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Management Systems

in the United Nations

Results of a stocktaking exercise undertaken

year 2015, describing the development and

implementation of environmental management

systems (EMS) across the UN system

KRISTINA VON OELREICH AND EMMA HÅKANSSON

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SWEDISH ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Results of a stocktaking exercise undertaken year 2015, describing the development and implementation of

environmental management systems (EMS) across the UN system

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Orders

Phone: + 46 (0)8-505 933 40 Fax: + 46 (0)8-505 933 99

E-mail: natur@cm.se

Address: CM Gruppen AB, Box 110 93, SE-161 11 Bromma, Sweden Internet: www.naturvardsverket.se/publikationer

The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency

Phone: +46 (0)10-698 10 00 Fax: +46 (0)10-698 10 99 E-mail: registrator@naturvardsverket.se

Address: Naturvårdsverket, SE-106 48 Stockholm, Sweden Internet: www.naturvardsverket.se

ISBN 978-91-620-6712-0 ISSN 0282-7298 © Naturvårdsverket 2016 Print: CM Gruppen AB, Bromma 2016

Cover photo: Marcin Szala,

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Foreword

For the UN to succeed in its purposes and to be a credible organization, it needs to account for its environmental impact, reducing risks and unintended negative im-pacts and maximizing benefits to people and their environment. Therefore, it is important that UN organizations systematically integrate environmental considera-tions in their work. Environmental Management Systems can be a tool for working systematically towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

The purpose of this stocktaking exercise have been to provide an overview of the current status of EMS implementation within the UN, and to reach a better under-standing of how to introduce an EMS within an organization belonging to the UN system. The stocktaking exercise also includes recommendations for further work when implementing an EMS in accordance with best practice.

Working on the stocktaking exercise has been an interesting piece of work and we have learned a lot about the UN system. We would like to thank all who contribut-ed, for their input and expertise, which was of great assistance when finalizing this report.

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Contents

FOREWORD 3 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

BACKGROUND 12 

1.1  Background on internal environmental sustainability work within the

UN 12 

1.1.1  Collaboration between Swedish EPA and UNEP (SUN) 13 

1.2  The purpose of the stocktaking exercise 14 

1.2.1  Methodology of the stocktaking exercise 15 

1.3  Introduction to Environmental Management Systems (EMS) 15 

CONTEXT OF THE ORGANIZATION 18 

2.1  The UN and its context 18 

2.2  Stakeholders and other interested parties 23 

2.3  Determining the scope of the EMS 25 

LEADERSHIP 28 

3.1  Leadership and commitment 28 

3.2  Environmental policies 30 

3.3  Organizational roles, responsibilities and authorities 32 

PLANNING OF THE EMS 35 

4.1  Compliance obligations 35 

4.2  Significant environmental aspects 38 

4.3  Environmental objectives and planning to achieve them 41 

4.4  Risks and opportunities 44 

SUPPORT FOR THE EMS 46 

5.1  Resources 46 

5.2  Communication 49 

5.3  Documentation 50 

OPERATION 53 

6.1  Operational planning and control 53 

6.2  Environmental emergency preparedness and response 55 

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION 57 

7.1  Monitoring, measurement, analysis and evaluation 57 

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7.3  Internal environmental audit 60 

7.4  Management review 62 

7.5  Sustainability report 63 

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENT 65 

8.1  Nonconformity and corrective action 65 

8.2  Continual improvement 67 

RESOURCES AND ACTIONS TAKEN CONCERNING INTERNAL

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY 70 

9.1  Teams and networks for internal environmental sustainability 70  9.2  Actions taken concerning internal environmental sustainability 75 

10  THE SELECTION PROCESS FOR EMS PILOTS 82 

11  CONCLUSIONS 84 

12  RECOMMENDATIONS 90 

13  REFERENCES 93 

APPENDIX 1: EXAMPLES OF ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS AND

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT 98 

APPENDIX 2: INTERNAL COMMITMENTS AND GUIDELINES ON

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY 101 

APPENDIX 3: EXEMPLE OF EVALUATION CRITERIA FOR SIGNIFICANT

ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS 110 

APPENDIX 4: THE QUESTIONS IN THE EMS SURVEY 111 

APPENDIX 5: MEMBERS OF CEB AND EMG 114 

APPENDIX 6: ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS 117 

APPENDIX 7: SWOT ANALYSIS FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF EMSS

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Executive summary

Background

Sustainable United Nations (SUN) is an initiative of UNEP that coordinates opera-tional activities and supports different UN organizations in their efforts to imple-ment the UN climate neutral strategy and environimple-mental manageimple-ment systems (EMSs). The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Swedish EPA), with its long experience of working with international standards for EMS and coordinating and guiding 190 government agencies in their environmental management systems work, is supporting the work of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) by advising the SUN team and building the capacity of UN entities to establish and maintain EMSs.

The Swedish EPA - UNEP partnership (2014-2018), funded by Sida, is laying the foundations for the future mainstreaming of environmental management in UN. These efforts are focusing on the environmental impacts of internal management of facilities and operations1. A broader process hosted by the UN Environment

Man-agement Group (EMG) encompasses both environmental and social impacts and expands the scope beyond facilities and operations to include programmes and projects. Collaboration with the EMG Secretariat is therefore an integral part of the partnership. An important issue for the donor is the gender perceptive, which should also be taken into consideration whenever relevant, when implementing and maintaining an EMS.

One of the main purposes of the United Nations (UN) is to help nations work to-gether to improve the lives of poor people, to conquer hunger, disease and illitera-cy, and to encourage respect for each other’s rights and freedoms2. For the UN to

succeed in its purposes and to be a credible organization, it needs to account for its environmental impact, reducing risks and unintended negative impacts and maxim-izing benefits to people and their environment.

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were endorsed by the General Assembly in September 2015. These will function as a common basis for the work of all UN organizations. Implementing an EMS will provide UN agencies with a documented, systematic and transparent tool to motivate, track and report on pro-gress over time, whilst working towards the internalisation of the environmental dimension of the SDGs in their management processes in a systematic manner.

1 ‘Operations’ mean travel, procurement and facilities management. 2 http://www.un.org/en/aboutun/index.shtml 2014-01-14

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Purpose

The purpose of the stocktaking exercise was to provide an overview of the current status of environmental management systems of different UN organizations, to make sure future activities in the Swedish EPA - UNEP partnership build on exist-ing work, and to reach a better understandexist-ing of how to introduce EMSs to the UN system. Based on the findings made, the stocktaking exercise provides recommen-dations for improvements.

Methodology

The experts at the Swedish EPA, in collaboration with the SUN team and the sus-tainability focal points in the UN EMS Working Group, have conducted a stocktak-ing exercise on the stage of development and implementation of EMSs across the UN system. The stocktaking exercise report references EMS requirements under accepted international standards such as ISO 14001:2015, and is based on the Swe-dish EPA experts’ experiences and findings in the field. Knowledge of the UN status quo on EMSs was obtained through reviews of documentation from a selec-tion of UN organizaselec-tions and UN bodies, and informaselec-tion from IMG focal points.

Conclusions

The stocktaking exercise shows that many UN organizations work actively on environmental issues both at corporate management level and in their program-ming. The results from a minor EMS survey conducted in April 2015 reflect that the majority of the responding organizations are in the initial stage of the EMS implementation.

Given that the UN is governed by many Member States and driven by a political process, decision-making takes long time. There are a number of constraints under which the UN operates, particularly the many stakeholders with varied interests, which could make it difficult to secure a consensus around environmental measures.

Implementing an EMS gives an opportunity for UN organizations to contribute to the One UN initiative for a more coherent and efficient delivery. The One UN reform is focused on more coherent programmes, strengthened accountability, monitoring and evaluation, and improved outcomes. An EMS directly supports this effort by providing a systematic and uniform approach to improved control, effi-ciency and reporting.

EMS in UN organizations can bring many benefits. Implementing an EMS gives an opportunity for the UN organizations to demonstrate that they have relevant poli-cies and systems in place to satisfy the environmental requirements from

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stake-holders. The General Assembly has signalled expectations of the UN to walk the talk on sustainability measures, while environmental requirements are becoming a precondition for funding from donors such as the Global Environment Facility (GEF). EMS in UN organizations represents an opportunity to mainstream envi-ronmental considerations in policies, strategies, projects and programmes. Literature studies, experience from Swedish EPA’s guidance to public agencies, and discussions with members if the EMS working group as part of the stocktaking exercise, confirms that it is very important for the implementation of any EMS to ensure that senior management and staff are all involved in its development and implementation.

Experience from the work in guiding 190 public authorities in Sweden has shown that when organizations include both operations and facilitates, and programmes and projects in their EMS, it will engage the senior management and the staff to a greater extent, and the understanding of an EMS in the daily work will increase. A properly functioning environmental management system results in improved management of natural resources and identified cost efficiencies such as improved management of electricity, fuel and travel3, and could free up funding for applying

the mandated objectives of the various missions of the United Nation organiza-tions.

Recommendations

The main recommendations for creating proper institutional conditions to imple-ment an EMS are described below. They are described according to best practice, with the purpose to limit the environmental impact, speed up the implementation of EMS and to reduce the costs for the implementing organizations. Each recommen-dation must be undertaken within a context of respect for the institutional obliga-tions arising from other policies, such as policies on gender and indigenous peo-ples. These together may form the approach to internalising sustainable develop-ment principles in UN corporate managedevelop-ment.

The recommendations are not given in a specific order of priority since they are connected to each other. Literature, discussions with members of the EMS working group, and the earlier experience of the Swedish EPA experts, confirms that the leadership, the involvement of staff and the integration of the EMS in the existing management structure, is crucial for a successful EMS implementation within the UN.

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Certain core functions should be managed on a common UN-wide basis, to stream-line and coordinate efforts, and to avoid duplication of efforts and costs. This brings advantages such as economies of scale and a coherent way of working with sustainability issues in the spirit of the One UN reform. According to best practice, the UN system is recommended to adopt the following activities, through a perma-nent central coordination:

 Develop the existing central EMS support, by increasing the number of training activities, and the exchange of experience between the organiza-tions, for achieving more powerful synergies

 Identify how the Sustainable Development Goals, and also standards for best practice on social responsibility, can be tools and the next steps for the UN organizations for working in a systematic manner with both environ-mental and social issues.

 Make sure that competence in environmental law is available to support UN organizations.

 Provide and encourage the use of coherent and common EMS guidelines and voluntary templates customized for the UN, e.g. for initial environ-mental review and for developing internal environenviron-mental objectives.  Develop EMS indicators that the UN organizations should report on

cen-trally and to their governing body, and accelerate the work with the four endorsed sustainability indicators (GHG gases, water use, waste manage-ment and environmanage-mental training).

 Coordinate internal environmental audits between the UN organizations, by supporting the auditors with regards to training and sharing experience. The internal auditors could audit each other's organizations.

 Consider how the EMS support may be extended from environmental as-pects in operation and facilities to environmental asas-pects in policymaking, programming and projects.

 Develop how the gender perspective could be integrated in a logical struc-ture for an EMS based on the PDCA-cycle (Plan, Do, Check and Act). Through the work of SUN and the IMG on Environmental Sustainability, many of the above mentioned steps are already well underway. At the end of the stocktaking exercise report, a mapping of existing networks and teams working with environ-mental sustainability within the UN can be found. Also actions taken concerning internal environmental sustainability, such as strategic plans and major projects, are described, together with a timeline over internal commitments on environmental sustainability within the UN system.

According to best practice, each UN organization is recommended to adopt the following activities:

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 Conduct a SWOT4 - or PESTLE5 - analysis, to reach a better understanding

of the factors that impact the EMS and the environmental context in which the organization operates.

 Show how the demands from relevant stakeholders have been internalized into the organization’s own policy, strategic documents and at the opera-tional level.

 Include environmental objectives and environmental performance measures in the “Senior Manager’s Compact”.

 Make the support from senior management visible, by sponsoring an initial environmental review, adopting an environmental policy, ensuring organi-zation-wide communication of the environmental work and endorsing in-ternal environmental objectives.

 Integrate both environmental objectives and action plans in existing strate-gic documents and activity plans.

 Make sure that the allocation of resources, not least human resources, for the EMS is an integrated part of the ordinary budget process already in place.

 Improve the monitoring and management of significant environmental as-pects.

 Complement possible emergency management systems already in place, with procedures for environmental consideration.

 Integrate environmental risks and opportunities considerations in existing risk management, and evaluate possible changes in the EMS, such as a re-vised list of significant environmental aspects.

 Ensure appropriate competencies to be able to conduct regular evaluations of adherence to environmental compliance obligations.

 Conduct regular environmental audits and environmental management re-views.

 Include sustainability considerations in purchasing and procurement, which can have an impact on the enabling of a green economy.

 Develop the work to continuously identify nonconformities and taking cor-rective action in the environmental work, and integrate it in the existing handling of nonconformities for other areas, such as quality, conformity with project procedures etc.

 Describe the results of the monitoring and evaluation of the environmental performance in an annual sustainability report, used for communication with donors, UN staff, and other stakeholders, to ensure the mechanism for accountability and transparency within the UN.

 Have a tolerant and encouraging culture, where identified nonconformities are found to represent opportunities for improvement, and have

4 Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats

5 PESTLE analysis can be used to examine the political, economic, social, technological, environmental

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functioning communication channels for the exchange of experiences, all to accomplish continual improvement.

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1 Background

1.1

Background on internal environmental

sustainability work within the UN

One of the main purposes of the United Nations (UN) is to help nations work to-gether to improve the lives of poor people, to conquer hunger, disease and illitera-cy, and to encourage respect for each other’s rights and freedoms6. Through that mission, the UN system becomes one of the largest implementing global actors to promote sustainable development and poverty reduction7. The UN could therefore,

through its mission, contribute to solve the challenges the world faces today, for example scarce resources such as water and food, increasing amounts of waste, the environmental effects of increased energy consumption, lack of security, climate change, poverty, inequality and the lack of influence of women globally. How it does this therefore matters. More specifically, success in the UN’s mission depends on its accounting for its environmental impact, reducing risks and unintended nega-tive impacts and maximizing benefits to people and their environment. It is conse-quently important that UN organizations systematically integrate environmental considerations into the implementation of their mandates.

While many parts of the Organization have individual sustainability goals, the UN acting as one can do even more. Internalising environmental, as well as social and economic, sustainability practices can make the UN a more efficient, effective and responsible organization. How the UN makes policy, develops programmes and oversees its facilities must be viewed through the lens of sustainability.

United Nations Executive Heads approved in September 2011 a “Framework for advancing environmental and social sustainability in the UN system”8 providing preliminary guidance on the integration of sustainable development considerations into policies/strategies, programmes/projects and facilities/operations. As a contri-bution to the latter, Executive Heads also approved a “Strategic Plan for Sustaina-bility Management in the UN System”9 that provides a model for the systematic integration of environmental sustainability into the management of UN facilities and operations.

6 http://www.un.org/en/aboutun/index.shtml 2014-01-14

7A framework for Advancing Environmental and Social Sustainability in the United Nations, 2012 page 6 8http://www.unemg.org/Portals/24182/Documents/MeetingsDocs/EMGSeniorOffMtgs/2011/advancing%

20E&S%20sustainability%20report%2027%20Aug%202011.pdf

9

http://www.unemg.org/MeetingsDocuments/EMGSeniorOfficialsMeetings/2011/tabid/102164/Default.a spx

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At Rio+20, UN member states also made clear their wish to see the UN lead by example on sustainability management. The General Assembly Quadrennial Policy Review, echoing the Rio+20 outcome document “The future we want” (endorsed by the UN General Assembly on 27 July 201210), asks UN organizations “to

con-sider measures to integrate social, economic and environmental dimensions across the UN system’s operational activities” and “calls on the UN system to improve the management of facilities and operations, by taking into account sustainable devel-opment practices, building on existing efforts and promoting cost effectiveness”11.

The UN Chief Executives Board for Coordination approved on 5 April 2013 that all UN agencies would introduce environmental management systems (EMS). UN heads of agency agreed to commit to implementing EMS in all organizations through a gradual and flexible approach, and also to “mainstream EMS in pro-gramming and planning processes”. These policy statements provide system-wide impetus for the adoption of organization-specific environmental management sys-tems (EMS) by the UN at all levels. The systematic approach of an EMS will re-quire UN organizations to account for both the short- and long-term environmental effects of their activities in the countries where they operate. This, in turn, will allow it to better support member states to further the global sustainability agenda.

1.1.1 Collaboration between Swedish EPA and UNEP (SUN)

Sustainable United Nations (SUN) is a part of UNEP and coordinates operational activities and supports the UN organizations in their efforts to implement environ-mental management systems. The UNEP (SUN) Facility has strived to create the demand for a cultural and management change inside the UN system, focusing on environmental sustainability.

In 2008, UNEP (SUN) was a UN innovator when it developed and implemented a common, agreed methodology for a greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventory for the UN system. This was the first step towards the implementation of the UN cli-mate neutral strategy. Of greater potential impact is the move from measurement to action: emissions reduction.

Over the next 3-5 years, the political and the practical work of UNEP (SUN) will focus on assisting a shift from ad hoc environmental measures to environmental management systems. These efforts will initially focus on internal management, e.g. direct environmental impact. Later there will be an expansion to cover indirect environmental impacts and how UN agencies actually deliver their mandates as part of the wider Environmental and Social Sustainability Framework of the UN Environment Management Group (EMG). This is a natural step after environmen-tal sustainability has been consolidated in internal corporate management.

10A/Res/66/288 11 A/Res67/226, para 15

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In this regard the EMG is currently preparing guidance for the integration of envi-ronmental and social sustainability principles in the implementation of UN policies and programme pillars via the work on a UN Framework for Environmental and Social Sustainability. As part of their collaboration with UNEP SUN, the Swedish EPA experts will be called upon to lend their expertise to help UN organizations define and make operational the environmental aspects of the framework.

With long experience of working with international standards for EMS and coordi-nating and guiding 190 government agencies in their environmental management work, the expertise from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Swedish EPA) will bring value by supporting the work of SUN to accelerate the uptake of environmental management systems by UN organizations and helping to build capacity and autonomy.

The Swedish EPA - SUN partnership (2014-2018) will lay the foundations for the future mainstreaming of environmental management in UN. These efforts will initially focus on internal management, e.g. direct environmental impact as facili-ties and operations. The partnership will help SUN to support and accompany UN organizations in their implementation of the above decisions, by developing a body of knowledge and practical tools that will serve over the medium to long term. The desired effect of this partnership is that UN agencies will reduce their negative environmental impact and enhance a positive environmental impact.

1.2

The purpose of the stocktaking

exercise

During 2015, the experts at the Swedish EPA have conducted a stocktaking exer-cise of the stage of development and implementation of environmental manage-ment systems (EMS) across the UN system to establish a knowledge base for EMS tailored to UN needs. The stocktaking exercise also includes recommendations for further work when implementing an EMS according to best practice.

This report describes the results of the stocktaking exercise. The purpose of the stocktaking exercise was to identify the main needs when building an EMS for an organization belonging to the UN system, to provide an overview of the current status and to reach a better understanding of how to introduce an EMS.

The analysis will serve to create a baseline for the overall project, and help ensure that future efforts build on existing EMS efforts within the UN system. It will also allow the Swedish EPA experts to grasp how an EMS is developed and implement-ed in the Unitimplement-ed Nations System.

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1.2.1 Methodology of the stocktaking exercise

This stocktaking exercise report is conducted by Swedish EPA experts Kristina von Oelreich and Emma Håkansson, in collaboration with the SUN team and the UN EMS Working Group. The final conclusions in the report are structured as a SWOT-analysis. The content and views expressed in this publication are those of the authors.

The stocktaking exercise report references EMS requirements under accepted in-ternational standards and is based on the Swedish EPA experts’ experiences and findings in the field.

Knowledge of the UN status quo on EMS was obtained through review of docu-mentation from a selection of UN organizations and UN bodies. Information was also obtained by the results from the survey “Level of implementation of the EMS milestones framework”. The survey was sent in April 2015 to the members of the Environmental Management Systems Working Group and to UN organizations interested in becoming EMS pilots. It is advised to read the results as representative of the 17 organizations that responded only, and refrain from making assumptions for the entire UN system. These 17 organizations are all among the most advanced and interested in EMS implementation in the UN system. Information about the results from the survey can be found in Chapter 9.2 “Actions taken concerning internal environmental sustainability”.

The structure of the stocktaking exercise report is built so that most chapters (Chapters 2 to 8) begin with a brief summary of best practice requirements for an EMS from the ISO 14001:2015 standard (and EMAS, if applicable, or particularly if different from the ISO standard), and then there is a comparison of the current status in the United Nations against the key elements of the standard. At the end of each chapter recommendations for the further work with implementing an EMS in the UN system are given. The report also contains a specific chapter (Chapter 9) which provides an overview of the current status of resources and actions already taken concerning EMS implementation and internal environmental sustainability within the UN system.

For the purpose of this report, “the UN organizations” means the organizations of the United Nations including United Nations funds and programmes, specialized agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

1.3

Introduction to Environmental

Management Systems (EMS)

Organizations worldwide are using the international ISO standards for environmen-tal management systems (ISO 14001:2004) and the standard for guidance on social responsibility (26000:2010). ISO 14001 is relevant to all organizations, regardless of size and business focus. In autumn 2015, there will be a new revised version of ISO 14001, called ISO 14001:2015. The stocktaking exercise report has been based

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on the content in the new standard. In Europe, organizations also have an environ-mental management system instrument: the European Regulation for

Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS).

ISO 14001 defines an EMS as the part of an organization's management system that is used to develop and implement its environmental policy. The ISO standards covering environmental management detail the elements of an effective EMS that can be integrated with other management requirements to help organizations achieve environmental and economic goals.

An EMS should include an organizational structure, planning activities, well-defined responsibilities, practices, procedures, processes and resources. It must be based on the specific operations of each organization as it is designed to help streamline and organize the organization’s environmental deliberations and activi-ties.

An EMS does not mandate particular sustainability measures or outcomes; rather it activates the organization to make continuous improvements. The aim is to contin-uously reduce the organization’s total environmental impact by providing the man-agement with a better governance system over activities undertaken to address environmental issues in terms of both performance and cost. In addition, elements of an EMS can be coordinated with other management systems, such as quality control, social and safety issues.

With a functioning EMS in place, an organization's credibility on environmental stewardship should increase, and its knowledge of its environmental performance should likewise improve. These developments should, in turn, lead to enriched communication with stakeholders and other interested parties.

The paradigmatic EMS is designed around four basic elements that follow a logical structure for its operation. The structure is built according to a Plan-Do-Check-Act, or PDCA, cycle.

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According to the report “Environmental profile of the United Nations system or-ganizations” (JIU/REP/2010/1) by the UN Joint Inspection Unit in 2009, some UN organizations were about to adopt in-house environmental plans and policies along the lines of the ISO 14000 standards. This could provide an operational framework for monitoring, measuring and improving environmental performance on an on-going basis. A limited number of UN organizations have certified environmental management systems according to ISO 14001 (see Chapter 9.2, Actions taken con-cerning internal environmental sustainability).

Implementing an EMS in the UN organizations according to paragraph 94 in the document “The future we want” (66/288) could be an appropriate measure for integrating the social, economic and environmental dimensions across the opera-tional activities of the United Nations system.

The Framework for Advancing the Environmental and Social Sustainability in the UN system describes minimum essential building blocks for integration of envi-ronmental and social sustainability measures across their activities. The different blocks are very similar to the structure of the PDCA cycle. Also The EMS Mile-stones Framework is built on the structure of the PDCA cycle.

When an EMS is implemented according to the PDCA cycle, the organization should in each phase consider if the EMS can affect the genders differently, and also if the gender perspective could have any impact on the EMS work and the organization’s environmental performance.

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2

Context of the organization

2.1

The UN and its context

Requirements according to ISO 14001

The organization shall determine external and internal issues that are relevant to its purpose, and that affect its ability to achieve the intended outcome of its environ-mental management system. The aim is to increase the understanding of the con-text in which the organization operates, and the issues that can affect either posi-tively or negaposi-tively the organization's ability to manage its environmental respon-sibilities. These issues may include environmental conditions such as land use and natural resource availability, which may affect the organization, or may be affected by the organization. It may also include internal characteristics such as the culture of the organization, and the external political context.

Current status and recommendations

The purpose of the UN

The United Nations officially came into existence on 24 October 1945 with the ratification of the Charter of the United Nations. From the Charter it is understood that the purposes of the United Nations are:

 to keep peace throughout the world;

 to develop friendly relations among nations;

 to help nations work together to improve the lives of poor people, to con-quer hunger, disease and illiteracy, and to encourage respect for each oth-er’s rights and freedoms;

 to be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations to achieve these goals. The UN mission to work for sustainable development through peace and security was foundedin the Charter, even if it at that time it was not described on the basis of the concept of sustainable development. The concept of sustainable development emerged as environmental issues were given an increased focus on the internation-al agenda in the 1970s and 1980s and had an impact on the UN mission. For exam-ple the emergence of the concept of ‘sustainable development' based on the UN report ''Our common future'' (1987), has had an impact on the UN mission and on the context in which the UN operates.

The UN needs, within the mandate they have, to take into account issues related to the concept of social, ecological and economic sustainability. In the report “The future we want” (66/288) paragraph 91-96, the contributive role of the UN organi-zations to sustainable development is described. Sustainable development is an important aspect for the UN to consider in order to fulfill its mission. The chal-lenges the world faces today are, for example, scarce resources such as water and

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food, increasing amounts of waste, the environmental effects of increased energy consumption, lack of security, climate change, poverty, inequality and the lack of influence for the world’s women.

Environmental conditions that may affect the organization

The world, including the environmental conditions, has changed since the UN Charter entered into force. As an example, the increasing risk of conflict over natu-ral resources due to a growing population can affect the fulfilment of the purposes of the Charter. The work on international agreements on sustainability measures and environmental considerations through declarations, conventions, standards and covenants has therefore been an increasing part of the work of the UN. The Mil-lennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the process to develop Sustainable De-velopment Goals (SDGs) are evidence of that.

The Security Council has mandated peacekeeping missions to help national author-ities conduct activauthor-ities in support of natural resource management. Peacekeeping operations where natural resources have financed or fuelled conflict, such as griev-ances over access, represent around 50% of the peace¬keeping budget. Major peace agreements now include provisions on natural resources. Land is most com-monly addressed but extractive resources such as oil and minerals, and renewable resources e.g. water, are also included.12

The Pacific Institute, which studies issues of water and global security, has found a fourfold increase in violent confrontations over water over the last decade. Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute states that “the risk of conflicts over water is growing because of increased competition, bad management and, ultimately, because of the impacts of climate change".13

The effect that climate change can have on the lives of poor people, hunger, disease and illiteracy, is another example of environmental conditions that can affect the work of the UN. The poor are already the most at risk from climate change. They have the fewest resources to adapt or recovery quickly from extreme weather changes, and they often live on the most vulnerable land because it is the most affordable, such as homes along creeks that flood. The damage extreme weather can do to homes and businesses are often the trigger that tips the vulnerable into poverty.14

12 Greening the Blue Helmets (2012) 13 The Guardian, 9 February 2014 14 The World Bank web page, Feb 6, 2015,

http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2015/02/06/climate-change-complicates-efforts-end-poverty

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Inability to gain a livelihood due to environmental degradation, natural disasters, or development projects, obligates environmental refugees15 to migrate from their

homelands. There are currently between 25 and 30 million environmental refugees worldwide, and their numbers are expected to swell to 200 million by mid-century, largely as a result of climate change.16

Despite women’s role and know-how, their contribution to sustaining communities is regularly undervalued. Furthermore, women are uniquely vulnerable to environ-mental degradation. For example, it is established that environenviron-mental hazards are among the major causes of global death and disease, and that the burden falls dis-proportionately on women and young children, especially in less developed coun-tries. UNEP recognizes gender as a cross-cutting priority, and its programme of work promotes women’s participation in all environmental protection and sustain-able development activities.17 An area where women play an important role is the

transition to sustainable energy and in ensuring universal energy access since they are often “in the driver’s seat” of sustainable energy solutions at the community level.18

Environmental conditions that can be affected by the organization

The UN as an organization can have an impact on the environment both directly and indirectly.19 The UN have a possibility to affect the environmental condition

through its normative role to work out international agreements as international conventions and declarations concerning environmental issues (indirect), and also by integrating environmental issues into the UN organizations policies/strategies, programmes/projects (indirect) and facilities and operations (direct).

Normative role

The United Nations has played and is still playing an important normative role in the establishment of international agreements on the environment, which can have an enormous indirect environmental impact. The UN organizations give support to national policy development, develops and hosts multilateral environmental agreements, and gives assistance to international conventions and treaties. Some examples are the adoption of Agenda 21 (1992), the Millennium Summit (2000) and its Millennium Development Goals and the Rio +20 UN conference on

15 The Climate Institute defines environmental refugees as "people fleeing from environmental crises,

whether natural or anthropogenic events, and whether short or long term."

16 http://climate.org/topics/environmental-security/index.html 17 http://www.unep.org/gender/

18http://www.unido.org/fileadmin/user_media_upgrade/What_we_do/Topics/Women_and_Youth/GUIDA

NCENOTE_FINAL_WEB.pdf

19 Indirect environmental impact is a negative or positive change in the environment which arises as a

result of someone other than the organization taking action, as a consequence of regulations, deci-sions, advice, training or the provision of information from the organization. Definition from the Ordi-nance (2009:907) on EMS in public authorities

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tainable Development (2012).20 Another example was the Kyoto Protocol which

was an international agreement linked to the United Nations Framework Conven-tion on Climate Change, that committed its parties by setting internaConven-tionally bind-ing emission reduction targets.

The establishment of international agreements on the environment also impacts other working areas within the UN, such as climate policies that benefit the poor over the long-term and can benefit the poor in the short-term when accompanied by appropriate social policies.21

Policies/strategies and programmes/projects

All work within the UN with policies/strategies and programmes/projects has an indirect environmental impact. If environmental considerations are considered as a part of the development of all entities’ policies and strategies, including those spe-cific to the entities’ internal operations, as well as to reflect the entities’ wider stra-tegic priorities and thematic areas of focus, it will have an environmental impact.22

It could be the mainstreaming of environmental sustainability into an agency´s country cooperation, or that environmental considerations are systematically inte-grated in all programme and project cycles, included as a part of planning, imple-mentation and monitoring and evaluation. As an example, UNDP´s social and envi-ronmental standards are embedded in UNDP´s Quality Assurance Framework as one of seven key quality criteria.

Operations and facilities

The sheer size of the UN organization causes a considerable environmental impact from facilities and operations. Activities included in “operations” in the UN offices are HR, office operations, meetings and bigger conferences, travel and procure-ment. For field activities such as peacekeeping operations, there is an even more diverse variation of activities, e.g. the establishment of camps and all the logistics connected to that such as transportation, waste management and food provision. In 2014 the total number of UN staff was approximately 252,00023 of whom the peacekeeping operations constituted around half24. The greenhouse gas emissions

from facilities and travels were around 2,090,000 tCO2eq in 2014 for the UN sys-tem.25

20 http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/environment/, 2015-05-07

21

http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2015/02/06/climate-change-complicates-efforts-end-poverty

22 A Framework for Advancing Environmental and Social Sustainability in the United Nations System,

p.49

23 Moving towards a Climate Neutral United Nations (2015) 24 Greening the Blue Helmets (2012)

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The UN operates in several countries, both through their offices in its 193 Member States and through its programmes and initiatives. It is crucial that the UN organi-zations has a minimal environmental impact at its offices and operations, not least because they often operate in poor countries with limited resources and extra frag-ile nature. The systematic approach of an EMS will help to achieve better planning and control of basic operations and their environmental impacts, and will also al-low the UN agencies to better support Member States to further the global sustain-ability agenda.

EMS that covers facilities and operations shows that the UN takes its responsibility to mitigate the impact from its own organization on scarce resources and climate change. EMS that also covers policy making means that the UN takes environmen-tal issues into consideration in its overall work of keeping peace and helping na-tions to improve the lives of poor people.

To accomplish the EMS requirements concerning the context in which the organi-zation operates, the UN organiorgani-zations could conduct SWOT-analyses. It is a way to regularly assess relevant aspects of the context in which the organization operates, and factors that impact on the ability to achieve the intended outcome of environ-mental management system. A SWOT-analysis is a planning method used to eval-uate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for the activities in a busi-ness or an organization.

Another tool that can be used is a PESTLE analysis, to examine the increasing political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal pressures for environmental protection.26 It may help clarify the external reality in which the

UN operates in and how an EMS can affect and can be affected by these factors. Other issues that affect the ability to manage environmental responsibilities The culture of the organization can also affect the work with environmental issues. The UN is an international organization, which could impact the culture and the values. It can for example mean that the cultural background of different staff leads to different values and the view on the importance and priorities of the environ-mental work. Other issues such as the gender perspective should also be considered if it affects the ability to manage environmental responsibilities.

UN organizations strive to work more coherent through the One UN initiative. A number of countries have adopted the principles of the “Delivering as One”, which is part of an ongoing reform process of the way the UN organizations work at

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country level.27 The reform process is focused on results, strengthened

accountabil-ity, monitoring and evaluation and improved outcomes.28

Concerning the external political context, Member States, funders and other stake-holders have a great impact on the priorities within the UN and consequently if and how the UN agencies should work with environmental management systems. Sig-nals on expectations of the UN to walk the talk on sustainability measures have become more evident the last years. One example is from the Rio +20 Conference in 2012, where the General Assembly renewed its commitment to “sustainable development and to ensuring the promotion of an economically, socially and envi-ronmentally sustainable future for our planet and for present and future genera-tions”…and “acknowledge the need to further mainstream sustainable development at all levels, integrating economic, social and environmental aspects and recogniz-ing their inter-linkages…”29

2.2

Stakeholders and other interested

parties

Requirements according to ISO 14001

In addition to identifying the internal and external factors that can affect, either positively or negatively, the way the organization manages its environmental re-sponsibilities, best EMS practice dictates that the organizations should identify those parties interested in its EMS (which includes staff of the organization) and establishes a mechanism to receive and review their relevant needs and expecta-tions. The organization must then determine whether to undertake compliance obligations or other measures to respond to any of these needs and expectations. Once the organization adopts an obligation, it becomes an organizational require-ment to be taken into account when establishing an EMS and related internal envi-ronmental objectives.

The organization is to establish a mechanism by which it will receive, review and determine its response to the relevant needs and expectations of any party that perceives itself to be directly affected by decisions or activities of the organization related to environmental performance. The organization should document its knowledge of relevant interested party needs and expectations and of its related obligations and responses, as appropriate.

27 http://www.norway.org.vn/Norway_and_Vietnam/bilateral/One-UN/ 28 https://undg.org/home/guidance-policies/delivering-as-one/

29 Meeting minutes from the meeting of High Level Committee on Management (HLCM) 7-8 March

2013, paragraph 81-82 and UN General Assembly Resolutions 66/288 ‘The future we want’ and GA/Res/67/226 can be accessed at http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/futurewewant.html and http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/67/226

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The new ISO 14001:2015 emphasizes that all life cycle stages which can be con-trolled or influenced by the organization should be covered by the EMS. Therefore, also environmental impact in e.g. the supply chain should be described and man-aged.

Current status and recommendations

United Nations organizations have an understanding of which parties are interested in the activities that they manage and evince an informal understanding of the rele-vant expectations of parties, as Member States, donors and other stakeholders sometimes require the application of environmental measures in their partnership. The Member States expressed their expectations they have on the UN organiza-tions to contribute to sustainable development in the document “The future we want” (66/288) paragraph 91-96. On some of the UN organization’s websites30

there are documents that describe stakeholders and partners that are interested in the environmental aspects of the UN system, such as member states, donors, indig-enous communities, businesses and the civil society. The World Food Programme for example, has information about their partners and a list over donors on their website.

The UN organizations receive this understanding through the establishment of agreements with stakeholders and through the daily cooperation the UN organiza-tions have with different partners when they are fulfilling their missions. Stake-holders and communities demand that the UN organizations have environmental safeguards31 in place to ensure that projects/programmes protect their interests and donors that require that environmental issues are taken into account as a condition for receiving donor funding. In order to meet each criterion, UN organizations will need to demonstrate that they have relevant policies and systems in place that can satisfy the minimum requirements that are listed by the donors. Different interested parties will also periodically be evaluating the work that the UN organizations are doing. Other stakeholders relevant to the work on environmental sustainability are the beneficiary communities.

The UN organizations should also identify those internal parties within the UN organizations that have an interest in its EMS and establish a mechanism to receive and review their relevant needs and expectations. The internal parties include staff working for the UN, such as senior managers, the UN Secretary General,

30 http://www.wfp.org/about/funding/year

31 GEF https://www.thegef.org/gef/policies_guidelines/safeguards GEF

https://www.thegef.org/gef/sites/thegef.org/files/Docs/Policy_Environmental_and_Social_Safeguards_ 0.pdf

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mental experts, staff that has a special interest in environmental issues and staff working on the behalf of the organizations as contractors.

Within the UN itself, there have been a lot of initiatives for the implementation of environmental sustainability issues (described in Chapter 9 and Appendix 2). In the documentation describing the different kinds of work that have been done, no in-formation could be found about how the UN organizations are taking into account the expectations of the staff of the organization. The staffs in the organization, with their knowledge in the operational activities, have a very important role by consid-ering environmental issues in their daily work.

The United Nations organizations could in a more systematic way, according to ISO 14001, determine which parties would be relevant to their EMS and communi-cate the environmental aspects to the interested stakeholders and partners. The forums for collaboration already in place where the UN organizations communicate important issues to interested stakeholders and partners, could also be used for discussing environmental aspects, and when relevant, gender issues.

The UN organizations could incorporate in existing documents or specific docu-ments for partnership the needs and the expectations that stakeholders and partners have concerning environmental issues. This work should continuously be evaluated and documented.

The UN organizations also need to show how the demands from relevant stake-holders and partners have been internalized into the organizations own policy and strategic documents and also at the operational level with necessary procedures. The UN organizations could also strengthen the internal procedures to consider the environmental initiatives from staff within the UN.

2.3

Determining the scope of the EMS

Requirements according to ISO 14001

The scope of an EMS clarifies the geographical, functional and organizational boundaries to which the EMS applies. An organization may choose to limit the scope of its EMS by applying it only to certain categories of activities and/or loca-tions and/or units of the organization. The question of an EMS’ scope is particular-ly important to address if the organization promulgating the EMS is part of a larger institution with many geographical locations. An organization has great latitude in defining the boundaries of its EMS, as long as those establishing the EMS have the authority to do so. When determining the scope of its EMS, the organization shall, according to best practice, consider the range of related external and internal fac-tors.

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Current status and recommendations

There are documents at the UN website32 that describe the scope of the UN nations system and the scope for the UN organizations. These documents describe the UN system's and the UN organizations’ mandate, role, responsibilities and authorities. There are also documents that describe in general the range of environmental and social sustainability aspects of the United Nations System.

The framework for advancing environmental and social sustainability in the United Nations system, could be seen as an overall scope for an environmental manage-ment system within the UN system. As an example the “The Joint Statemanage-ment by Executive Heads of EMG Members on Advancing Environmental and Social sus-tainability in the United Nations system”, includes agencies, founds, programmes and departments of the United Nations.

In the document “The future we want” (66/288) paragraph 91 describes for an example that sustainable development should be given due consideration by the programmes, funds and specialized agencies of the United Nations system and other relevant UN organizations such as international financial institutions and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, in accordance with their respective existing mandates. They should further enhance mainstreaming of sus-tainable development in their respective mandates, programmes, strategies and decision-making processes, in support of the efforts of all countries, in particular developing countries, in the achievement of sustainable development.

Paragraph 96 calls on the United Nations system to improve the management of facilities and operations, by taking into account sustainable development practices, building on existing efforts and promoting cost effectiveness, and in accordance with legislative frameworks, including financial rules and regulations, while main-taining accountability to Member States.

The Framework for Advancing Environmental and Social Sustainability in the UN System identifies three ‘entry points’ for the integration of sustainability measures within UN entities: policy/strategy, programmes/projects and facilities/operations. From these documents, it is clear that the UN organizations could establish an EMS to cover the development, implementation and review of relevant

poli-cies/strategies, as well as its facilities management/operations.

For the UN Secretariat for example, establishing the scope could mean that the geographical boundaries could be the premises at headquarters in New York, the functional boundaries facilities and operations, and the organizational boundaries the offices/departments within the UN-secretariat in NY.

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The UN organizations that have not yet determined the scope of the organizations EMS could, within the existing documentation they already have in place describ-ing their geographical, functional and organizational boundaries, also include the scope and the boundaries for the environmental management system. The UN or-ganizations that have implemented an environmental management system accord-ing to ISO 14001 should already have a documentation that describes the scope of the organization's environmental management system.

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3 Leadership

3.1

Leadership and commitment

Requirements according to ISO 14001

The organization should demonstrate leadership of and commitment to the EMS, as a minimum by communicating to all staff the importance of effective environmen-tal management, promoting continuous improvement of the EMS, ensuring that an Environmental Policy is adopted and followed, that the significant environmental aspects of the activities of the organization have been identified and that environ-mental objectives are established and achieved.

The organization’s senior management should also ensure that all EMS require-ments are integrated into the relevant business processes of the UN organizations and that the resources needed for the EMS to succeed are available. Finally, senior management in the organization should support initiative and leadership demon-strated by managers in their areas of responsibility.

Current status and recommendations

The document “The future we want” (66/288) describes the needs for a high-level political forum with the role to follow up on the implementation of sustainable development with the purpose to avoid overlap with existing structures, bodies and entities in a cost-effective manner. The tasks for the high-level forum, is among others to

(a) Provide political leadership, guidance and recommendations for sustainable development;

(b) Enhance integration of the three dimensions of sustainable development in a holistic and cross-sectorial manner at all levels;

(f) Encourage high-level system-wide participation of United Nations agencies, funds and programmes and invite to participate, as appropriate, other relevant mul-tilateral financial and trade institutions and treaty bodies, within their respective mandates and in accordance with United Nations rules and provisions;

(g) Improve cooperation and coordination within the United Nations system on sustainable development programmes and policies;

The United Nations System demonstrates leadership of and commitment to envi-ronmental sustainability through the Environment Management Group (EMG) and the Sustainable UN (SUN). United Nations Executive Heads approved in Septem-ber 2011 a “Framework Advancing Environmental and Social Sustainability in the United Nations” providing guidance on the integration of sustainable development

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considerations into policies, programmes and facilities/operations of UN includes agencies, funds, programmes and departments. Executive Heads also approved a “Strategic Plan for Sustainability Management in the UN System”.

The UN Chief Executives Board for Coordination approved on 5 April 2013 that all UN agencies will introduce environmental management systems (EMS). UN heads of agency agreed to commit to implement EMS in all organizations through a gradual and flexible approach, and also to “mainstream EMS in programming and planning processes”. The high level committee on management (HLCM) has EMS and environmental sustainability as part of its work programme for 2014-2016.

There are documents33 for the UN organizations that articulate the mandate of

senior management in the United Nations System to show leadership on environ-mental and social sustainability across their areas of responsibility and to integrate measures, accordingly. There is for example a Joint Statement by Executive Heads of EMG Members on advancing Environmental and Social Sustainability in the United Nations system.

Examples include existing policies aimed at reducing costs, improving efficiency, enhancing transparency and delivery of mandates related to sustainable develop-ment. Policy decisions adopted by the Secretary General`s greening the UN and by member states pertaining to the need to all sectors in society including UN organi-zations to move towards improved sustainability.

From the description above the mandate seems to exist for the UN system to have an EMS for the environmental sustainability issues but it needs to be implemented by a strong commitment at the highest level of each UN organization. The com-mitment needs to address the requirements for environmental sustainability at the various levels of activity and operation of the respective UN organization. For example the UNDP has included compliance with environmental and social stand-ards from the Integrated Results and Resources Framework standstand-ards into UNDP´s Strategic plan 2014-201734.

From the survey on level of implementation of the EMS Milestones Framework, 30% of the respondents state that they have obtained executive level commitment to conduct an EMS. Senior management commitment at various levels is essential to confer on the environmental work the requisite importance within the

33 Rio declaration on environment and development, Climate Neutral Strategy, Strategic plan for

Sus-tainability Management.

34

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tion to support the inevitable changes an EMS will stimulate, as well as for approv-ing the necessary resources.

One of the main findings and concluding remarks in the report “Environmental profile of the United Nations system organizations” (JIU/REP/2010/1)35 by the

UN Joint Inspection Unit, is the importance of demonstrating leadership at the senior level. The actions described in the report are being developed in a piecemeal manner as the organizations of the United Nations system lack a formal and sys-tematic framework for an integrated in-house environmental management system based on explicit legislative mandates and applicable environmental norms and standards, as well as administrative and managerial leadership at the senior level. The coordinated effort across the system to strengthen the environmental strategy, and the resulting improvement in environmental performance, undoubtedly re-quires the participation and endorsement of the executive heads of all the organiza-tions, with respect to applicable environmental norms and standards and adminis-trative and financial procedures.

The senior management in the UN organizations could (according to ISO 14001) strengthen the leadership by undertaking an initial environmental review, adopting an environmental policy and establishing internal environmental objectives. The senior management should also work out procedures for reviewing the EMS, and from the result take action for continuous improvement of the organization´s envi-ronmental performance. The requirements of an EMS should be integrated into the business processes, and the resources needed for EMS support and initiatives should be made available. The senior management should communicate to the managers and the staff at different levels about the importance of effective envi-ronmental management in the organization. The senior management could also in their leadership for environmental issues consider how the gender perspective could be integrated in the EMS.

3.2 Environmental

policies

Requirements according to ISO 14001

The environmental policy is a short public declaration that states the organization’s intentions and commitment to improving its environmental performance. The envi-ronmental policy shall be appropriate to the purpose of the organization and its context. The policy shall include a commitment to continually improve its EMS, and to comply with applicable legislation and other requirements. The policy shall point to the organization's significant environmental aspects and provide a

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work for setting and reviewing environmental objectives. It shall also be communi-cated within the organization and be available to the public.

Current status and recommendations

There are documents36 that provide guidance to the organizations in the United

Nations system for integrating environmental and social sustainability measures across its activities by establishing an environmental policy for the organizations' internal environmental work.

This shows that there is an understanding and awareness of the importance of working within an EMS and specifically of the role an environmental policy could play to facilitate the integration of environmental considerations into the work with various operational procedures in the UN organizations. There is also an under-standing that the environmental policy needs to be adopted by senior management in the UN organizations and communicated to mangers and the staff at various levels in the UN organizations.

It is also important to highlight the prerogative of the member states to decide about certain kinds of environmental sustainability measures before the UN organi-zations undertake them. There are many constraints under which the UN system operates, particularly the many stakeholders with strong and varied interests, which could make it difficult to establish any environmental measures without the under-pinning of a strong environmental policy.

Most of the UN organizations have not yet adopted an environmental policy. There are only a few UN organizations that have certification according to ISO 14001, and therefore adopted an environmental policy. FAO has adopted an EMS, con-sistent with the requirements of ISO 14001 though not certified, and is close to presenting a corporate environmental policy to its governing body. From the survey “level of implementation of the EMS Milestones Framework”, the respondents state that the senior management has approved an environmental policy in 6 of the 17 organizations, of which five represent the Department of Field Support. They have an environmental policy for UN Field Missions, requesting field missions to implement an EMS37. Since the results from the survey were summarized, also UNEP has had an environmental policy approved by the senior management. The Framework for Advancing Environmental and Social Sustainability in the United Nations system (Interim Guide) describes and gives example of

36 Framework for Advancing Environmental and Social Sustainability in the United Nations system and

the document “Environmental Management System Milestones Framework. Unite Platform, February (2014)

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agency mandate and the need for Corporate Commitments. One example is

DPKO´s corporate commitment that is reflected in its environmental policy (2009). Some UN organizations have adopted environmental policies, but very few so far with the purpose of fulfilling the requirements according to ISO 14001. Senior management in UN organizations should adopt environmental policies that conform to the standards of best practice. The environmental policy could be an integrated part of other polices that the organization has already adopted. Senior management in the UN organizations should establish a procedure for periodically reassessing the policy, as well as for communicating it both internally and external-ly. When the environmental policy is developed for the first time, or revised, the senior management should consider if the gender perspective could be relevant to include in the environmental policy.

3.3

Organizational roles, responsibilities

and authorities

Requirements according to ISO 14001

The senior management in the organization must ensure that the responsibilities and concomitant authorities are explicitly assigned and clearly communicated with-in the organization, so as to facilitate effective environmental management. Of particular importance is the assignation of the responsibility and authority for en-suring that the EMS operates in conformity with its specifications. Senior man-agement shall likewise assign responsibilities and concomitant authorities neces-sary for effective reporting on the performance of the EMS, including on environ-mental performance.

Current status and recommendations

There is an overall organization in place in the United Nations system for working at the management level and at the focal point level for advancing environmental and social sustainability within the UN organizations. See figure below.

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Figure: UN actors working with internal environmental sustainability

From the survey “level of implementation of the EMS Milestones Framework”, the respondents state that the step that most organizations have taken (70%) in general is appointing a coordinator/EMS focal point. In addition to that, 40% of the re-spondents have developed a related task force and/or working group. Among the respondents, 30% state that they have obtained executive level commitment to conduct an EMS.

The UN organizations have defined the management structure that is already in place in the organizations, as well as management roles, responsibilities and au-thorities under that structure. The information may be found on the UN organiza-tions websites38 and in their annual reports. For an example, the UNEP website

38

http://www.unep.org/about/

UNEP SUN UNEP implement CEB decisions on climate neu-trality and EMS. SUN gives

technical support to EMG and IMG, cooperates with EMG and proposes

deci-EMG

Implementation and policy guidance on UN internal

sustainability. The Executive Director (ED) of UNEP as chair of EMG, proposes decisions to

IMG on environmental sustainability

UN entities working with concrete implementation of

CEB and EMG decisions. CEB

Endorses UN wide poli-cies on e.g. climate

neu-trality and EMS .

Interagency networks, e.g. INFM Policy and information support and prepare CEB

decisions. HLCM

Responsible for ensuring coordination in

adminis-trative and management areas across the UN System. Proposes

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