A key function of Greening the Blue is sharing best practices, tools and guidance for Focal Points (a designated person in each UN entity who has been appointed to coordinate the sustainability management process throughout their respective organisation and to keep methodologies and measures up-to-date and harmonized with the other UN organisations) to use in their agencies and for any other interested person or entity who may find the resources to be useful.
Since the UN’s journey towards climate neutrality and environmental sustainability began in 2007, UNEP, SUN, and the IMG members have collaboratively produced a variety of resources that help guide the UN System and entities in achieving their environmental commitments.
Resources include topics such as:
Click here to access the Publications and Resources.
The tutorial is designed for UN staff, highlighting the work that's underway across the UN System to improve its environmental performance and providing helpful advice on how each individual can contribute to that effort, by calculating and reducing their own footprint.
The tutorial takes the form of an animation in which we follow two UN staffers – Stick and Bean – as they overcome the challenge of being green in a typical UN office.
A number of different environmental sustainability campaigns, such as “Beat the Plastic,” “Greening the office,” and “Say yes to less,” have been developed by Greening the Blue and within some UN entities over the years. If you are interested in running one of these campaigns or are looking for inspiration on what can be done to promote environmental sustainability and engage staff in your own entity, please feel free to make use of the campaign toolkits. Toolkits include materials such as posters, videos, e-mails, and website text.
Toolkit materials are free to use and adapt. Use of some materials require acknowledgment of who created them. Details of any requirements around use are provided on the materials.
Access here the Campaign Toolkit Database
If you would like to contribute materials to the Campaign Toolkit Database, please contact us
This application was developed to support UN agencies, funds and programmes in their endeavors to implement environmental management systems (EMS).
Read more about the EMS toolkit here.
Click here to access the EMS Toolkit.
The calculator allows passengers to estimate the emissions associated with their air travel.
Click here to access the ICAO calculator.
Read more about sustainable procurement here
To assist with the implementation of Sustainable Procurement (SP) the Guide aims to provide: Concrete and valid arguments for the UN to engage in SP, Recommendations on the development of a SP Action Plan and Guidance on the integration of sustainable development principles in the UN procurement cycle.
Click here to access the guide.
It is divided into three main modules to understand sustainable procurement, create an action plan and integrate it.
Click here to access the training.
The ICAO Green Meetings Calculator (IGMC) is a tool designed to support decision-making in reducing the carbon emissions from air travel to attend meetings.
The software generates an optimal location for a meeting in terms of CO2 emissions, taking into consideration the city of origin and the number of participants, as well as other parameters. While many factors may affect the decision for where a meeting should be held, the calculator helps facilitate the planning process. The tool also allows to estimate air travel related carbon emissions for a specific meeting.
Click here to access the ICAO calculator.
Read about how to organise sustainable meetings.
Click here to access the guide.
Carbon Disclosure Project : The Carbon Disclosure Project is an independent not-for-profit organization holding the largest database of primary corporate climate change information in the world.
Clean Development Mechanism : The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), defined in Article 12 of the Protocol, allows a country with an emission-reduction or emission-limitation commitment under the Kyoto Protocol (Annex B Party) to implement an emission-reduction project in developing countries. Such projects can earn saleable certified emission reduction (CER) credits, each equivalent to one tonne of CO2, which can be counted towards meeting Kyoto targets.
Emissions Trading : Emissions trading, as set out in Article 17 of the Kyoto Protocol, allows countries that have emission units to spare - emissions permitted them but not "used" - to sell this excess capacity to countries that are over their targets. Thus, a new commodity was created in the form of emission reductions or removals. Carbon is now tracked and traded like any other commodity. This is known as the "carbon market."
EPA Climate Leaders : Climate Leaders is an EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) industry-government partnership that works with companies to develop comprehensive climate change strategies. Participating companies complete a corporate-wide inventory of their greenhouse gas emissions and annually report their progress to EPA.
Global Environment Outlook : Global Environment Outlook (GEO) is a consultative, participatory, capacity building process for global environmental assessment and reporting on the state of the environment, trends and future outlooks. GEO is both a process involving stakeholders from across the globe, as well as a product for environmental decision-making. It aims to facilitate the interaction between science and policy.
Multilateral Environment Agreements : This website contains information on Multilateral Environmental Agreements and the support offered by UNEP on MEA’s.
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change : The UNFCCC secretariat supports all institutions involved in the climate change process, particularly the COP, the subsidiary bodies and their Bureau. The website contains resources for beginners or experts, such as introductory and in-depth publications, the official UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol texts and a search engine to the UNFCCC library.
WRI Tool : The GHG protocol is the most widely used international accounting tool when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions. A result of the partnership between the World Resources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development – the protocol works to create a new generation of credible and effective programs for tracking climate change.
If are looking for more direct support on environmental sustainability, contact your entity’s Focal Point: Focal Point Contact List
Not part of the UN or don’t see a current Focal Point listed for your entity? Contact us