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Delivering as one on climate change
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has described climate change as the “moral challenge of our generation”. ITU will join in the efforts of the UN system to “deliver as one” to address climate change and will act to deepen the global understanding of the relation between ICTs and climate change.
During his visit to ITU headquarters, the Secretary-General remarked that “ITU is one of the most important stakeholders in terms of climate change”.
Objective 4: Achieve a climate-neutral ITU within three years
The UN Secretary-General has committed to making the UN climate-neutral. The UN Chief Executive Board (CEB) unanimously adopted a statement in 2007 committing all entities in the system to work towards that objective.
ITU is committed to attaining climate neutrality in its main activities and has already taken steps to reach this objective. By pioneering the use of remote participation tools in its own work and lending that expertise to others, ITU can be a role model for the UN system and also assist in bridging the standardization gap.
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In October 2007, the Chief Executive Board (CEB) of the UN system adopted a joint statement and the following commitment towards moving to climate neutrality by the end of 2009:
 Estimate greenhouse gas emissions
Undertake efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the extent possible
Analyse cost implications of purchasing carbon offsets to eventually reach climate neutrality. |
Main orientations
Appoint a project team and focal point to coordinate all climate change activities at the Union.
Engage all staff to generate ideas and initiatives towards a climate-neutral ITU.
Conduct a carbon audit of ITU’s premises and activities (both internal and external) and intensify efforts to use ICTs to reduce the carbon footprint of ITU.
Seek approval from the ITU Council for a programme of carbon offsets, if needed, to achieve carbon-neutral status. To this end, propose a strategy on acquisition of carbon offsets through ITU activities in country projects, focusing on using ICTs for carbon emission reduction (including under the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol).
Assist the ITU membership and other organizations in using ICTs as a tool to become more energy efficient.
Assist the ITU membership, UN agencies and other stakeholders in implementing programmes on sustainable production and consumption as well as in disposing ICT components in an environmentally sound manner to mitigate globally generated and discarded e-waste.
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