The UN system

The UN system is made up of the organizations established by the Charter of the United Nations, namely, the United Nations principal organs, the specialized agencies provided for in Article 57 of the Charter and a number of programmes established by the General Assembly under its authority derived from Article 22 of the Charter. The agencies are legally independent international organizations with their own rules, membership, organs and financial resources.

The international institutions that make up the UN system have diverse fields of action and operations, structures, mandate and governing body arrangements, and varying field office presence. The UN System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) brings together the executive heads of the organizations that make up the United Nations system, under the chairmanship of the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

The agencies, funds and programmes of the UN system, together with the secretariats of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs), are members of the UN Environment Management Group (EMG), which was established by the General Assembly to coordinate environmental issues across the UN system. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) provides the secretariat for the EMG.

UNEP also hosts the Sustainable United Nations (SUN) facility, which manages the Issue Management Group (IMG) on Sustainability Management, as well as the Greening the Blue website.