IFAD commits to zero carbon initiative

In July 2007 United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for UN agencies to make their premises and their operations carbon neutral. He stressed the urgency of acting immediately.

“I am convinced that this challenge, and what we do about it, will define us, our era, and ultimately, our global legacy,” he said. “We cannot continue with business as usual. The time has come for decisive action on a global scale.”

Raising awareness and taking action
IFAD has committed to playing a proactive role in the UN Zero Carbon Initiative. Three working groups have been set up at IFAD to define how the organization intends to respond to climate change and what actions it will take to reduce its own carbon imprint.

IFAD’s Zero Carbon Imprint (ZCI) working group is evaluating ways in which we can reduce our carbon imprint. The group will be working to increase awareness among managers and staff of the contribution they can make to our ZCI goal.

The impact of climate change on IFAD’s work
At IFAD, we are familiar with the impacts of extreme weather events and climate variability. Climate change will exacerbate existing degradation of natural resources, and will increase the incidence of floods, droughts, pests and epidemics. Climate change will affect all of us, but it has a disproportionate impact on poor rural people who will experience greater food insecurity and loss of productive resources.

IFAD has 30 years of experience helping poor farmers tackle desertification, environmental degradation and weather shocks. We work closely with poor rural people, most of whom are smallholder farmers, landless people, herders and small entrepreneurs who depend on agriculture to survive. IFAD draws on this experience in helping them adapt to climate change.

Environmentally friendly in the workplace and at home
There are number of simple steps that can be taken to save energy and reduce carbon emissions, both in the workplace and in the home. By adopting these steps we can all make a significant contribution towards the ZCI goal.

In May IFAD moved to its new headquarters at via Paolo di Dono 44. We have made every effort to ensure that our new building is an environmentally friendly space. The new premises have energy-efficient machinery for the air conditioning, elevators, lighting, power transformers and pumps. Good building insulation will prevent the escape of heat in the winter and cool air in the summer. Motion and daylight sensors for the lighting system will ensure that electricity is not wasted by using lighting unnecessarily. The air conditioning and fire suppression systems were chosen to have zero CFC emissions.

Source: IFAD