BS EN ISO 14090:2019 PDF Download

What is this standard about?

This international standard exists to help organizations adapt to climate change. It sets out how they can prioritize and develop effective, efficient, specific and deliverable adaptations which will increase resilience and demonstrate robust and credible risk management.

Who is this standard for?

The standard’s approach is relevant to all sizes and types of organizations whose activities, products and services might be at risk from, or in some cases able to take advantage of, climate change. It is for those who implement climate actions and for decision makers who want to understand climate risks and how these are being dealt with. It can also be for others to see how organisations are adapting.

Why should you use this standard?

Climate change will impact organizations for decades to come. These impacts can be physical, financial, regulatory or reputational and organizations need to learn to adapt, which is what this standard helps them do.

Its main purpose is to provide organizations with a consistent, structured and pragmatic approach to prevent or minimize the harm that climate change could cause and also to take advantage of opportunities. It enables organizations to prioritize and develop effective, efficient and deliverable adaptation plans and actions tailored to the specific climate change challenges they face.  

Applying this standard also demonstrates to interested parties that an organization’s approach to climate change adaptation is credible.

Furthermore, because it’s designed to help organizations develop measures and report on adaptation activity in a verifiable way, the standard can also be relevant across the value chain as well as to decision makers involved in purchasing, investment and insurance who want to understand theirs, or another’s, climate adaptation actions.

This document can also support the development of sector-, aspect- or element-specific climate change adaptation standards.

NOTE: It’s intended that this standard is applied alongside other organizational priorities. This includes carrying out all climate change adaptation activities in parallel with, or integrated with, climate change mitigation activities and other sustainability priorities.