UNEP Environmental Management System (EMS)
An Environmental Management System (EMS) is a comprehensive, systematic, cyclic, planned and documented set of processes that provides an organization information on and ability to manage its environmental performance
Environmental sustainability is a never-ending journey, where continuous improvement and developments should always take place and bring up new achievements and challenges. Our journey started with becoming climate neutral in 2008, and achieving 3% year-on-year GHG emissions reduction as of 2010. Climate neutrality was a first and important step towards reducing the environmental impact of our operations, and in 2015 we took the next step towards systematic environmental management.
In August 2015, UNEP signed the organization’s Environmental Policy and developed and EMS for its operations. The UNEP EMS is conceived as a set of actions to be implemented in most UNEP offices and its awareness and communication activities are aimed at all UNEP staff. UNEP has committed to monitor, measure and manage its environmental performance year-on-year, to seek continuous improvement, and be able to take timely corrective actions.
The first EMS cycle (2015-2019) focused on the following environmental aspects: Greenhouse gases emissions; Energy use and management; Waste generation and management; Fresh water use and management; and, Staff awareness. In 2020, the EMS was updated for a second cycle of 4 years (2020-2024) with the adoption of the UN Secretariat policy and the introduction of the EMS high-level steering committee. The EMS scope was expanded and now additionally includes air travel, events, and remote meetings.
Different areas of focus:
Priority Organization level - Air travel (remote meetings), Events, and Staff awareness
Secondary Office level - Energy use, Waste management, and Water management
Action plans have been developed to tackle each environmental aspect and are shared with UNEP top management and dedicated working groups for endorsement/feedback. If you wish to contribute, email your suggestions to Jillian Forte and we will try to turn them into actions in our action plans! We will keep you posted, as the action plans are updated annually and monitoring reports produced and shared with UNEP top management and staff.
UNEP Environmental Policy
In August 2015, UNEP Executive Director signed the Environmental Policy Statement establishing an Environmental Management System (EMS) for UNEP HQ and main offices around the world. More recently, the UN Secretary-General approved on the 4th of September 2019 the Environmental Policy for the United Nations Secretariat.
Given that the secretariat of UNEP falls under the UN Secretariat, UNEP adopted the UN Secretariat Environmental Policy (ST/SGB/2019/7) since 2019.
