ISO 14090 · Adaptation to climate change
ISO 14090 implementation and requirements, for an organisation ready for the climate it will face.
Heat, flooding, drought and storms already disrupt sites, suppliers and customers. ISO 14090 sets out how to understand those impacts, plan the response and build it into the decisions you already make. It is a framework, not a certificate: Sterling's expert and experienced consultants work with your people to assess, plan, embed and evidence adaptation, and to show it inside your ISO 14001 system where you have one. We help our clients put it into practice and prove it.
- Fixed scope, one proposal: consulting, Effivity software, Sterling Academy access and internal auditor training, as applicable to your standard, in one proposal
- A team of expert and experienced environmental and climate risk consultants, working across sectors and countries since 2003
- The Sterling Promise: 100% on-time completion, 100% success, 8,100+ client engagements. ISO 14090 has no certificate, and Sterling does not certify
8,100+ client engagements in 60+ countries.
Environmental management client experience
What it is
What is ISO 14090 and what is it used for?
ISO 14090 is the International Standard for adaptation to climate change. It gives principles, requirements and guidelines for weaving adaptation into the policies, strategies, plans and activities of an organisation, or across several organisations acting together. ISO calls it the overarching standard of its adaptation family: ISO 14091 goes deeper into vulnerability, impacts and risk assessment, and ISO 14092 applies the approach to local governments and communities.
Cutting emissions deals with the cause of climate change; adaptation deals with the consequences you will live with anyway, from flood defences and cooling capacity to supplier resilience. ISO 14090 requires every organisation the same questions: what will change, how sure are we, what does it put at risk, what will we do, and how will we know it is working?
Current edition. ISO 14090:2019 was published in June 2019 as the first edition and has been confirmed by ISO at systematic review, with no revision announced. Its companion ISO 14092 moved from a Technical Specification to a full International Standard in February 2026 (ISO 14092:2026). ISO 14090 and ISO 14001: how adaptation fits your EMS
Who it is for
Who needs ISO 14090?
ISO 14090 is written for any organisation, whatever its size, type or reach, and it is useful whether or not you already have an adaptation plan. The organisations that ask Sterling about it usually arrive from one of four directions:
- A customer or investor wants to see your climate resilience. Supplier questionnaires and lender reviews ask how physical climate risk is managed. ISO 14090 gives the answer a recognised structure.
- A tender or funding programme expects an adaptation plan. Infrastructure, utility and development-funded projects look for a documented, evidence-based plan that stands up to scrutiny.
- Your ISO 14001 system must address climate change. Since ISO's February 2024 amendment, the organisation has to determine whether climate change is a relevant issue. Where it is, ISO 14090 shows what you did about it.
- A parent company wants one approach across sites. Subsidiaries in different climates face different hazards; a common method lets the group compare risks and prioritise investment.
Requirements
What are the main ISO 14090 requirements?
ISO describes the standard as a combination of principles, requirements and guidelines. The summary below follows the areas ISO names in its own description of ISO 14090, in plain language. During the programme your arrangements are checked against the standard itself, with every requirement traced to the evidence that meets it.
- Principles: the ideas that shape good adaptation, applied consistently so decisions can be explained and defended.
- Integration: build adaptation into existing policies, strategies, plans and activities, within the organisation or across organisations, rather than running it as a separate project.
- Impacts: understand how climate change affects the organisation, its operations, its supply chain and the people and places it depends on.
- Uncertainties: recognise what is not known about future climate and its effects, and plan in a way that remains sound as knowledge improves.
- Informed decisions: use the understanding of impacts and uncertainty to decide on adaptation actions, including managing risks and taking the opportunities climate change can bring.
- Adaptation planning: put plans in place for effective adaptation, with responsibilities, resources and a way to see whether they work.
What does useful ISO 14090 evidence look like?
The climate hazards considered for each site, with data sources and scenarios; an impact and risk assessment naming assets, processes and suppliers; a prioritised plan with owners, budgets and dates; capital, procurement and continuity decisions that show adaptation was considered; and a review of whether completed actions reduced the risk. Proportionate to your exposure, and in Effivity from the first workshop.
Putting it into practice
How do you implement ISO 14090?
With no certification audit at the end, success means a plan your managers act on and evidence that adaptation shapes real decisions, which your board, customers, lenders or ISO 14001 certification body can review.
- 01Set the boundaries and the purpose.Agree which sites, assets, value-chain links and time horizons are in scope, who owns adaptation, and who the plan must satisfy.
- 02Gap analysis: compare current practice with ISO 14090.Review existing risk registers, continuity plans, capital plans and ISO 14001 arrangements, keep what works and list the actions, owners and dates to close each gap.
- 03Assess impacts, vulnerability and uncertainty.Select the climate data and scenarios, identify hazards site by site, assess what they mean for assets, people and suppliers, and record what remains uncertain.
- 04Plan and embed the adaptation actions.Prioritise actions, assign budgets and owners, and write adaptation into the plans and procedures that already drive decisions.
- 05Monitor, evaluate, report and review.Track progress and outcomes, report to management and stakeholders, and update the plan as the climate, the data and the business change.
Check the route before you sign. ISO 14090 has no certificate, so treat any offer of an "ISO 14090 certificate" with care: ask what the document actually confirms, who issues it and whether any accreditation stands behind it, and verify that directly with the accreditation body named. If you need an accredited certificate, ISO 14001 with climate change properly addressed is the credible route. The certification buyer's checklist
Cost
How much does ISO 14090 implementation cost?
Adaptation work scales with exposure, not headcount: one office in a temperate city is a short task, a portfolio of coastal plants is a programme. With no certification body involved, there are no audit fees to add.
| Cost component | What affects it |
|---|---|
| Consulting and implementation | Sites and assets, depth of assessment, existing risk arrangements, and whether your team does more (Design™) or Sterling leads (Drive™) |
| Climate data and specialist input | Whether projections exist for your locations, and whether engineering or hydrological studies are needed for high-exposure assets |
| Internal resources | Time from site, engineering, finance and procurement owners, and the actions you decide to fund |
| Software and learning | Effivity and Sterling Academy access, included in a Sterling engagement and confirmed in the proposal |
| Continued support | Plan reviews and refreshed assessments under Sustain™ |
What moves the price
- How many locations, countries and climate zones are in scope
- How far the assessment reaches into suppliers and customers
- The planning horizon, from a few years to the life of long-lived assets
- Whether ISO 14001 or a risk framework already exists to build on
- Disclosure, lender or tender deadlines the plan has to meet
What a Sterling proposal always shows
- Deliverables, responsibilities, assumptions and exclusions, in writing
- Specialist studies identified separately, where your exposure calls for them
- Effivity, training and Academy access itemised at no additional cost
- Payment milestones tied to deliverables, not to the calendar
- One all-inclusive proposal. No surprises, ever
Timeline
How long does ISO 14090 implementation take?
As an estimate, a first adaptation plan that is approved and in use usually takes three to six months for one organisation with a manageable number of sites; multi-country groups take longer. The pace is set by data and decisions: climate information has to be gathered for each location, impacts assessed with the people who run the operations, and actions agreed by those who hold the budgets.
| Phase | What determines the pace |
|---|---|
| Scope and gap analysis | Access to existing risk registers, continuity plans, asset data and the people who own them |
| Impact and risk assessment | Availability of climate data for each location, number of sites and assets, and any specialist studies |
| Planning and integration | Management approval of priorities and budgets, and the number of plans and procedures that need updating |
| Monitoring and review | Actions running long enough to show progress, followed by a management review of the plan |
If a disclosure date, lender review or tender deadline is driving the work, tell us at the start. We will say what can be done well by then and what should be phased afterwards.
Your engagement
What your ISO 14090 engagement includes
ISO 14090 has no certificate, and Sterling does not certify, verify or accredit anything; we build the framework with you and help you prove it. Delivery runs on Sterling OS™, at the support level you choose: Design™, where our consultants guide and your team does much of the work, or Drive™, where Sterling manages the programme. Either way the evidence runs in Effivity through Automate™, and Sustain™ keeps the plan current once it is in use.
Scope, gap analysis and work plan
Boundaries, owners, time horizons and deadlines agreed before the assessment starts.
Climate impact and risk assessment
Hazards, data sources, scenarios and uncertainty recorded for each site and critical supplier.
Effivity ISO & GRC software
Registers, action plans and reviews in Effivity from day one, included with the engagement at no additional cost.
Training for everyone
Internal auditor training, as applicable to your standard, and preferential Sterling Academy access, including complimentary awareness training for your people as part of the engagement.
Adaptation plan and integration
Prioritised actions written into capital planning, procurement, continuity and ISO 14001 arrangements.
Review and reporting support
A management review of the plan and material your board, customers or lenders can rely on.
ISO 14090 has no certification; where ISO 14001 is in scope, certification decisions remain with the independent certification body.
Often combined with
Standards organisations pair with ISO 14090
- EMASEMAS registration explained: requirements, the validated environmental statement, the verifier and Competent Body route, cost factors and all-inclusive support.
- FSC and PEFC chain of custodyFSC and PEFC chain of custody certification and requirements: FSC-STD-40-004 V3-1, PEFC ST 2002:2020, the audit route and cost factors, with Sterling.
- GHG ProtocolGHG Protocol inventory consulting: scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions on boundaries and methods an outsider can test, ready for independent verification.
- ISCC PLUSISCC PLUS certification for circular and bio-based materials: requirements, mass balance, ISCC HUB registration, standalone documents and an all-inclusive plan.
- ISO 14001ISO 14001 certification consulting: aspects, impacts and compliance obligations controlled, with support until an accredited body certifies you.
- ISO 14005ISO 14005 implementation guidelines: build your environmental management system in phases, measure maturity and reach ISO 14001 certification at your own pace.
Effivity · climate adaptation and EMS software, included in every engagement
How Effivity helps you fulfil, automate and simplify the requirements of ISO 14090:2019.
Every Sterling ISO 14090 engagement includes Effivity, the ISO and GRC automation platform built by the Sterling group and used in 50+ countries. Your consultant sets up the workspace within the agreed scope, so hazards, assessments, risks, actions and reviews sit together and anyone who asks for evidence sees a live record. Sterling consulting clients get their Effivity subscription included with the engagement, at no additional cost.
Scope, ownership and approach
Boundaries, time horizons, owners and adopted principles recorded once, so every site uses the same method.
Links to existing plans and policies
Each action tied to the capital plan, procurement rule or EMS procedure it changes, so integration can be shown.
Climate hazard and impact register
Hazards logged by site, with the assets, processes and suppliers each affects and the data behind it.
Scenarios, assumptions and confidence
Scenarios, assumptions and confidence kept beside each finding, so later reviews know what to revisit.
Climate risks and opportunities
Scored climate risks and opportunities with owners and treatments, feeding management review and ISO 14001.
Adaptation actions and budgets
Prioritised actions with owners, budgets and dates, tracked to completion with evidence attached.
Indicators, audits and management review
Progress dashboards, internal reviews of the plan and a management review that records its decisions.
Your own forms, workflows and reports
Site surveys, approval workflows and stakeholder reports adapted to how you work, without code.
What this means when evidence is requested
Customers, lenders and ISO 14001 auditors ask the same things: which hazards did you consider, what did you decide, and are the actions done? In Effivity each answer is a screen with dates, owners and attachments. Sustain™ runs in the same workspace, so the plan is reviewed on schedule.
In your engagement
- Subscription included with the engagement, at no additional cost
- Configured by your Sterling consultant within the agreed scope
- Your existing risk registers and plans migrated, not retyped
- Admin and user training for your team
- Modules for EMS, OHSMS, ISMS, FSMS and more when you integrate other standards
Sterling Academy · climate and environment e-learning
Help everyone understand the climate risks your organisation faces.
Adaptation succeeds when site managers, engineers and buyers recognise climate risk in their own decisions. Sterling Academy provides video lessons with practice checkpoints, a final exam and a numbered Certificate of Completion for each learner, verifiable online. Sterling consulting clients benefit from preferential Sterling Academy course access and special pricing through their Sterling consultant, including complimentary awareness training for their people as part of the engagement.
- Awareness for every employee on the environmental system and why climate change matters to it
- Learning for the people who assess risks and own adaptation actions
- Internal auditor training, as applicable to your standard, as part of the engagement
- Learner progress by department, ready to show when training evidence is requested
- New starters trained as they join, so competence records stay current
- A Sterling consultant reachable when a learner needs one
Keep exploring
Explore more about ISO 14090
ISO 14090 resources
Services for ISO 14090
Why Sterling
Why choose Sterling for ISO 14090?
Sterling brings one method to every location, adapted to local climate and owned by local managers, so a group can compare risk across countries and fund what matters most.
Environmental systems in 60+ countries since 2003
Offices in 21 countries and experience across very different climates, with one engagement team accountable wherever you operate.
All-inclusive proposal
Consulting, Effivity, training and Academy access in one proposal, with any specialist studies shown separately. No surprises, ever.
Adaptation built into existing systems
Actions written into the plans and procedures your managers already use, and into ISO 14001 where you have it, so adaptation is not a report on a shelf.
Expert and experienced consultants
Environmental and risk consultants who know management systems from the inside, and who keep the assessment proportionate to your real exposure.
The Sterling Promise
What the Sterling Promise means for ISO 14090
We stay with you until the agreed ISO 14090 outcome is achieved: an adaptation plan approved and in use, integrated with your existing systems and supported by evidence. Clear explanations, practical delivery, included software and employee learning turn the investment into lasting capability.
The engagement identifies the standard, scope, outcome and responsibilities. Your organisation supplies accurate information and funds and carries out the actions it approves. ISO 14090 carries no certificate, and where ISO 14001 is in scope the independent certification body assesses conformity and retains its certification decision. Our commitment concerns the agreed support, not a promise that future climate events will cause no harm.
FAQs
Frequently asked questions about ISO 14090
Can you get ISO 14090 certified?
No. Sterling treats ISO 14090 as a framework to put in place, not a certificate to obtain. If you need an accredited certificate that covers climate change, the usual route is ISO 14001, with ISO 14090 used to do the adaptation work properly.
What is the difference between ISO 14090 and ISO 14091?
ISO 14090 is the overarching framework for adaptation, from principles through planning to review. ISO 14091, published in 2021, gives detailed guidance on one part of that work: assessing vulnerability, impacts and risk.
Does ISO 14001 require climate change adaptation?
Not by that name. ISO's February 2024 amendment requires an organisation with ISO 14001 to determine whether climate change is a relevant issue and notes that interested parties can have climate-related requirements. Where it is relevant, the system has to deal with it, and ISO 14090 is a structured way to do the adaptation side.
Is ISO 14090 only for large companies or governments?
No. It applies to organisations of any size and type. A small business can apply it in proportion, focusing on the few hazards and suppliers that could genuinely interrupt it; local authorities have ISO 14092 for community-level planning.
Does climate adaptation cover reducing our emissions?
No. Adaptation manages the effects of a changing climate on your organisation; reducing emissions is mitigation, handled through standards such as ISO 14064-1 for greenhouse gas inventories. Many organisations run both, and Sterling can support both in one programme.
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