Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)

www.cepal.org

HQ: Santiago, Chile

Focal Point: Melissa Villarroel

Email: [email protected] 

Internal Sustainability Team: Two staff

The entity may not report waste data for all its personnel. Please refer to the entity's personnel chart below for more information.
All entity personnel are included in the entity's greenhouse gas emission inventory.

EXECUTIVE SECRETARY’S MESSAGE

“ECLAC is committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, tackling climate change and implementing environmental management practices across its operations, underpinned by the Sustainable Development Goals. This includes measures to reduce resource consumption, such as efficient water management practices but also plans for net zero facilities. ECLAC is also turning into a tobacco-free campus and encourages its staff to adopt sustainable practices to create a healthier and greener workplace”.

José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, Executive Secretary

MISSION

ECLAC – Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean- was founded for the purpose of contributing to the economic development of the region, coordinating actions to promote that development and reinforcing economic ties among the region’s countries and with other nations of the world. 

In 1996 the member States reformulated the mission of ECLAC to place emphasis on its role as a center of excellence responsible for working closely with the region’s countries in the comprehensive analysis of the development process. 

This mission includes the design, monitoring and evaluation of public policies and the provision of expertise, advisory services and training, as well as support for regional and international cooperation and coordination activities. The Commission also functions as a forum for dialogue among the region’s countries and stakeholders on the problems and opportunities facing Latin America and the Caribbean.

FIELD OFFICES

ECLAC Headquarters Santiago de Chile  

ECLAC Subregional Headquarters in Mexico, Mexico D.F.  

ECLAC Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean, Port of Spain 

ECLAC Office in Bogotá 

ECLAC Office in Brasilia 

ECLAC Office in Buenos Aires 

ECLAC Office in Montevideo 

ECLAC Liaison Office in Washington D.C.  

ALIGNMENT WITH THE STRATEGY FOR SUSTAINABILITY MANAGEMENT IN THE UNITED NATIONS SYSTEM, 2020–2030 

ECLAC is working in a strategy aligned with the UN Strategy for Sustainability Management in the UN system Phase I and including some of the parameters developed in phase II, raising ECLAC’s ambitions and vision for achieving environmental and social sustainability across its work in a systematic and coherent way, including the alignment of ECLAC’s internal operations with environmental elements of the Sustainable Development agenda, providing clear objectives and indicators to track and prove progress - especially in technologies, facilities, waste and water management- encouraging biodiversity and supporting the systematic integration of environmental considerations into management and operational functions. Additionally, the demand for unprecedented action on climate change in Santiago facilities has been taken into consideration through technological innovation and increased investment in low-carbon options for infrastructure and buildings.  

ECLAC is aligning its own practices with the recommendations contained in the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in order to ensure that its facilities, operations, projects and programmes should support, rather than hinder, the efforts of Governments to mitigate climate change. 

EMISSIONS REDUCTION

Important reductions since the change of the energy matrix, eliminating fossil fuels, as well as the Improvements from ECLAC’s greening approach to construction have led to a reduction in the utility consumption (water, gas and electricity).  

EMS AND REDUCTION EFFORTS  

ECLAC developed a complete Water management Plan that includes several projects and strategies aimed to reduce water consumption, increase water efficiency, and reuse of water considering the severe drought that currently affects the city of Santiago de Chile. This plan also includes biodiversity and social benefits and increase operational efficiencies in the use of water. Furthermore, the construction of the first net-zero building of the region is ongoing.  

For the 2022 reporting year, ECLAC's progress on the EMS is rated as: Does not meet.

ENVIRONMENTAL TRAINING FOR PERSONNEL

Greening the Blue Tutorial was included in the HR Training calendar during 2022 and sent to all ECLAC’s personnel via email. The training is recommended, but not mandatory. 

For the 2022 reporting year, ECLAC's status on providing training on environmental sustainability is: Yes, but it is voluntary.

OFFSETTING

The UN Secretariat purchased the necessary carbon offsets centrally.  Therefore, ECLAC did not make any purchases correspondent to the 2022 reporting period.   

WASTE MANAGEMENT

The recycling programme for plastic bottles, cans, batteries and glass implemented across the ECLAC Santiago compound and measure their traceability until final disposal or reuse was restablished in 2022, and the removal of individual bins continues as a good practice at ECLAC Santiago.   
Paper and e- waste were recycled and donated to NGOs with programmes in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.  

WATER AND WASTEWATER MANAGEMENT

ECLAC has been constantly working in the optimization of water resources and endorsed a written water management plan. 

 The distribution and water use optimization of water resources have been defined by international standards for buildings in the case of indoor improvements and for landscaping, maximizing water irrigation through the use of nozzles and drip methods in most of the gardens.  
  
Considering that during the last years the environmental initiatives have been guided by the Environmental Policy for the United Nations Secretariat draft, ECLAC has dedicated time to implement at least minimum required sustainable standards in order to achieve organizational commitments towards climate change.  Additional resources are required to developing a local organizational environmental policy. 

OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL MEASURES

ECLAC has implemented a number of building technical improvements and retrofit projects in accordance with the objectives of reducing energy and utilities consumption.   

NEXT STEPS

Challenge is to increase onsite energy generation thanks to the cleaner energies considered for the net zero building; and reduce water consumption thanks to a landscaping project that includes all biodiversity parameters and efficient use of water.