More than 1,000 United Nations employees have called for the global body to reduce its carbon footprint, including through curbs on their own diplomatic perks like business class flights and travel handouts, plus cutting back on the amount of wasteful heating and/or air conditioning in their own buildings.
Reformers say in the letter addressed to Secretary-General António Guterres that, in addition to hosting high profile climate change summits, the UN needs more radical change to get its own house in order.
The letter was organised by a group called Young UN, an internal network committed to ensuring the organisation embodies the principles for which it stands. The UN emitted 1.86 Mt CO2e in 2017, its own data shows. That equates to a carbon footprint larger than several of its member states, including Malta and Liberia.