Risks and opportunities vs issues

It seems to be very similar : Studying the issues or risks that are related with our context and our organization.

Also how to demonstrate that ? Make a list ? a table ?

At the scale of a worldwide group, it can be harmonised right ? or at least there be a general basis that the plant can personalized I think.

Answer:

Risk and opportunities and external and internal issues are fundamentally different. Issue is a source of the risk or opportunity but it is not a risk or opportunity by itself. For example, old equipment is the internal issue, but the risk related to it are frequent malfunctions, halts in production or inefficient energy consumption. On the other hand, government that is willing to invest in eco-friendly projects is an external issue, the opportunity related to it can be to get funding to renew or update the equipment used by the organization.

The issue, whether it is internal or external is just a fact about the conditions in which the organization operates, while risks and opportunities are positive or negative effects that can occur regarding the issue. For example, coffee is hot, but that alone is not a risk, it is what we do with the coffee what increases risk of getting burned.

The standard doesn't require internal and external issues to be documented, however it requires risks and opportunities to be addressed to be documented and this can be done with list or register of risks and opportunities.

As far as the context goes for the worldwide corporation, you can define one global context of the organization and define more detailed context for smaller organization units on the level of countries. There can also be a list of risks and opportunities on global level and the risks and opportunities on local or country level, since the context in every country can be different to some extent and therefore the risks and opportunities.

For more information, see: Risks and opportunities in ISO 14001:2015 – What they are and why they are important https://advisera.com/14001academy/blog/2016/03/07/risks-and-opportunities-in-iso-140012015-what-they-are-and-why-they-are-important/

These materials will also help you regarding the context and risks and opportunities:
- Book THE ISO 14001:2015 COMPANION https://advisera.com/books/the-iso-14001-2015-companion/
- Free online training ISO 14001:2015 Foundations Course https://advisera.com/training/iso-14001-internal-auditor-course/
- Conformio (online tool for ISO 14001) https://advisera.com/conformio/