United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)
www.unops.org
HQ: Copenhagen, Denmark
Focal Point: Nives Costa
Email: [email protected]
Internal Sustainability Team: 2 full-time personnel and 1 intern
DIRECTOR-GENERAL'S MESSAGE
“We remain deeply committed to working as part of the UN system to reignite progress on the SDGs, and deliver meaningful actions for people, planet and prosperity.”
Jorge Moreira da Silva - UNOPS Executive Director
MISSION
Our mission
Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve peace and sustainable development.
Our vision
Our vision is a world where people can live full lives supported by appropriate, sustainable and resilient infrastructure and by the efficient, transparent use of public resources in procurement and project management.
Our purpose
We help people build better lives and countries achieve peace and sustainable development.
FIELD OFFICES
Information on UNOPS's field offices is available here.
ALIGNMENT WITH THE STRATEGY FOR SUSTAINABILITY MANAGEMENT IN THE UNITED NATIONS SYSTEM, 2020–2030
UNOPS is looking at strengthening several areas covered by the UN Sustainability Strategy: scaling up climate action and safeguards implementation, reinforcing its Environmental Management System (EMS), introducing a sustainable travel approach, etc.
EMISSION REDUCTION
Like most other Agencies, UNOPS observed a significant drop in emissions in 2020-2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, emissions have been slightly rising again, mostly driven by a resumption of business travel. However, emissions are still far below the 2019 levels.
EMS AND REDUCTION EFFORTS
In 2022, UNOPS initiated a project aimed at reducing GHG emissions in its facilities, operations and projects. The first phase of the project entails connecting a large part of its office to “smart meter” devices that will form the basis for measurable reductions of GHG emissions. Next phases will consider efficiencies, behavioural changes, solarisation and air travel optimisation.
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, UNOPS’s progress on the EMS is rated as: Approaches.
ENVIRONMENTAL & SOCIAL SAFEGUARDS AND STANDARDS IN POLICIES, PROJECTS AND PROGRAMMES
UNOPS runs an environmental and social (SE) management system that covers all it projects (on a risk basis) and facilities. In 2022, we initiated a project aimed at expanding and strengthening the safeguarding aspects in our SE management system. For the 2022 reporting year, UNOPS's status of implementing environmental and social safeguards and standards in their policies, projects and programmes is: No, but in progress.
ENVIRONMENTAL TRAINING FOR PERSONNEL
In October 2022, UNOPS launched an internal gamified training course on “In-house Environmental Management”. The course is voluntary and available to all its personnel. The course engages the learners in a challenge to unlock a greener future through four missions: time for climate action, time for nature, time to use less, time to do more. For the 2022 reporting year, UNOPS's status on providing training on environmental sustainability is: Yes, but it is voluntary.
ENVIRONMENTAL INVENTORY APPROACH
UNOPS publishes its Inventory Management Plan every year.
Inventory Management Plan for 2022
OFFSETTING
Since 2012 we offset the total of our emissions under the UN GHG inventory - please see our IMP for more information on the boundary and methodology that we follow.
WASTE MANAGEMENT
UNOPS introduced a waste reporting protocol in its offices in 2012. As part of its EMS, waste reduction and management are mainstreamed into the organization’s facilities and operations. Data quality is challenging but progressively improving; anecdotal evidence shows clear improvement in the way facilities and operations conserve and manage waste. In 2018, UNOPS also introduced an initiative to phase out all unnecessary Single Use Plastics from its facilities and events, resulting in 55% of our offices declared free from unnecessary single-use plastic.
WATER AND WASTEWATER MANAGEMENT
UNOPS introduced a water reporting protocol in its offices in 2012. As part of its EMS, water conservation and management are mainstreamed into the organization’s facilities and operations. Data quality is still a challenge; it is still early to set water-related targets, but anecdotal evidence show clear improvement in the way facilities and operations conserve and manage water.
OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL MEASURES
The UN City building in Copenhagen, Denmark, which houses UNOPS headquarters, is a state-of-the-art building in terms of energy efficiency, water savings and environmental performance. The roof is covered by solar panels that contribute to internal energy demand. Rainwater is harvested and used for the toilets, and the UN City captures an average of over 1 million litres of rainwater annually. Water use in the building's toilets, kitchens and showers has also been reduced by more than 60 percent, thanks to the installation of low-flow taps and low-flush toilets.
NEXT STEPS
For the coming year, UNOPS is planning to have an holistic look at its climate activities, always focusing on increasing the quality and reliability of our inventory, maintaining our drive for emission reductions, and starting to look at our scope 3 emissions in cooperation with the UN system.