International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)

www.ifad.org

HQ: Rome, Italy

Focal Point: Mr. Matthias Meyerhans, Mr. Kåre Pugerup 

Email: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Internal Sustainability Team: 5, of which 1 is part time.

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.

MISSION

Investing in rural people.

Our mission is to transform rural economies and food systems by making them more inclusive, productive, resilient and sustainable. We invest in the millions of people who are most at risk of being left behind: poor, small-scale food producers, women, young people and other vulnerable groups living in rural areas. 

FIELD OFFICES

Rome – HQ

GPR:

United States Of America - New York City

United States Of America - Washington DC

Japan (Liaison Office) - Yokohama 

APR

Viet Nam - Hanoi

Cambodia - Phnom Penh

Philippines - Manila

Indonesia - Jakarta

Fiji - Suva

China - Beijing

Pakistan - Islamabad

India - New Delhi

Bangladesh - Dhaka

Nepal – Kathmandu

NEN:

Egypt - Cairo

Saudi Arabia - Riyadh

Sudan - Khartoum

Turkey - Istanbul

Morocco – Rabat

Uzbekistan – Tashkent (upcoming opening) 

ESA:

Kenya - Nairobi

Madagascar - Antananarivo

Uganda - Kampala

Burundi - Bujumbura

Rwanda - Kigali

Tanzania - Dar es Salaam

South Africa - Johannesburg

Mozambique - Maputo

Zambia - Lusaka

Ethiopia - Addis Ababa

Malawi - Lilongwe 

Angola - Luanda 

LAC:

Peru - Lima

Panama - Panama City

Haiti - Port-au-Prince

Brazil - Brasilia

Brazil - Salvador-BA

WCA:

Senegal - Dakar

Mali - Bamako

Guinea - Conakry

Cameroon - Yaoundé

D.R. Congo - Kinshasa

Cote D'Ivoire - Abidjan

Burkina Faso - Ouagadougou

Niger - Niamey

Sierra Leone - Freetown

Nigeria - Abuja

Ghana - Accra

Liberia – Monrovia (upcoming opening) 

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

In 2015 IFAD was awarded Platinum LEED certification for the category Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance (EB:OM). IFAD is the first UN entity to obtain Platinum for existing buildings. In 2021 IFAD was again certified at LEED Platinum level.

  • LEED achievement is a result of a dedicated effort which started with a strategic gap analysis which identified specific actions and interventions.
  • Through dedicated resources IFAD invested in solar panels, rain harvesting tanks, building sub-metering systems, improved waste management and modern printing technology.

Some key results the last five years:

  • Reduced our daily water consumptions by 49%.
  • Reduced our electricity consumption by 33%.
  • Reduced our gas consumptions by 20%.
  • LEED requirements integrated in main contracts and measured quarterly through KPIs.

EMISSIONS REDUCTION

  • Our total emissions have decreased by 65% in the past 5 years.
  • Almost 80% of our emissions are caused by staff based at HQ in Rome.
  • 47% of our emissions come from air travel.

EMS and Reduction Efforts

In 2015 IFAD was awarded Platinum LEED certification for the category Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance (EB:OM). IFAD is the first UN entity to obtain Platinum for existing buildings.  

LEED achievement is a result of a dedicated effort which started with a strategic gap analysis which identified specific actions and interventions. Through dedicated resources IFAD invested in solar panels, rain harvesting tanks, building sub-metering systems, improved waste management and modern printing technology.  

In order to raise awareness among the Staff, IFAD has installed a videowall at the entrance of the building showing our monthly consumptions of water, gas and electricity comparing it to the previous month.  

In conjunction with World Environmental Day in 2018, IFAD banned the sale of drinks in plastic bottles from its HQ cafeteria and vending machines. In 2018 plastic cups and sticks from coffee machines were also replaced with FSC paper cups lined with corn starch material (PLA) and wooden sticks. Both are 100% compostable. 

For the 2022 reporting year, IFAD's progress on the EMS is rated as: No response.

ENVIRONMENTAL & SOCIAL SAFEGUARDS AND STANDARDS IN POLICIES, PROJECTS AND PROGRAMMES

IFAD identified the ILRI compound in Addis Ababa, as potentially suitable to become LEED certified. The Contractor agreed with the identification and has decided to implement the LEED project “Site development - protect or restore open habitat” to provide habitat and promote biodiversity, driven at obtaining LEED certification. 

The LEED project “Site development - protect or restore open habitat” will be implemented in identified natural site areas totalling 11 000  square meters within the ILRI campus located in Addis Ababa. 

For the 2022 reporting year, IFAD's status of implementing environmental and social safeguards and standards in their policies, projects and programmes is: No response.

ENVIRONMENTAL TRAINING FOR PERSONNEL

We are currently working on a “Greening Brochure” that will be of great help for our staff. The brochure will provide different tips and solutions that will be easily implemented by our staff in order to reduce our carbon footprint.  

In addition, at the entrance of the IFAD HQ based in Rome, consumption data from the previous month are displayed on a videowall, compared to those from the same month of the previous year, to showcase the progress made in IFAD's technological choices. Furthermore, a monthly challenge is introduced for the staff, providing tips and suggestions on how to be more sustainable, take better care of their home’s maintenance, and promote green initiatives both within and outside the Agency. 

For the 2022 reporting year, IFAD's status on providing training on environmental sustainability is: No response.

ENVIRONMENTAL INVENTORY APPROACH

We keep track of every value needed for reporting. 

In every email we send to our colleagues in the country offices we attach an excel file containing the major information needed.  

If a country office does not have the data requested or does not answer to the emails, we use a proxy file based on the data received by the office of Nairobi.  

Some of our country offices are currently hosted by other agencies: in order to avoid any double reporting, we use only any extra information given by the country director, such as km’s travelled with a car owned by the Agency or any flight bought outside our main system.  

OFFSETTING

Our process of offsetting covers all of IFAD’s emissions – including air travel and all our country offices. IFAD’s climate neutrality started back in 2013 and since then we have always completed the offsetting of all the GHG emissions.  

IFAD offsets through UNFCCC with CERs that are bought directly from the Kyoto Protocol’s Adaptation Fund (AF). The AF finances climate change adaptation projects in climate vulnerable developing countries.  

WASTE MANAGEMENT

Waste audits are carried out once every year in accordance with the requirements of the LEED protocol. All bins in the building are collected to evaluate the effectiveness of waste separation. Over the past years and some very disappointing results we have implemented new strategies: 

  1. As a result of negotiations in 2013 with the local authority for waste management, IFAD got its own dedicated area for waste separation, located at the entrance of parking area A. It was an important step in our efforts to reduce and recycle waste. 

  1. As an attempt to improve recycling, by only removing the desk bins from all participating offices, we achieved a reduction of 73% of the other, non-recyclable waste. 

Improved recycling points were set up in all common areas in HQ. 

WATER AND WASTEWATER MANAGEMENT

One of the main pillars of LEED certification is water efficiency: IFAD obtained 11 points out of 14 in the latest recertification.  

IFAD monitors and measures water data since 2008. Since then, we have reduced our water consumptions thanks to the introduction of efficient water tap breakers installed in every bathroom, alarm notifications in case of excess water usage and rainwater harvesting systems. 

IFAD since 2008 has been using a rainwater harvesting system, to reduce potable water usage for green areas. This system not only harvests rainwater, but also condensed water by the main AHU located on the rooftop. Thanks to the BMS sub-metering system IFAD can measure the exact amount of harvested water. The harvesting system will permit the use of non-potable water to irrigate landscape areas for about 70% of the yearly amount needed. The water is collected into 5 tanks with a total storage capacity of 20.000 litres of water. 

OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL MEASURES

    IFAD efforts in reducing the environmental impact and maintaining a high-quality standard of the building are also in the following areas: 

    1. Sustainable purchasing policy – every purchased product has to respect very strict rules regarding energy efficiency, local production and reduced toxic components.  

    1. Indoor environmental quality – obtained thanks to a green cleaning policy, thermal comfort and air quality monitoring and a very efficient daylight control system. 

    NEXT STEPS

    IFAD is currently undergoing the process of LEED recertification for the fourth time. The LEED standard has evolved during the past years and is becoming even more demanding.  

    ADDITIONAL LINKS

    IFAD and environmental sustainability
    IFAD achieves platinum LEED certification
    LEED platinum infographic