United Nations Women (UNW)

www.unwomen.org

HQ: New York, USA
Number of staff: 917
Number of locations: 18
 

Key figures*

Total emissions: 3,599 tonnes CO2 equivalent
Emissions per staff member: 3.9 tonnes CO2 equivalent
Emissions from air travel: 2,838 tonnes CO2 equivalent
Air travel as a proportion of total emissions: 79%
Air travel per staff member: 3.1 tonnes CO2
Building-related emissions: 75 kg CO2 equivalent per square metre

* UN Women was launched in January 2011. The information below relates to UNIFEM's performance in 2009.
 

“As a lead UN agency working to advance gender equality, it is critical that UNIFEM should do its utmost to mitigate its impact on the climate.”

Inés Alberdi, Executive Director, United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)

Executive Director's Message

“UNIFEM recognizes that the credibility and responsibility of the United Nations lie in its capacity to model sustainable practices that ensure the long-term welfare and security of the planet and its people. As a member of the UN family, UNIFEM wholeheartedly supports the Secretary-General’s climate-neutral initiative, as endorsed by the Chief Executive Board, and will play its part in this mission. Women are on the frontlines of global warming – frequently the first to face negative impacts on their livelihoods and lives. As managers of household resources – such as water, fuel and food –everyday activities become increasingly burdensome. As small-scale farmers they endure environmental stress more often with far fewer resources than men to cope. Conversely, as farmers, entrepreneurs, managers of household resources, scientists and politicians, women are poised to drive positive change and contribute to the vast array of strategies needed to address this threat. As a lead UN agency working to advance gender equality, it is critical that UNIFEM should do its utmost to mitigate its impact on the climate.”

Inés Alberdi

Mission

UNIFEM is the women's fund at the UN, dedicated to advancing women’s rights and achieving gender equality. UNIFEM supports implementation of existing international commitments to advance gender equality, focusing on four thematic areas: enhancing women’s economic security and rights; ending violence against women; reducing the prevalence of HIV and AIDS among women and girls; and advancing gender justice in democratic governance in stable and fragile states. UNIFEM works on the premise that gender equality is essential to achieving development and to building just societies.

Experience so far

UNIFEM leadership has shown significant support for the climate-neutral initiative as demonstrated through UNIFEM’s Executive Director’s support for various pilot greening initiatives by UNIFEM’s newly established Green Team, and the coordinated efforts at Headquarters between the Green Team, Information and Communications Technology Team, Operations, and Business Development Team to this end.

UNIFEM faces the challenge of having numerous offices with less than ten people, and many of these staff share space with other organizations or UN agencies. This complicates gathering information on staff practices and energy consumption, and places demand on their already limited time. Nonetheless, many staff are enthusiastic about the initiative, readily provided requested information for the first assessment, and look forward to plans to streamline the assessment process and better understand UNIFEM’s green-house gas footprint so to best address it.

Reduction efforts

1. Support tele-presence meetings by providing equipment (headsets and microphones) with all new computers and to staff upon request
2. Use UNDP green procurement guidelines for IT purchases
3. Establish HQ Green Team to raise awareness among staff and help facilitate changes in office culture; recycling, energy conservation efforts, etc

Offsetting

UNIFEM aims to first improve the accuracy of its assessment process and target emission reductions, especially in areas of greatest impact, before developing and implementing an offsetting strategy. We expect to develop this in 2010-2011 with guidance from the Environmental Management Group and the Chief Executive Board on emission reduction targets and related outstanding questions regarding appropriate offsetting strategies.

Next steps

UNIFEM aims to target high emission areas identified by UNIFEM’s internal green-house gas assessments, which began in 2008. Improved assessment methodology for 2009 and beyond may reveal other areas of high emissions and/or additional energy inefficient offices, however, this first assessment found that air travel and energy use in building(s) at Headquarters in New York are the areas of highest emissions. To reduce emissions and help the UN green, UNIFEM will:

1. Encourage staff to video- or tele-conference whenever possible
2. Provide necessary equipment for distance-conferencing when purchasing all new desk- and lap-top computers and to all staff upon request
3. Use UNDP green procurement guidelines for IT purchases immediately
4. Encourage a culture of energy conservation among staff, including recycling, turning off lights, shutting down computers at day’s end, use of mass transit, etc.
5. Incorporate UNDP green-building standards for any future remodeling of office space
6. Reassess these efforts and UNIFEM’s overall strategies twice annually to determine means to further reduce emissions and/or purchase offsets.