Environmental Performance
Methodology
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) follows the United Nations system environmental inventory methodology agreed by the Issue Management Group on Environmental Sustainability Management and implemented through the “Greening the Blue” initiative. The methodology is aligned with internationally recognized greenhouse gas accounting principles and supports the implementation of the UN System Strategy for Sustainability Management 2020–2030.
The United Nations greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory is based on the principles of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, adapted to reflect the operational realities of United Nations entities. The inventory boundary includes emissions arising from activities that can be influenced through UNEP’s financial and management decisions. These include emissions associated with electricity and heating consumption, refrigerants, waste management, water use, and official travel by air, land and sea.
To calculate its overall environmental footprint, UNEP combines actual operational data with scientifically informed estimation methodologies. For UNEP offices with more than 10 personnel, actual environmental performance data on energy consumption, waste generation, and water use are obtained directly from facilities managers and property management teams. For smaller offices, per capita emissions factors derived from comparable offices are used to estimate emissions. This approach enables UNEP to report on 100 per cent of emissions generated from its global office operations through the annual environmental inventory process.
Air travel remains the largest contributor to UNEP’s operational greenhouse gas emissions. UNEP uses the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) emissions calculator and Umoja travel data to calculate emissions generated from official travel undertaken by personnel and sponsored participants. The organization continues to strengthen measures aimed at reducing travel-related emissions through the promotion of virtual and hybrid meetings, sustainable travel planning, travel emissions monitoring, internal carbon tax mechanism, and emissions reduction targets.
In line with United Nations travel rules and sustainability commitments, UNEP encourages the consideration of virtual collaboration tools before approving official travel. The organization has also developed guidance on virtual and hybrid meetings to support operational efficiency while reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with travel.
Environmental sustainability at UNEP is supported by a strong governance framework and the active engagement of personnel across all duty stations. UNEP Sustainability Focal Points based in regional offices, offices away from headquarters, headquarters divisions and UNEP-administered Multilateral Environmental Agreement secretariats play a key role in supporting environmental inventories, implementing Environmental Action Plans, promoting awareness initiatives, and monitoring local environmental performance.
UNEP’s Environmental Management System (EMS) follows a risk-based and continuous improvement approach aligned with international environmental management best practices, including ISO 14001 principles. The EMS supports UNEP in identifying significant environmental aspects, setting targets, monitoring performance indicators, and integrating sustainability into operational decision-making processes.
Please refer to this page for more details on the methodology.
UNEP annual environmental inventory results
UNEP has been monitoring and reporting its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions since 2008, waste management performance since 2016, and water consumption since 2017. UNEP offices with more than 10 personnel are included in the annual environmental inventory using actual operational data, while data for smaller offices is estimated using established extrapolation methodologies to ensure comprehensive global reporting.
More information on latest UNEP’s performance
UNEP climate neutral since 2008
UNEP has been climate neutral since 2008, demonstrating its commitment to aligning its operations with its environmental mandate. As a first step towards reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint, UNEP began annually measuring and reporting its GHG emissions to better understand its environmental impacts and identify key emission sources. This enabled the organization to establish reduction targets, implement mitigation strategies, and monitor progress over time.
While UNEP continues to achieve significant reductions in operational emissions, some emissions remain unavoidable in the delivery of its global mandate, particularly those associated with essential travel and facility operations. To address these residual emissions, UNEP offsets the unavoidable emissions generated from the facilities and operations of all its offices worldwide.
UNEP achieves this through the purchase of Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) generated from projects in developing countries under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Clean Development Mechanism. This approach supports global climate action while contributing to sustainable development in host countries.
Sustainable events
Organizing sustainable events is a key pillar of UNEP’s commitment to environmental sustainability. UNEP believes in leading by example by demonstrating how sustainability principles can be effectively integrated into the planning and delivery of large-scale events, setting a benchmark for future meetings and conferences across the United Nations system and beyond.
To date, UNEP has been monitoring the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), the organization’s flagship global environmental forum. For the most recent UNEA sessions, UNEP implemented a methodology to estimate event-related emissions and integrate sustainability measures throughout the planning and operational processes.
Through these efforts, UNEP has worked towards ensuring sustainable assemblies while reducing broader environmental impacts. Key initiatives have included promoting paperless and single-use plastic-free meetings, sourcing locally produced food ingredients, encouraging sustainable procurement practices among other sustainability measures.
UNEP continues to promote green meetings across its offices and throughout the wider UN system by sharing methodologies, lessons learned, experiences, and good practices developed through UNEA and other sustainability initiatives.
Greening the Blue reports
The UN System first reported its greenhouse gas emissions in 2009, for 2008 emissions. Reporting has continued every year since then and has steadily improved in accuracy and scope, providing an ever more detailed picture of the UN System’s emissions and their sources. The report now includes data on waste management since 2017, water management since 2018, environmental management, and climate neutrality status.
View the annual UN System reports on its environmental impacts and efforts to reduce it
