

4.1 Understanding the organisation and its context.

The organisation shall determine the external and internal factors relevant to its purpose and strategic direction, and those that affect the organisation's ability to achieve the intended outcome(s) of the management system XXX

The organisation shall monitor and review information about these external and internal factors.

Added: The organisation determines whether climate change is an important issue.

4.2 Understanding the needs and expectations of interested parties.

The organisation should determine:

a) the interested parties that are relevant to the XXX management system

b) the requirements of those interested parties that are relevant to the management system

The organisation should monitor and review information about these interested parties and their relevant requirements.

Added: NOTE: Relevant interested parties may have requirements related to climate change.

Significance for the organisation:

ISO-certified organisations should emphasise the importance of climate change and take climate change issues into account in their context and stakeholder analysis. The analysis should address whether climate change affects the organisation's operations and, if so, how.
The IAF and ISO emphasise in their communication that climate change is an important topic and that adding the context of climate change is very important. ISO standards have always taken into account the need to consider all issues affecting management systems that an organisation should take into account, which is why many organisations with an ISO system already include climate change in their system.

When will the changes come into effect?

The changes regarding climate change requirements have already come into force and apply to all organisations that have a management system in place. This means that climate change issues will be taken into account and assessed during upcoming audits.

The source information and the ISO and IAF communication dated 22 February 2024 can be found on the website