Management system guidance
Climate change amendments and ISO 9001
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What are the new climate change amendments?
Back in February 2024, ISO published an amendment to many of its management system standards, including ISO 9001. The amended text requires companies to consider the relevance of climate change risks when analyzing their context and when determining the needs and expectations of interested parties.
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 is already outlined in Clause 4. The only new action required is that climate change must be considered as part of the contextual analysis.
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 amendment does not require 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.
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 new amendments, 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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