Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)
www.opcw.org
HQ: The Hague, Netherlands
Focal Point: Robert Erenstein
Email Address: [email protected]
MISSION
The mission of the OPCW is to implement the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in order to achieve the OPCW’s vision of a world that is free of chemical weapons and of the threat of their use, and in which cooperation in chemistry for peaceful purposes is fostered.
In doing this, our ultimate aim is to contribute to international security and stability, to general and complete disarmament, and to global economic development.To this end, the Secretariat proposes policies for the implementation of the CWC to the Member States, and develops and delivers programmes with and for them. These programmes have four broad aims:
- to ensure a credible and transparent regime for verifying the destruction of chemical weapons and to prevent their re-emergence, while protecting legitimate national security and proprietary interests;
- to provide protection and assistance against chemical weapons;
- to encourage international cooperation in peaceful uses of chemistry; and
- to bring about universal membership of the OPCW by facilitating international cooperation and national capacity building.
FIELD OFFICE
ChemTech Centre, Nootdorp (Netherlands).
ALIGNMENT WITH THE STRATEGY FOR SUSTAINABILITY MANAGEMENT IN THE UNITED NATIONS SYSTEM, 2020-2030
In progress.
EMISSION REDUCTION
The OPCW is actively working to reduce emissions but is not currently measuring the complete range of efforts.
Significant savings were achieved by replacing conventional lamps with LED lamps.
Savings of approximately 20% have been achieved by slightly increasing office temperatures in the summer and lowering them in the winter.
The installation of new cooling equipment by the end of 2023, according to the latest state of the art technology, should (on paper) reduce the energy consumption of the cooling system by 80-90%.
The OPCW has equipped the roof of the new ChemTech Center with solar panels, resulting in a saving of 240,000kWh per year. If the plan to install additional solar panels is approved by local authorities, approximately 300,000 kWh will be saved per year.
EMS & REDUCTION EFFORTS
The implementation of a methodology to measure greenhouse gas emissions and the insights this generated has inspired the OPCW to organically reduce its emissions in the course of the past years. Examples of such emission reduction measures are:
- Sustainable procurement has become part of official procurement policy, procurement staff received sustainable procurement training, inclusion of sustainability criteria in technical scopes, e.g. catering contract and paper supply contract,
- Video conferencing has become an accepted alternative to travel, notably all job interviews are conducted online,
- Business class eligibility on official duty travel was changed from flights longer than 9 hrs to flights longer than 11 hrs,
- Electricity is supplied by a sustainable and green energy supplier with a low carbon footprint (hydroelectric), excluding the use of non-sustainable resources,
- The office building has been upgraded to meet the strictest local energy standard, i.e. by installing movement sensitive light switches, renovation of the HVAC installations and elevators, limiting heating/cooling to 3 degrees Celsius difference from regular inside office temperatures, and other measures,
- New centralised multifunctional copiers/printers will introduce follow-me printing, and limit the number of printers and usage of paper,
- All HQ waste is managed by a certified sustainable recycling company for the recycling of re-useable materials.
Each year, as part of the Greening the Blue Report on Environmental Governance, each participating UN entity’s progress on the development of an Environmental Management System (EMS) is evaluated according to the UN system’s EMS criteria (these criteria are available on the Methodology webpage). Upon this evaluation the entity is then rated Exceeds, Meets, Approaches, or No response. For the 2022 reporting year, OPCW’s progress on the EMS is rated as: No response.
ENVIRONMENTAL & SOCIAL SAFEGUARDS AND STANDARDS IN POLICIES, PROJECTS AND PROGRAMMES
For the 2022 reporting year, OPCW's status of implementing environmental and social safeguards and standards in their policies, projects and programmes is: No response.
ENVIRONMENTAL TRAINING FOR PERSONNEL
The Greening the Blue Tutorial has been made available to OPCW employees through the organization’s internal training platform.
For the 2022 reporting year, OPCW's status on providing training on environmental sustainability is: No response.
OFFSETTING
The OPCW does not currently offset greenhouse gas emissions.
WASTE MANAGEMENT
Waste is separated by the company that collects OPCW’s waste. Electronic waste is disposed of following Dutch environmental standards.
NEXT STEPS
- Replace additional conventional lights with LED-lights
- Install additional solar panels at OPCW’s new ChemTech Centre
- Investigate options for installing solar panels at the Headquarters in The Hague
- Replace Diesel minivans with electric or hybrid vehicles
- Investing in Staff Awareness
- Paper smart conferencing