Climate Change Issues in ISO 9001:2015 QMS

Climate Change Issues in ISO 9001:2015 QMS

 

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) published an amendment to clauses 4.1 and 4.2 of the ISO 9001:2015 QMS standard on February 24, 2024, along with all other management system standards.

 

The February 2024 amendment added a requirement in clause 4.1 of the ISO 9001:2015 QMS standard that the organization needs to determine whether climate change is a relevant issue. Accordingly, the organization needs to pay special attention to ensure the determination of whether climate change is a relevant issue for the organization's quality management system.

 

The February 2024 amendment also added a clarification note in clause 4.2 of the ISO 9001:2015 QMS standard that relevant interested parties can have requirements related to climate change. This clause already stated the requirement to determine the interested parties and their requirements that are relevant to the organization's quality management system. This clause also requires the organization to monitor and review information about the determined interested parties and their relevant requirements.

 

On analyzing the February 2024 amendment, we find that the overall intent of clauses 4.1 and 4.2 of the ISO 9001:2015 QMS standard remains unchanged as the requirements of these clauses already included the need for the organization to consider internal and external issues that can impact the effectiveness of the organization's quality management system.

 

Accordingly, to sum up, as per the February 2024 amendment, clauses 4.1 and 4.2 of the ISO 9001:2015 QMS now require:

 

- The organization needs to determine internal and external issues, including whether climate change is a relevant issue, that are relevant to the organization's purpose and that affect the organization's ability to achieve the intended results of the organization's quality management system.

 

- The organization needs to determine the interested parties relevant to the organization's quality management system and their requirements (which can include requirements related to climate change). The organization needs to address the determined requirements of the interested parties through the organization's quality management system.

 

Regards,

Keshav Ram Singhal