Alert

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published an amendment to many of its existing and new management system standards. This amendment adds text that requires organizations to consider the relevance of climate change risks in their analysis of the organizations context and needs of interested parties.

Review important points of the amendments to see how they may potentially impact your organization and to help improve ISO compliance.

Background on ISO Management Systems Amendments

Occasionally there are updates and changes to (ISO) frameworks that work to emphasize significant or important issues related to the applicable framework. Amendments, considered minor related to new version updates, should be considered important as they often relate to issues or topics that have some relation to other industry initiatives.

Climate Change Amendments

All ISO management system standards have had the following language added.

Clause 4.1

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

Clause 4.2

Relevant interested parties can have requirements related to climate change.

Other Language and Requirements

The specific language is in the usual ISO or International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) wording of using shall versus should, making it a requirement.

The new amended requirements will impact different organizations in disparate ways which will include factors related to industries served, governmental agencies, regulatory requirements, etc.

The application of how to address this additional language is dependent on an organization’s risk profile and industries served, and will be different for each application, to ensure that proper scoping is considered.

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)

The concepts of climate change and environmental related issues isn’t new to the corporate landscape regarding regulatory and industry led initiatives. ESG reporting concepts have become a factor in some areas of the economy mainly focusing on finance and investing organizations to bring more accountability and visibility into the ESG topics.

The initial goal of ESG was to require organizations to consider other factors that may affect their business operations that aren’t traditional reporting elements within the business lifecycle.

The amendment to the ISO frameworks doesn’t have the same requirements or depth of reporting, however, climate change will continue to be a factor that should be included in risk profiles and organizational plans to address them.

Conformance to ISO Frameworks

The impact of the amendments to the current certifications will be considered during upcoming certification, recertification, or surveillance audits. Managers of management systems should begin now to assess whether any actions should be taken to address this amendment.

We’re Here to Help

If you have questions about how these ISO management system amendments could impact your organization, please contact your Moss Adams certifications professional.