Climate Change in ISO 9001:2026: How to Assess Relevance, With Examples
ISO Cloud Consulting editorial team
ISO 9001:2026 requires you to determine whether climate change is a relevant issue when you review the context of your organization (clause 4.1), and recognises that interested parties can have climate-related requirements (clause 4.2). It does not require carbon targets or an environmental program. You assess relevance to your ability to provide conforming products and services, keep a simple record of the conclusion and act only if it is relevant.
Where did this requirement come from?
ISO added climate change wording to ISO 9001:2015 through Amendment 1 in 2024, and ISO 9001:2026 incorporates that amendment into the new edition. If you addressed the 2024 amendment properly, you have little to do. Many organizations only added a sentence to their context document, so it is worth checking that yours records a real assessment.
What does relevant mean for a quality management system?
Relevant means climate change could affect your ability to meet customer and regulatory requirements or achieve the intended results of your QMS. Think about effects on your business, not your effect on the climate. There are two groups of issues:
- Physical: flooding, heat, storms, water shortage and wildfire affecting your sites, suppliers, logistics, storage conditions or workforce.
- Transition: new customer requirements, regulations, material restrictions, energy costs and market shifts that change what you must deliver or how.
A five-question relevance assessment
- Could extreme weather interrupt our operations, suppliers or deliveries within the next five years?
- Are any of our products, materials or processes sensitive to temperature, humidity or water availability?
- Have customers asked us for climate-related information, commitments or product changes?
- Are there current or expected regulations on climate that affect our products or services?
- Could energy or material cost changes linked to climate policy affect our ability to meet requirements?
If every answer is no, climate change is not currently relevant. Record that, with the date and who took part. If any answer is yes, add the issue to your context register and consider it in your risks and opportunities.
Worked examples
Precision machining company
Two questions are answered yes: a key customer has asked for emissions data per part, and the main aluminium supplier is in a flood-prone area. Both go into the context register. Actions are a data collection method for the customer and a second approved supplier.
Medical device distributor
Products need controlled storage temperatures, and summer heat has already caused one warehouse excursion. Climate change is relevant. The action is to review cold chain capacity and monitoring, which links directly to product conformity.
Software consultancy
All five answers are no. The conclusion that climate change is not currently relevant is recorded in the context review and will be revisited annually.
What makes a good record?
- Evidence that you considered the question properly, not a copied sentence.
- A conclusion that fits your business. A coastal manufacturer that says climate is irrelevant should be able to explain why.
- Where it is relevant, a visible link to risks, opportunities or objectives.
- Awareness of any climate-related requirements from customers or regulators.
The Context, Interested Parties and Climate Change Pack includes this assessment as a Word template with all three examples, plus context and interested parties registers updated for the 2026 edition.
