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Editon 1, 2024-March-19
3/8
International Organization for International
Standardization Accreditation Forum
Web: www.iso.org Web : www.iaf.nu
This amendment does not require an organization to have climate change initiatives unless
it has been identified as a relevant issue to achieve the intended results of the QMS.
CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE CONTEXT OF ISO 9001
Relevant Issues related to climate change, to be determined by the organization, if any, are those
relevant to its purpose and strategic direction and that affect the organization’s ability to achieve
the intended results of the quality management system:
- the ability to consistently provide products and services that meet customer and applicable
statutory and regulatory requirements, and
- enhance customer satisfaction through the effective application of the system, including
processes for improvement of the system and the assurance of conformity to customer and
applicable statutory and regulatory requirements (ISO 9001, clause 1).
Relevance of these issues will vary significantly depending on the size and sector of the
organization, the products and services provided, its position in the supply chain, its geography,
the scope of the organization’s quality management system, and potentially other factors. These
may span the spectrum from no relevance to extremely relevant.
The inclusion of the new text in 4.1 requires organizations to consider climate change to determine
if there are or not relevant issues that will need to be addressed. Although the text is new, auditors
may find that some organizations are already considering and addressing issues related to climate
change within the scope of the quality management system (e.g.: energy supplier invoices, stating
the percentage of supplied energy coming from renewable sources; claims on carbon credit, on-
product claims on energy consumption reduction, replacement of raw materials or consideration of
eco-design of products to reduce climate change impact, etc.). Auditors will also find organizations
that have already considered climate change and determined that it was not a relevant issue for
their QMS. For other organizations, this may be a new consideration.
The note at 4.2 is a reminder that there may exist, currently or potentially in the future, requirements
related to climate change dictated by customers and relevant interested parties.
A climate change issue can be relevant for different management system disciplines, such as
environmental, health and safety, energy, finance, or other aspects of an organization’s activities.
While these may have ancillary significance, they are not generally addressed within the scope of
the quality management system audit. If an organization has an integrated management system
with other management system disciplines, it is likely that the same issue is analysed in different
perspectives by the organization in a holistic manner. Auditors need to be aware of this and focus
on the intended outcomes of the QMS and its processes, bearing in mind that there might exist
overlaps in certain areas (e.g. design of product considering environmental aspects).