Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA)
www.escwa.un.org
HQ: Beirut, Lebanon
Number of staff: 400
Number of locations: 1
Key Figures
Total emissions: 4,602 tonnes CO2 equivalent
Emissions per staff member: 11.5 tonnes CO2 equivalent
Emissions from air travel: 745 tonnes CO2 equivalent
Air travel as a proportion of total emissions: 16%
Air travel per staff member: 1.9 tonnes CO2
Building-related emissions: 91 kg CO2 equivalent per square metre
“Challenges to human security in our region range from the threats to peace and lives posed by the Israeli occupation, to economic and political marginalization that result from fragile structures and violations of human rights.”
Dr Rima Khalaf, Executive Secretary, Economic and Social Commission for Western (ESCWA)
Executive Secretary’s message
"Challenges to human security in our region range from the threats to peace and lives posed by the Israeli occupation, to economic and political marginalization that result from fragile structures and violations of human rights. The gravity of such threats should not, however, lead us to underestimate those emanating from climate change. Science tells us that sea water will rise to drown large parts of our lands, and that further desertification, droughts and the intrusion of seawater into our aquifers, will erode the quality and quantity of our waters and have dire ramifications on livelihoods, food security and human wellbeing. ESCWA will not only work with member countries to help them avert such threats, but will also continue its efforts to move towards making its own facilities and operations climate neutral."
Dr. Rima Khalaf
Mission
ESCWA provides a framework for the formulation and harmonization of sectoral policies for member countries, a platform for congress and coordination, a home for expertise and knowledge, and an information observatory. ESCWA activities are coordinated with the divisions and main offices of the Headquarters of the United Nations, specialized agencies, and international and regional organizations, including the League of Arab States, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Experience so far
ESCWA has since 2009 already initiated a series of emission reduction measures and has in 2011 started the implementation of a series of new additional measures, however more staff motivation is still needed for these efforts to be fully fruitful.
Reduction efforts
Measures already in place:
- Office lighting is reduced to half at 3:30 pm, lights are switched off at 6:00 pm during working days, except for emergency lighting during night and weekends.
- Air-conditioning in office floors is turned off at 3:30 pm during working days.
- Water is heated for the minimum time during winter and switched off for the remainder of the year.
- Staff members are encouraged to switch off computers every evening.
- Photocopiers, scanners and printers have energy saving mechanisms.
- Double-sided printing set as default for network printers.
- Use of teleconferencing and video conferencing, thus reducing the need for international travel. Associated technology, have been installed to facilitate video and tele-conferencing.
- Temperature is raised in the summer in the offices ranging between 24 and 25oC.
- Photocopiers are used as network printers with double sided printing set as default.
- ESCWA no longer procures desktop printers and focuses on network shared printers.
ESCWA has initiated a series of emission reduction measures, and in 2012, it has implemented a number of energy efficiency projects in line with its emissions reduction strategy:
- Decentralized power factor correction for motors in order to reduce the power consumption
- Installation of motion detectors in certain locations
- Replacement of halogen spot lamps with compact fluorescent lamps
- Replacement of fluorescent exit signs with LED exit signs
- Installation of two air curtains at the ground floor ( glass sliding doors )
- Installation of black out curtains. Staff who occupy window offices were encouraged to make use of these curtains to reduce the heat in their offices from the sunlight, and thereby contribute to decrease power consumption for cooling.
- Water is heated for the minimum time during the winter season only with an automatic shut-off thermostat control.
- Installation of black out curtains. Staff who occupy window offices were encouraged to make use of these curtains to reduce the heat in their offices from the sunlight, and thereby contribute to decrease power consumption for cooling.
- As an additional measure, water is heated for the minimum time during the winter season only with an automatic shut-off thermostat control.
ESCWA is further committed to reducing its environmental footprint through measures such as paper recycling, which is being carried out at ESCWA since 2000 and continued development of workflows to reduce the amount of paper. Also, ESCWA is promoting the use of stairs instead of elevators. Additionally, water saving aerators were installed on all water taps in restrooms to reduce water consumption as well as modification of the urinal flushing system by installing automatic flushing sensors.
Offsetting
No offsetting has been done so far at the institutional level.
Next steps
Complete implementation of the new energy saving measures to achieve the target of reducing ESCWA’s total greenhouse gas emissions by 4% by the end of 2013, as compared to 2009.
