A major change affecting all Management System Standards, such as ISO 9001, 14001 & 45001, occurred quietly on the 23rd of February 2024, which will dramatically change the way your Management System operates.
This article looks the background to the major change brought about by the London Declaration made in 2021, which has taken until now to bring about this big shake up to all Management System Standards.
What is London Declaration?
In 2021, at a meeting of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) held by the hosts, the British Standards Institution (BSI) in the United Kingdom in 2021, there was a move to give further support to governments, industries and organizations in reaching net zero by 2050 as part of the Paris Agreement.
BSI and ISO committed to incorporating climate science into the creation of new standards and the revision of existing standards.
This commitment to countering the effects of climate change, supporting the Paris Agreement and its net zero agenda is called the London Declaration.
How does the London Declaration support the Paris Agreement?
The London Declaration builds on the foundations created by the Paris Agreement by incorporating action into the heart of both BSI and ISO in its development of standards.
The declaration is a commitment to actively factor climate science into the development of all new standards as well as existing ones.
What does this mean for your Management System?
Before I explain what it means for your Management System, I will present the ISO Standard number and their title for all the 31 Management System Standards that are affected in the table, below:
| ISO Number | Title |
| ISO 9001:2015 | Quality management systems — Requirements |
| ISO 14001:2015 | Environmental management systems — Requirements with guidance for use |
| ISO 45001:2018 | Occupational health and safety management systems — Requirements with guidance for use |
| ISO 50001:2018 | Energy management systems — Requirements with guidance for use |
| ISO/IEC 27001:2022 | Information security, cybersecurity and privacy protection — Information security management systems — Requirements |
| ISO/IEC 20000-1:2018 | Information technology — Service management — Part 1: Service management system requirements |
| ISO 22000:2018 | Food safety management systems — Requirements for any organization in the food chain |
| ISO 39001:2012 | Road traffic safety (RTS) management systems — Requirements with guidance for use |
| ISO 18788:2015 | Management system for private security operations — Requirements with guidance for use |
| ISO 21101:2014 | Adventure tourism — Safety management systems — Requirements |
| ISO 41001:2018 | Facility management — Management systems — Requirements with guidance for use |
| ISO 37101:2016 | Sustainable development in communities — Management system for sustainable development — Requirements with guidance for use |
| ISO 15378:2017 | Primary packaging materials for medicinal products — Particular requirements for the application of ISO 9001:2015, with reference to good manufacturing practice (GMP) |
| ISO 44001:2017 | Collaborative business relationship management systems — Requirements and framework |
| ISO 37001:2016 | Anti-bribery management systems — Requirements with guidance for use |
| ISO 21001:2018 | Educational organizations — Management systems for educational organizations — Requirements with guidance for use |
| ISO/IEC 19770-1:2017 | Information technology — IT asset management — Part 1: IT asset management systems — Requirements |
| ISO 14298:2021 | Graphic technology — Management of security printing processes |
| ISO 16000-40:2019 | Indoor air — Part 40: Indoor air quality management system |
| ISO 22163:2023 | Railway applications — Railway quality management system — ISO 9001:2015 and specific requirements for application in the railway sector |
| ISO 22301:2019 | Security and resilience — Business continuity management systems — Requirements |
| ISO 28000:2022 | Security and resilience — Security management systems — Requirements |
| ISO 29001:2020 | Petroleum, petrochemical and natural gas industries — Sector-specific quality management systems — Requirements for product and service supply organizations |
| ISO 30301:2019 | Information and documentation — Management systems for records — Requirements |
| ISO 34101-1:2019 | Sustainable and traceable cocoa — Part 1: Requirements for cocoa sustainability management systems |
| ISO 35001:2019 | Biorisk management for laboratories and other related organisations |
| ISO 37301:2021 | Compliance management systems — Requirements with guidance for use |
| ISO 46001:2019 | Water efficiency management systems — Requirements with guidance for use |
| ISO 21401:2018 | Tourism and related services — Sustainability management system for accommodation establishments — Requirements |
| ISO 30401:2018 | Knowledge management systems — Requirements |
| ISO 19443:2018 | Quality management systems — Specific requirements for the application of ISO 9001:2015 by organizations in the supply chain of the nuclear energy sector supplying products and services important to nuclear safety (ITNS) |
An important part of implementing the London Declaration, ISO passed a resolution that will result in two new statements of text being added to all existing Type A Management System Standards, and will be included in all new standards under development/revision, to address the need to consider the effect of Climate Change on the ability to achieve the intended results of the management system. The changes will be introduced initially as Amendments to these published Management System Standards.
What are the Climate Change amendments?
An ISO and International Accreditation Forum (IAF) Joint Communiqué on the addition of Climate Change considerations to Management Systems Standards explains that there are two amendments (called statements by ISO) that have been added to all Type A Management System Standards (essentially all those which have requirements), which introduce one new requirement and a clarification in a note to the original requirement.
In the first amendment is made to Clause 4.1 entitled Understanding the organization and its context, where the original requirement was for “The organization shall determine external and internal issues that are relevant to its purpose and that affect its ability to achieve the intended result(s) of its XXX management system. The XXX denotes the type of management system, such as “quality”, “environmental” or “Occupational health and safety”.
The new requirement is added after the above requirement and reads:
The organization shall determine whether climate change is a relevant issue.
The second amendment is at Clause 4.2 entitled Understanding the needs and expectations of interested parties, where the original requirement read:
The organization shall determine:
• the interested parties that are relevant to the XXX management system.
• the relevant requirements of these interested parties.
• which of these requirements will be addressed through the XXX management system.
A new Note is added after the above requirement and reads:
NOTE: Relevant interested parties can have requirements related to climate change.
The IAF & ISO Joint Communiqué makes clear that the intent is to ensure that Climate Change issues are considered by the organization in the context of the effectiveness of the management system, in addition to all other issues. These additional statements in each management system standard are ensuring that this important topic is not overlooked but considered by all organizations in the design and implementation of the management system.
The overall intent of the requirements for clauses 4.1 and 4.2 remain unchanged; these clauses already included the need for the organization to consider all internal and external issues that can impact the effectiveness of their management system; these new inclusions are ensuring that Climate Change is considered within the management system and that it is an external factor that is important enough for our community to require organizations to consider it now.
It should be obvious but necessary to recognise that Climate Change can have a different effect on each management system component; for example, the effect on a Quality Management System could be very different to that on a Health and Safety Management System.
It is not the intention of the changes to (for example) turn a health and safety management system audit or a road traffic safety management system audit into one that disproportionality considers Climate Change, though this does not of course understate the importance of Climate Change.
An ISO article entitled “Deploying ISO’s London Declaration to Climate Action via Management System Standards” is available from their website, which goes into further detail of the
Where can I get the Amendment Standards?
Any organisation using any of these Management System Standards will want to get a copy of the relevant amendment Standard to ensure that they have the up-to-date standards within their documented management system, whether it is for an Quality Management System, Occupational health and safety, environmental management system or any of the other Management System Standards.
The amendment Standards for all the Type A Management System Standards are available from the ISO website and are available for a free “no cost” download subject to opening a free account with ISO.
If this article has helped to advance your understanding of the new amendments to all 31 Type A Management System Standards and its impact on your Management System, please leave a comment in the box below, if this article has help you.
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