ISO TS 31050-2023 PDF

Full title and description

Risk management — Guidelines for managing an emerging risk to enhance resilience. Technical Specification providing guidance on identifying, assessing and responding to emerging risks and on enhancing organizational resilience by applying the principles and process of ISO 31000 to risks characterized by limited data, rapid change and high uncertainty.

Abstract

This Technical Specification explains the nature and characteristics of emerging risks, recommends how ISO 31000 principles and risk management processes can be adapted for them, and describes the risk intelligence cycle, resilience-related considerations and illustrative examples. It is intended to help organizations anticipate, detect, assess and respond to risks whose likelihoods and consequences are uncertain or evolving.

General information

• Status: Published (Technical Specification).
• Publication date: October 2023 (Edition 1, 2023-10).
• Publisher: International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
• ICS / categories: 03.100.01 (Company organization and management in general).
• Edition / version: Edition 1 (ISO/TS 31050:2023).
• Number of pages: 34 pages (official ISO record); note that some national-adoption or PD publications include national forewords and can show different page counts in distributor listings.

Scope

Provides guidance for managing emerging risks that an organization can face, complementing ISO 31000. Applicable to any type and size of organization and to any activity; guidance is intended to be customized to organizational context. Focus is on emerging risks with potentially significant consequences for objectives and on enhancing resilience through anticipation, detection, intelligence and adaptive response.

Key topics and requirements

• Definition and characteristics of emerging risks (newness, limited data, velocity, lead time and evolving knowledge).
• Application of ISO 31000 principles and process to emerging risks (customization, inclusiveness, agility, best-available information).
• Risk intelligence cycle: scanning, data gathering, information conversion, knowledge and intelligence for decision-making under uncertainty.
• Resilience enhancement: attributes and capabilities (anticipation, preparedness, adaptability, recovery) and indicators for tracking resilience.
• Guidance on stakeholder engagement, expert input, handling poor or inconsistent data, and avoiding cognitive bias when interpreting weak signals.
• Practical process recommendations, illustrative application examples and annexes on methods and indicators.

Typical use and users

Risk managers, enterprise/resilience officers, senior leaders, business continuity and crisis managers, regulators, consultants and public-sector agencies seeking structured guidance on anticipating and managing emerging risks and on improving organizational resilience. The guidance is suitable for organizations of any size and sector that need to operate under rapid change and uncertainty.

Related standards

Key normative and related references include ISO 31000 (Risk management — Guidelines), ISO 22300 (Security and resilience — Vocabulary), ISO 22316 (Organizational resilience — Principles and attributes) and IEC 31010 (Risk management — Risk assessment techniques). ISO/TC 262 (Risk management) and ISO/TC 292 (Security and resilience) collaborated on development. National/PD adoptions (for example BSI PD versions) also exist.

Keywords

emerging risk, risk management, ISO 31000, risk intelligence, resilience, anticipation, weak signals, foresight, adaptive response, organizational resilience.

FAQ

Q: What is this standard?

A: ISO/TS 31050:2023 is a Technical Specification titled "Risk management — Guidelines for managing an emerging risk to enhance resilience" that gives practical guidance for handling risks characterized by novelty, limited data and rapid change.

Q: What does it cover?

A: It covers the nature of emerging risks, how to apply ISO 31000 principles and process to them, the risk intelligence cycle (scan–collect–analyse–interpret–act), resilience considerations and practical recommendations and examples.

Q: Who typically uses it?

A: Risk and resilience professionals, senior management, business continuity and crisis teams, public-sector planners, consultants and others responsible for anticipating and managing emerging risks across sectors and organization sizes.

Q: Is it current or superseded?

A: As published it is current (Edition 1, October 2023). There is no indication of a subsequent superseding edition as of the ISO record for this TS; users should check with their national standards body or ISO for any later revisions.

Q: Is it part of a series?

A: Yes — it complements the ISO 31000 family of risk-management guidance and is linked to organizational resilience standards (for example ISO 22316) and relevant risk-assessment techniques (for example IEC 31010). It was developed by ISO/TC 262 in collaboration with ISO/TC 292.

Q: What are the key keywords?

A: Emerging risk, resilience, risk intelligence, foresight, weak signals, ISO 31000, anticipation, adaptability.