United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

* The data on this webpage has been updated since the Greening the Blue Report 2021 was published. 

DIRECTOR-GENERAL’S MESSAGE

“Climate action and environmental protection are at the core of many successful UNESCO programmes, including in our biosphere reserves, natural heritage sites and education for sustainable development initiatives. Drawing on this scientific, educational and cultural expertise, I am strongly committed to making environmental considerations central to all of UNESCO’s operations, facilities and activities. To lead by example, we need to bring about sustainability from within, which is why I fully support the UN Greening the Blue initiative.”

Ms Audrey Azoulay, Director-General, UNESCO

MISSION

As a specialized agency of the United Nations, UNESCO contributes to the building of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue through education, sciences, culture, communication and information.

https://en.unesco.org/about-us/introducing-unesco

FIELD OFFICES

HQ in Paris, France

+54 Field Offices (see full list here) and 9 Category I Institutes in the following 63 locations:

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

UNESCO is fully committed to implementing the UN Strategy and meeting all of its objectives. The key tool for implementation is the establishment of an organization-wide Environmental Management System (EMS) in line with ISO 14001 which started in 2019 and is coordinated centrally by the Sector for Administration and Management. Some recent and ongoing initiatives in this area include:

• Streamlining of the annual inventory process to ensure better measurement of emissions
• Introduction of an internal carbon tax on all official air travel (USD 40 per tonne of CO2eq) and revision of the Organization’s travel policy to reinforce environmental criteria and reduce air travel
• Establishment of a waste management system with central collection points to improve waste sorting and recycling
• Gradual replacement of fleet with electric/hybrid vehicles
• Switch to electricity from 100% renewable sources at Headquarters; targeted energy-reduction measures such as limitation of heating and cooling period
• Revision of procurement policy and practices to fully integrate sustainability considerations
• Guidelines for green meetings
• Paperless policy
• Guidance to integrate environmental considerations into programme planning and implementation
• Creation of a biodiversity and vegetable garden at Headquarters
• Regular and targeted communication and staff awareness campaigns; publication of a “greening” staff guide

EMISSIONS REDUCTION

The overall emissions reported by UNESCO during the 2019 Inventory are significantly higher than in previous years because the coordination of the inventory exercise has been streamlined and improved, and for the first time, all Offices and all Sectors reported data in all areas. Therefore, 2019 has been set as a baseline for emission reduction efforts in the coming years. In 2020 and 2021, emissions have obviously dropped significantly due to travel restrictions and telecommuting. It is expected that emissions will again go up in 2023 but remain within the targets thanks to a set of reduction measures.

EMS AND REDUCTION EFFORTS

UNESCO has made substantial progress in the past few years in terms of environmental management, by setting up an EMS covering all its operations and facilities as the key framework for addressing the organization’s long-term environmental performance. In a staged approach, it englobes both Headquarters as well as all of UNESCO’s Field Offices and Category I Institutes. UNESCO’s Environmental Sustainability and Management Policy was adopted in 2020, and UNESCO’s Environmental Management Board approved ambitious emission reduction targets in line with the overall 45% reduction by 2030 compared to 2010 levels. This shall mainly be achieved through a reduction of air travel and energy efficiency measures/switch to renewables.

To date, UNESCO has implemented numerous environmental and sustainability initiatives and has participated in the Greening the Blue campaign since its creation in 2008. The intent of the EMS is to build on these initiatives by capitalizing on existing knowledge and organizational capacity while pushing the Organization further towards the 2030 vision in a systematic manner. The different governing bodies and senior management of the Organization are fully committed to this initiative.

At the same time, specific reduction efforts are being undertaken in the areas of facilities/building maintenance and renovation (including energy efficiency), travel and events. UNESCO Headquarters main buildings have just been BREEAM-in-Use certified with a “good” rating both in the area of building performance and building management.

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, UNESCO’s progress on the EMS is rated as: Meets.

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

UNESCO has already developed some guidance to integrate environmental sustainability considerations not only into administrative and management functions, but also into programme and project planning and implementation. Social standards for programmes already exist in some areas (gender equality, inclusion, indigenous people, human rights-based approach…). A comprehensive ESS framework is currently being developed and should be implemented from early 2024. For the 2022 reporting year, UNESCO’s progress on ESS is: No, but in progress.

ENVIRONMENTAL TRAINING FOR PERSONNEL

An environmental awareness training is mandatory for all UNESCO personnel since end of 2021. It is composed of the UN Greening the Blue tutorial and the “Staff guide for a Green UNESCO”.

For the 2022 reporting year, UNESCO’s status on providing training on environmental sustainability is Yes, and it is mandatory for all personnel.

ENVIRONMENTAL INVENTORY APPROACH

UNESCO’s annual inventory includes emissions from all 55 Offices and 9 Category I Institutes in 63 different locations. We report data in all categories of the Inventory. 

The inventory is coordinated by the UNESCO Administration Sector at Headquarters.

OFFSETTING

UNESCO offset 100% of its 2022 carbon emissions caused by its travel and facilities worldwide, by purchasing Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) from different UN-certified offsetting projects. In terms of budget, 38% have been offset via the UN Adaptation Fund. The remaining 62% have been divided equally between the following three CER projects: a cook stove project in Malawi, a windfarm in Jamaica and a biogas project in Mongolia. These projects have been carefully selected by an internal, intersectoral technical working group set up and trained for this purpose, in line with UNESCO’s programme and geographical priority Africa and Small Island Developing States. 

WASTE MANAGEMENT

A new waste management system was introduced at Headquarters in June 2020 with central collection points instead of individual office bins to improve waste sorting and recycling. It includes detailed monthly reports on the waste collected which will allow for the introduction of specific reduction measures. First reports show that plastic sorting has already improved, but since a large share of staff is still working from home, it is too early to provide a full picture.

NEXT STEPS

UNESCO will pilot its Environmental and Social Safeguards Framework in 2024. 

ADDITIONAL LINKS

UNESCO’s environmental commitment 

UNESCO Environmental Sustainability Report 2022 

Staff Guide to Greening UNESCO 

UNESCO's commitment to biodiversity 

UNESCO’s action on climate change 

Education for Sustainable Development 

RECENT NEWS & STORIES

Upcycling Conference Banners at UNESCO - 8 August 2022

UNESCO Staff #Trashhack Paris on World Cleanup Day - 20 September 2021

UNESCO Promotes Biodiversity and Urban Gardening in its Own Premises - 3 June 2021