Result of Service

The UN has environmental footprint statistics, collected in a more streamlined and efficient manner, to use for decision making and to share with the public for transparency in its efforts to “walk the talk”.

Work Location

Home-based

Expected duration

12 months

Duties and Responsibilities

The United Nations Environment Programme is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment.

The UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP’s) Sustainable UN (SUN) Unit in Geneva has a mandate to support the UN System’s internal operations as the UN strives towards continual improvement of its environmental sustainability.
To mark the System’s progress and determine where more work is needed, SUN is tasked with coordinating the UN’s annual environmental inventory, which measures and calculates the footprint of 60+ UN agencies and programs in the areas of greenhouse gases, waste and water. The completion of the inventory is a large undertaking, requiring the collection and analysis of data from more than one thousand UN offices.

The SUN unit is seeking a consultant to complete the 2023-2024 UN System Environmental Inventory and further develop the on-line data platform to collect and analyze data following the United Nations’ Strategy for sustainability management 2020–2030.

Responsibilities of Consultant:

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the Sustainable UN Coordinator and will perform the following key roles:

• Prepare for the 2024 environmental inventory and future inventories:
a. Prepare the delivery of inventory training
b. Follow-up on outstanding issues from the past inventory that should be addressed in the upcoming inventory

• Organize Inventory Working Group meetings
a. Schedule working group meetings
b. Draft meeting minutes
c. Follow up on focal point requests

• Process Greening the Blue environmental inventory data, including:
a. Provide UN agencies with inventory technical support
b. Calculate the environmental footprint of each UN office using provided calculation tools
c. Check results to ensure proper processing of data
d. Collate results to provide each UN agency with a summary file of environmental data for each office
e. Format inventory results for presentation in the Greening the Blue Report
f. Provide the SUN team inventory data in other formats as requested
g. Provide valuable analysis in the Greening the Blue Report
h. Track carbon offset purchases based on inventory results
i. Contribute as needed in initial efforts to develop a new inventory data collection system
j. Format inventory results for presentation in the 2024 Greening the Blue Report

• Analyze UN environmental data for use in decision making through analysis of current and past inventory data as requested in support of the 2020-2030 UN Sustainability Strategy and the SUN Facility 2023-2025 Project Document Outputs and Objectives.

• Elaborate a UN entity wide data management system, using online platform, setting hierarchy frameworks, streamlining of data collection and process, and development of dynamic reporting by providing technical advice, verifying functionality, in conjunction with the software developer and in support to SUN Programme Officers.

Qualifications/special skills

An advanced university degree or specialisation in a field related to environmental sustainability or in science/engineering.
A first-level university degree in combination with qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
A minimum of 7 years of professional experience with at least 3 years of work on environmental inventory management, including Green House Gas emission reporting, is required
Experience in organizing and providing training and communication to various audiences on environment-related technical subjects is required
Experience contributing to development or enhancement on-line tools for data collection and analysis for environment related reporting is advantage.
Experience working within the UN System is advantage
The able use of various Microsoft Office tools, particularly MS Excel is required. Experience in the use of Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is an asset
The candidate should demonstrate professional competence in data analysis with a high attention to detail.
The candidate should have the ability to deliver outputs in time pressure situations.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the post advertised, fluency in oral and written English is required

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.