Environmental Management Systems ISO 14001: 2026 is coming

More significant changes as follows: 

• Climate change and environmental amendments (Clause 4.1.and 4.2):
  The climate change amendment (https://www.iso.org/standard/88209.html) which was introduced in 2024 is being formalised into the body text of the published standard. Consideration is proposed to be more ‘front and centre’ with organisations to address use of natural resources, biodiversity and pollution levels. 

• Management of change (New clause 6.3):
  Change management has a new specific planning clause – for organisational changes which are relevant to the environmental management system, a structured approach is to be taken to change management.  

Clarifications of requirements and updates to ISO 14001 text in Planning, Operational Control and Improvement Clauses are also proposed. Further emphasis on lifecycle perspective of environmental aspects, additional focus on control of “outsourced processes” to control of “externally provided processes, products and services” and other minor wording changes are proposed.  
 

And finally – the guidance in Annex A of the document will be updated and clarified, to support the intent of the ISO 14001 clauses (including clause changes) to help with consistent understanding and interpretation of Clause 4 -10 requirements which form the main body of the standard.