UNITAR Adopts 2008-2009 Climate Neutral Policy

8 December 2008

On 2 December 2008, UNITAR promulgated its first generation 2008-2009 Climate Neutral Policy and Strategy. The initiative is a swift response to the call of the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon and the 2008 decision of the UN Chief Executives Board (CEB) to move the UN System towards climate neutral operations over the next years. The policy was adopted at a time when more than 150 governments are negotiating a new international framework agreement on climate change at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, Poznań, 1-12 December 2008.

UNITAR’s climate neutral policy seeks to systematically reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHS) without compromising the ability of the Institute to meet the increasing demand for its training services. When releasing the policy, Carlos Lopes, Executive Director of the Institute emphasized that “enhancing the use of technology-supported learning, such as e-learning and video-conferencing, is an important dimension of our strategy to become carbon neutral and can be an effective complement to traditional learning approaches, such face-to-face training”. The 2008-2009 policy states that the Institute will monitor and prepare annual inventories of its GHG emissions, take systematic steps towards reducing its emission per unit of training delivered, and offset remaining emissions by purchasing offsets under the UN approved Clean Development Mechanism.

Read More