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MOVING TOWARDS A CLIMATE NEUTRAL UN UNEP’s offset scheme

In 2008, UNEP was among the first UN system organizations to start a process for compensating its GHG emissions. This required a careful analysis of the existing market and identi- fication of reliable and high-quality providers suitable to the organization’s needs. UNEP’s goal was to develop a method- ology that is also applicable for other organizations to ensure a common approach and best-practice throughout the UN.

According to the recommended approach for achieving climate neutrality, UNEP sought to offset its emissions created in 2008. To achieve this, a total of 11,508 tonnes of CO2

equivalent needed to be compensated. UNEP thus

developed new applications to budget and purchase off- sets suitable to the UN financial and administrative system.

UNEP officially requested proposals by offset providers in early 2009, followed by a technical evaluation of the six proposed tenders in May 2009. Most important and an ex- clusion criterion in the technical evaluation was that offsets offered are issued Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) from registered Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects. Other criteria for selection of a offset provider comprised: CERs offered from projects in least developed countries; CERs offered from CDM projects within one or several of the preferred sectors (renewable energy, end-user energy efficiency or biomass/biogas)

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CERs are certified ‘Gold Standard’ from one CDM proj- ect in order to contribute to poverty alleviation and environmental improvement in addition to mitigating climate change CERs from HFC or other gas burning projects with no additional benefits apart from reducing GHG emissions are not eligible The total amount of required CERs is offered by the pro- vider

To achieve the highest standards and to avoid poten- tial conflict of interest, UNEP has decided to exclude the purchase of offsets in self-generated or self-supported activities and to purchase offsets directly from the origi- nal source that has generated the CER. Since the cost for purchasing required offsets is more than US$30,000, the process has to follow the full UN procurement procedures.

Methods and procedures developed by UNEP with the purpose of offset procurement have been shared with other organizations of the UN system. The UNEP ap- proach outlines an overview of basic steps that need to be taken, identifies criteria necessary for ensuring the highest standards possible and lists areas where addi- tional work is required as the organization moves into the implementation stage.