After much development, ISO 50001:2018 has been published (21 August 2018).
As you may already be aware, ISO 50001 helps organisations use energy more efficiently and integrate better energy management into business strategy. It does this by outlining how to implement and maintain an Energy Management System (EnMS) that continually improves the organization’s energy performance and saves money.
The International Standard has been developed for use by any organisation wanting to improve energy management to reduce costs and carbon emissions, those wishing to implement an energy management system & organisations seeking to develop a deeper understanding of internationally recognized best practice for energy management.
It is, especially attractive to organisations already certified to ISO 14001:2015 who would like to develop their energy management systems.
ISO 50001:2018 provides a systematic approach necessary to continually improve energy performance. Once in place, an EnMS enables an organization to set and achieve objectives and energy targets, take action to improve its energy performance and benefit from efficiency and costs savings as a result.
It will help organizations to reduce energy costs, grow more sustainably, become more resilient and comply with the energy-related legislation, such as the Energy Saving Opportunities (ESOS) Regulation.
Additionally, the International Standard can be applied to:
- Activities affecting energy performance that are managed and controlled by the organization irrespective of the quantity, use, or types of energy consumed
- Demonstrate continual energy performance improvement but gives freedom for the organisation to define the levels of energy performance improvement to be achieved
- Be used independently, or be aligned or integrated with other management systems, such as ISO 14001:2015
Users of the previous version of ISO 50001:2011 will find the following changes should be taken into account in their transition to the new version:
- The revision incorporates ISO’s new high-level structure (HLS) of terms, definitions and headings, thus bringing the 2018 standard into line with the other key management systems standards. It makes this version compatible and easier to integrate with ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, which are now also in the ‘HLS’ format.
- A stronger emphasis on the responsibility of leadership
- Clarification of key concepts related to energy performance
- Improved sections on data collection and normalization
- Additional minor revisions reflecting seven years of using the standard in the real world
A copy of ISO 50001;2015 can be purchased from ISO here, BSI from their website here and ANSI here
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