The Secretary-General has stressed the importance of implementing greening initiatives across all units in the Secretariat.
In response, Assistant Secretary-General and Chief Information Technology Officer (CITO), Mr. Choi Soon-Hong, has developed an initiative as part of the ICT Fast Forward Programme to establish the Green ICT Policy of the Secretariat.
NOTE: ICT is an abbreviation for “information and communications technology".
Mr. Choi has enlisted ideas on green ICT from ICT managers of duty stations across the global Secretariat. For example, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has played a key role in putting forward a list of green ICT practices for office equipment, while the UN Office on Drugs and Crime/UN Office at Vienna (UNODC/UNOV) have significantly reduced the number of printing devices and implemented electronic workflows instead of paper forms.
These are examples of the many green ICT practices that the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management (DGACM/ICT), as the initiative lead, has compiled for inclusion in a comprehensive Green ICT Policy for the Secretariat.
Other practices to be included in the new Green ICT Policy include:
Buying and disposing of ICT equipment
- Only acquire equipment with certified energy saving functions; power management can make a big difference by consuming less energy.
- Rather than buying more equipment, extend service life through upgrades and consider redistributing within the organization or donating the equipment.
- Contact manufacturers and suppliers with ICT recycling programs when you are ready to dispose.
- Use energy saving multifunctional devices, multifunctional printers (MFPs) and share with your office.
Energy Saving Measures
- Consolidate server infrastructure to save energy and space.
- Optimize computer server utilization through virtualization software; place several virtual servers on one physical server.
- Switch off computers at the end of the day.
- Activate power saving settings on all computer equipment.
- Reduce desktop printers/scanners/faxes/copiers and share multifunctional devices among your colleagues.
The Secretariat uses massive amounts of paper. Using less paper can be easy, green and help speed up your daily workflow:
Reduction in paper waste
- Use duplex printers and default to printing double-sided.
- Photocopy double-sided.
- Encourage document digitizing and archiving solutions rather than scanning more paper for storage.
Green business processes
- Eliminate manual forms and encourage electronic document work flow, web-based forms and electronic signatures for verification.
- Promote computer-based presentations in meetings rather than distributing paper reports.
- Consider holding video-conference meetings to reduce travel time, cost and gas.
The next step in greening the Secretariat will be to issue a Secretary-General’s Bulletin (SGB) on green ICT.
In the interim, the OICT and DGACM, in partnership with other departments and offices across the Secretariat, will lead the way in providing information on green ICT practices.
For more information on this initiative or others of the ICT Fast Forward Programme, please contact Amy Weesner, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
