IFAD: Greening Initiatives

As part of IFAD’s greening efforts, the Administrative Services Division has initiated various activities, such as reducing plastic and paper consumption, enhancing waste management, carpooling and a monthly IFAD Bike to work day (in collaboration with the IFAD Go Green Group and IFAD cyclists).

New Parking Policy


One initiative that has been introduced is the new parking policy. Staff having a parking spot are now charged €30 per month and parts of the proceeds are used to finance a daily shuttle bus to the nearest metro station. In addition, a limited number of parking spaces have been made available, free of charge, for carpoolers. The 'green' parking spaces are reserved until 9am and available to cars carrying at least four staff members.

Eco-friendly water bottles


In late June 2011, eco-friendly water bottles were distributed to all staff. The overall aim was to reduce IFAD's plastic waste.

  • The water bottles can be conveniently refilled at any one of the water fountains on each floor;
  • The bottles are made from partially recycled material and produced with a zero-carbon footprint;
  • By using the water bottles, staff help reduce the purchases of bottled water and thereby contribute to the reduction of plastic waste;
  • Part of the proceeds from the water bottles is used to finance water projects in Africa and Asia.

In order to track the reduction in plastic waste, sales of conventional plastic water bottles have been monitored and a comparison of the period July - December 2010 and July - December 2011 shows a reduction in sales of 27 % for the 1, 5 l. bottles and a reduction of 15 % for the 0, 5 l. bottles. 

 

Categories: Staff Engagement

Comments

Excellent initiatives! Would be grateful to have information on how IFAD, and any other UN agency/organization, are reducing their paper consumption.
Many thanks.

Hi Anne-Marie

The UN is currently working to adopt a PaperSmart Initiative which seeks to employ a range of electronic tools to reduce reliance of paper. You can find out a little more here http://www.greeningtheblue.org/news/road-rio-un-goes-papersmart.

I hope this helps

Louise

Good to hear that some measures are being taken.

Can you now publish a progress report with the figures then and now.

This would be very helpful.

Thanks

Rod

This is a wonderful case study and I think that it is imitable but wonder why this is a problem when we are aware of the postive benefits.

It would be good to reinforce eco-friendly workplace policies that promote the reduced use of plastics and this would need a lot of advocacy, lobbying and behaviour change campaigns.

Amungwa AN

Well done guys! May I ask how staff reacted to the news that they now have to pay for parking?

Hello,

Thank you for your question. The results has been mixed, but it did not come as a complete surprise to staff as they were already paying for the inside parking. With the new policy, staff are now also paying for the use of the "external", previously free parking area.

The shuttle to the metro is really appreciated and used by a significant number of staff each day.

Thanks you.

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