As operational arm of the UN Secretariat, the Department of Operational Support (DOS) is providing strategic, advisory, policy and technical support to UN Peace Operations in an effort to reduce the environmental footprint of field operations while constantly improving environmental risk management practices, including through implementation of the Environment Strategy for Peace Operations and UN environmental policies. DOS also provides operational support to other UN Secretariat entities in the area of environmental management as needed.
Environment Strategy for Peace Operations
In December 2016, DOS launched the Environment Strategy for Peace Operations for the initial period of 2017-2023, with the aim of minimizing risk and maximizing efficiency across the board, while laying out priorities for innovation in the areas of renewable energy and positive legacy. Therewith, DOS responded to existing – and accompanies evolving – mandates from the membership of the United Nations that stress the importance of environmental management. The strategy embodies part of the shared commitment to this issue set out under paragraph 23 of Action for Peacekeeping.
As requested by UN Member States to continue with efforts in the area of environmental management beyond the initial period of the strategy, DOS developed the ‘Way Forward: Environment Strategy for Peace Operations 2030’ in 2024. The living document builds on the progress made since 2017 and covers the period 2024 to 2030, with a view to supporting host governments with their own progress towards the wide-ranging goals set out in the Agenda 2030. The Way Forward continues across the initial strategy’s five operational pillars of energy, waste, water and wastewater, environmental management systems, and wider impact, with an additional focus on the three strategic themes of “responsibility: do no harm”, “increase ambition”, and “leave a positive legacy”. Member States have also requested peace operations to report annually on their environmental performance in an ‘environmental scorecard’ – including an indication of any risk and steps that are being taken to address it.
Since the start of strategy implementation in 2017, significant progress has been achieved in terms of environmental performance in UN field missions, from wastewater risk reduction to a significant increase in the share of waste treated with preferred disposal methods, to energy efficiency gains. A detailed analysis of the environmental performance for each field mission is presented in an annual environmental performance scorecard available to UN Member States, as an accountability mechanism. A full review of the first six years of strategy implementation (2017-2023) can be found here.
As of July 2024, key successes include:
- 10% of electricity generated in the field comes from renewable energy sources, more than three times more than at the outset of strategy implementation in 2017.
- 41% of UN peacekeeping sites now have access to renewable energy - a promising point of departure for further increases to the share of renewables thanks to the modular nature of photovoltaic systems.
- 13% reduction in consumption of diesel fuel for electricity per capita, representing diesel fuel savings of about 15 million litres per year.
- 53% of solid waste is now treated with preferred disposal methods, such as recycling, composting and incineration, compared to 19% in 2017/2018.
Information about the environmental performance of other UN Secretariat entities is available through the Greening the Blue initiative.
Environmental Policy
Building on the 2009 Environmental Policy for UN Field Missions, DOS, together with the Department of Peace Operations (DPO) and the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA), issued a revised Environmental Policy for Peacekeeping Operations and Field-Based Special Political Missions in April 2022. The policy provides operational guidance to missions in reducing their overall environmental footprint, and supports the implementation of shared commitments made in relation to the Action for Peacekeeping (A4P) and A4P+ initiative.
Support from UN Member States
During the course of the strategy, the General Assembly has progressively strengthened mandate language in this area. While the General Assembly “requests the Secretary - General to intensify the efforts aimed at reducing the overall environmental footprint of missions” while “also working towards a potential positive legacy for host communities”, the UN Security Council has taken a similarly strong stand on the issue by noting in several mission mandates the Way Forward: Environment Strategy for Peace Operations 2030, “which emphasizes good stewardship of resources and a positive legacy of the mission”.
In 2017, under the impetus of Bangladesh and Italy, the “Group of Friends for Leading on Environmental Management in the Field” (LEAF) was created to support the implementation of the Environment Strategy for Peace Operations, raise awareness of these issues, and to focus discussions and mandates on the importance for the United Nations to manage its environmental footprint in the field as a relevant enabler of better mandate delivery. With Bangladesh and Italy acting as co-chairs, the Group of Friends LEAF is comprising over 30 Member States, including top troop and police contributors to UN Peace Operations.