Management system guidance
Climate change amendments and ISO management systems
What were the climate change amendments?
Back in February 2024, ISO published an amendment to many of its management system standards, including ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001. The amended text required companies to consider the relevance of climate change when analyzing their context and when determining the needs and expectations of interested parties.
Do the 2024 amendments still apply?
Yes – but where you find them depends on the standard:
- ISO 9001:2026 (published 16 September 2026) has replaced ISO 9001:2015 and its Amd 1:2024. The climate change text is now part of the main body of the standard: Clause 4.1 requires the organization to determine whether climate change is a relevant issue, and a note to Clause 4.2 recognises that interested parties can have climate-related requirements. Annex A adds guidance on how climate expectations can shape regulatory, customer and organizational requirements. See our ISO 9001 Clause 4.1 and Clause 4.2 guidance.
- ISO 14001:2026 (published 15 April 2026) has replaced ISO 14001:2015 and its Amd 1:2024. It goes further than the amendment: Clause 4.1 now names environmental conditions – for example climate change, biodiversity, ecosystem health, pollution levels and the availability of natural resources – as issues to be determined, and the policy note in Clause 5.2 includes climate change mitigation and adaptation. See our ISO 14001 Clause 4.1 and Clause 4.2 guidance.
- ISO 45001:2018 has not yet been revised (a new edition is expected in 2027), so ISO 45001:2018/Amd 1:2024 still applies. OH&S management systems must continue to consider climate change under Clauses 4.1 and 4.2 as set out in the amendment. See our ISO 45001 Clause 4.1 and Clause 4.2 guidance.
In practice the expectation is the same in every case: determine whether climate change is relevant to your management system and, if it is, address it. The guidance below therefore remains valid whether you are working to ISO 9001:2026, ISO 14001:2026 or ISO 45001:2018.
ISO’s intention is to ensure that every organization includes climate change as part of their contextual analysis and, if deemed relevant, considers it in the design and manufacture of their products, and delivery of their services, and when implementing or amending their quality management system
How is climate change related to quality?
For most technical standards, climate change may not be what first comes to mind. It is a common misconception that climate change considerations are limited to organizations that have implemented and operate an ISO 14001 (EMS) environmental management system, ISO 50001 energy management system (EnMS), or that have social responsibility commitments under ISO 26000.
ISO’s stance is that most organizations will be affected by the impact of climate change in one way or another and that businesses will have to adapt to its effects to continue meeting their quality management system objectives and strategic purpose.
Some businesses may voluntarily choose to take action to mitigate climate change as part of their operations or be required to take action by their customers, suppliers, or regulatory bodies.
What is the impact of the climate change amendments?
What is the impact of the climate change amendments 2024? Understanding the organizational context and determining the needs and demands of interested parties was already required by Clause 4. The only new action introduced by the amendments was that climate change must be considered as part of the contextual analysis – a requirement that ISO 9001:2026 and ISO 14001:2026 have now carried into their main text.
Issues related to climate change are to be determined by your organization. If relevant issues affect your organization’s operational purpose or strategic direction or affect your organization’s ability to achieve the intended results of its management system, then control measures are required.
The requirement does not oblige businesses to have climate change initiatives unless they have been identified as a relevant issue to achieve the intended results of the quality management system.
We recommend that businesses consider whether climate change is or is not relevant to their operational context (4.1). Similarly, consider whether interested parties (4.2) have requirements that relate to climate change.
Assess the relevance of climate change
Begin by assessing the relevance of how climate change could impact your operations, products, and services. Assess the relevance of climate change by conducting a climate impact analysis to determine if climate change poses a risk or opportunity to your business.
The best way to determine whether climate change is relevant to your quality management system is to add climate change issues to your SWOT and PESTLE forms for discussion. Undertake a complete and thorough analysis to determine whether climate change is relevant to your QMS by considering the negative contribution that your operations have to the climate. Similarly, consider whether and how climate change affects your organization’s activities.
After completing the initial analysis, some businesses may determine that climate change is irrelevant to their quality management system. This should be discussed and documented at least annually during management review meetings. It could be argued that climate change could still affect business at some point in the future, so it should remain a ‘live’ issue that might change.
If your organization has determined relevant issues related to climate change, these may have specific monitoring and measurement needs, such as measuring the organizational impact of the introduced changes.
Other businesses may determine that elements of climate change are relevant to their quality management system. These businesses must identify potential risks and opportunities, forming the basis for how the QMS addresses climate change under Clause 4.1 of ISO 9001 and the risk and opportunity planning of Clause 6.1.
Engage relevant stakeholders
Engage relevant stakeholders, such as customers seeking sustainable products or with regulatory bodies who have stricter environmental regulations and permit requirements. Involve the key stakeholders in the process and understand their climate-related requirements to address them effectively within your quality management system.
Climate change should undoubtedly be considered a need or expectation of relevant interested parties, which includes the general public (public opinion), existing and proposed legislation, etc. If your organization has determined there are relevant issues or customer and other interested parties' requirements related to climate change, the next step is to address them in the management system.
Ensure your organization considers climate change-related requirements when determining or reviewing the customer requirements related to products and services. These climate change-related requirements may have specific implications for monitoring and measuring customer satisfaction.
Document the changes
There is no requirement for the outputs of Clauses 4.1 and 4.2 to be documented, but it is recommended that you review and revise your quality management system documents to consider the impacts of climate change.
If senior management already discusses and considers the requirements verbally during management review meetings, continue to do so. If your organization already retains documentation of the results of strategic planning via SWOT or PESTLE analysis or management review minutes, then considerations about the relevance of climate change should be captured in those documents.
If climate change is relevant to your QMS or any of your stakeholders, document the changes as you update your quality management system to show how you plan to address the climate change considerations.
Ensure that all affected elements of your quality management system reflect the climate change requirements, which might typically involve updating your quality policy and objectives or adding climate change considerations to your risk and opportunity register as a possible source of external risk to be discussed during management review meetings.
Auditing climate change
If relevant issues related to climate change have been determined by the organization, these may have specific monitoring and measurement needs, eventual implications on monitoring and measuring customer satisfaction, or changes to the internal audit programme.
The role of the auditor is to assess whether the organization has determined if climate change issues are relevant or not concerning their quality management system and its intended results, and if that is the case, then how it is addressed within the quality management system.
External auditors are likely to approach how your organization has determined the relevance of climate change from two angles. The first angle is to assess how businesses have determined the negative contribution of their operations to climate change, and secondly, how climate change affects your organization’s activities.
Auditors will also evaluate whether your organization has identified any contractually agreed customer requirements or statutory and regulatory requirements with climate change relevance applicable to its products and services and whether these are being acted upon.
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Planning - Context, leadership and management system planning
This is the 'Plan' part of the PDCA process. Establish the objectives and processes necessary to deliver results in accordance with customer requirements and the organizational policies. This is often implemented using stated objectives, work instructions or procedures as required for consistent process output.
Doing - Support and operations
This is the 'Do' part of the PDCA process. Ensure the availability of resources and information necessary to support the operation and monitoring of your processes. This may be through management review or other methods that define resource requirements.
Checking - monitoring, measuring, analysing and evaluating
This is the 'Check' part of the PDCA process. Monitor, measure and analyse process performance. Monitor and measure processes and products against policies, objectives and requirements, and report the results. The methods employed and the timing of such analysis should be based upon priorities established by the organization.
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This is the 'Act' part of the PDCA process. Implement the actions necessary to achieve the planned results, and for the continual improvement of those processes. Auditors will expect to see evidence that corrective action is taken when measurable objectives and performance indicators fall below target or a pre-defined action level.
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