Ökoprofit / ÖkoBusinessPlan Certification for the Vienna International Centre and the VIC based Organizations

Ökoprofit/ÖkoBusinessPlan' stands for a training programme on environmental issues, partly subsidized by the City of Vienna, in which the four Organizations headquartered at the Vienna International Centre participated in 2005 (e.g. Rom Kieffer, Felipe Menjivar and Waltraud Jochum on behalf of UNOV/UNODC). It involved eight workshops, on-site visits of a consultant, preparation of a comprehensive report on the VIC-based Organizations'(VBOs') environmental performance, and a presentation of the environmental achievements and programmes at VIC to an executive committee of the City of Vienna in December 2005 ( see PowerPoint presentation translated to English).  Finally, the certification and a trophy were received at the award ceremony ( photo CD) at the City Hall of Vienna on 20 March 2006 ( see poster).

The report covered general information on the environmental policy and environmental protection activities of the International Organizations at the VIC, energy consumption figures, waste management in terms of volume figures as well as in terms of compliance with the Austrian laws.  As to the environmental achievements and programmes at the VIC, ongoing projects in the area of common service Buildings Management (BMS) as well as in the area of UNOV/UNODC Administration had been submitted.

The ecological measures set in BMS are geared to savings in energy, water, chemicals, etc. on one hand and to avoidance/minimization of waste and emissions on the other hand.  The long list of measures already implemented or in progress are generating savings of more than €1 million a year.  The majority of these savings are derived from reduced heating/cooling costs owing to the replacement of windows, from reduced electricity consumption due to the replacement of ceiling lights, from using inexpensive well water for toilet flushing as well as from other implemented technical measures.  The BMS project was also submitted by UNIDO for consideration for the "Umweltpreis der Stadt Wien" and succeeded to become one of the three nominees in the category "Cooperation".

The ecological measures in progress in UNOV/UNODC Administration are geared to savings in paper consumption and energy as well as to avoidance of paper waste and toner cartridges.  A diagram of material flow analysis illustrates the huge paper consumption at VIC in the magnitude of 478,000 kg or 99 million sheets per annum.  UNOV/UNODC intends to reduce its yearly share of 24 million sheets (114,000 kg) to 20 million sheets (95,000 kg) in 2006, which would entail a reduction in all related (inclusive reproduction and toner) costs of approx. € 150,000 p.a.  To achieve the set target, UNOV/UNODC has already in place many integrated workflow systems geared to an electronic office environment.  Yet, many more proposals are underway towards a paperless office, such as storage of conference documents and publications on CDs, introduction of an electronic documents filing/ archiving system for offices, and others.

Room for improvement had been observed by the consultants in the separation of waste at the offices at VIC.  This calls for a VIC-wide awareness program for staff and actions will be initiated with a view to reduce the residual waste, i.e. to reduce the paper portion in the residual waste as well as to separate the plastic bottles.  Cooperation of staff in the separation/avoidance of waste as well as in energy savings measures is an invaluable prerequisite.  Practical hints will be continuously posted by General Support Section/UNOV on the Intranet page "Environmental news" .

For more general information on this environmental programme of the City of Vienna, please visit the homepage of Wiener Umweltschutzabteilung Magistratsabteilung 22 ( ÖkoBusinessPlan).

Waltraud Jochum
General Support Section/DM/UNOV
24 April 2006