United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG)

www.unog.ch
HQ: Geneva, Switzerland
Focal Point: Chloe Brown & Henrik Distel 
Email: [email protected]

Internal Sustainability Team: 2 FTE plus many employees across the organisation work on specific aspects of environmental management. 

The 2017 figures for UNOG are calculated based on the pro rata of its workforce (1547 staff) in the total workforce occupying the Palais des Nations compound (2877 staff).

The data on GHG emissions from air travel for the year 2019 has been updated after the Greening the Blue Report 2020 was published.
The entity may not report waste data for all its personnel. Please refer to the entity's personnel chart below for more information.
UNOG's reported water consumption includes a very large volume of water used in the GLN cooling system. This water is pumped from lake Geneva, cycles through the system and is returned to the lake, so not actually consumed.
All entity personnel are included in the entity's greenhouse gas emission inventory.

DIRECTOR-GENERAL'S MESSAGE

"Sustainability is at the heart of the United Nations in Geneva. We have implemented measures to be more sustainable, resilient and cost-effective than ever before. 

Among our many initiatives, lake water is used to cool the buildings of the Palais des Nations, solar panels have been installed on the roof, and steps have been taken to significantly reduce the consumption of paper and eliminate single-use plastics. 

Through innovation and cooperation, the United Nations in Geneva is committed to contributing to a greener United Nations, showing leadership in integrating the Sustainable Development Agenda in management planning and processes."

Tatiana Valovaya, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva 

MISSION

UNOG is the representative office of the Secretary-General in Switzerland and the largest duty station outside of UNHQ. It services 8,000 meetings annually and is a regional provider of diverse administrative and operational support to more than 30 UN entities in Europe and their field offices around the world. UNOG is a focal point for multilateral diplomacy and a global service provider of excellence in the areas of administration, conference management, security, information and knowledge-management. 

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

UNOG is working towards the commitments of the UN Strategy as well as those of the UN Secretariat’s Environmental Policy and Climate Action Plan.   

In particular, UNOG is setting up parallel environmental and energy management systems, based on the UN System EMS criteria and on ISO standards.   

These two management systems will support and enhance UNOG’s existing efforts on the UN Strategy’s five environmental impact areas (GHG emissions, Waste, Water, Air Pollution & Biodiversity) and six management functions (Procurement, Human Resources, Facilities Management, Travel, Events and ICT).   

EMISSIONS REDUCTION 

As part of the UN Secretariat, UNOG has the following GHG reduction targets: 

  • Absolute and per capita reductions of 25% by 2025 

  • Absolute and per capita reductions of 45% by 2030 

UNOG is currently on track to meet these targets.  Plans to replace the current fossil fuel based heating system of the Palais des Nations with a system powered by renewable energy should lead to a substantial reduction in UNOG’s overall GHG emissions.   

EMS AND REDUCTION EFFORTS

UNOG started work on EMS in 2018 but these efforts were temporarily put on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic and resourcing issues.  EMS implementation has restarted in 2023 and UNOG hopes to meet the UN System EMS criteria by 2025 as per the UN Sustainability Strategy. 

For the 2022 reporting year, UNOG's progress on the EMS is rated as: Approaches.

ENVIRONMENTAL TRAINING FOR PERSONNEL

The Greening the Blue tutorial is available to all UNOG staff on the UN Secretariat’s training platform and its uptake will be promoted, though it is not currently mandatory. 

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

ENVIRONMENTAL INVENTORY APPROACH

UNOG coordinates environmental inventory reporting for all UN entities based at the Palais des Nations.  Facilities data is split across entities based on headcount.  It should be noted that this includes impacts generated by the 8000 meetings and conferences held at the Palais.  These are split across all entities, irrespective of who is hosting the meeting. 

Our inventory reporting does not include the use of proxy data.  Emission factors used either come from the Services Industriels de Genève or from the Greening the Blue IMP. 

OFFSETTING 

100% of UNOG’s emissions are offset.  This is organised by the UN Secretariat HQ, which coordinates climate neutrality efforts for the whole Secretariat.   

WASTE MANAGEMENT

With the shift from individual waste bins to centralized recycling stations, UNOG is now able to monitor individual waste streams with the aim of reducing overall waste production and improving recycling rates.   

Efforts have been made to remove single-use plastics from the Palais (e.g. incentives for reusable packaging or seeking more sustainable alternatives).   

Organic waste from the parc is entirely disposed of and composted onsite.  

WATER AND WASTEWATER MANAGEMENT

In addition to water saving measures inside the buildings (eg in bathrooms), UNOG has put in place measures to reduce water use in the parc.  Prestige lawns have been replaced with natural prairies and annual flower displays have been replaced with hardy perennial plants that require little watering.   

It should be noted that the data published on this page also includes a very large volume of water used in the GLN cooling system.  This water is pumped from lake Geneva, cycles through the system and is returned to the lake, so is not actually consumed by UNOG. 

NEXT STEPS

In addition to the establishment of a systematic approach to environmental and energy management, UNOG is planning to: 

  • enter the first test phase for its new energy centre, which will allow the Palais des Nations to be heated and cooled by renewable sources rather than fossil fuels, 

  • finalize the renovation of the refrigeration system of the cafeteria, leading to better heat recovery and reduced impact from refrigerants, 

  • install additional solar PV panels and   

  • put in place a differentiated management plan for Ariana parc, where different zones are managed according to their ecological potential, cultural heritage and usage patterns. 

ADDITIONAL LINKS 

Sustainability | The United Nations Office at Geneva (ungeneva.org)