2050Today Members
Permanent Mission of France
Signatory institution of the 2050Today Charter
Contribution to climate action
Since April 2019, the Permanent Representation of France to the United Nations in Geneva and international organizations in Switzerland has been committed to reducing its environmental impact as part of the “Green Embassy” project.
Launched in 2015 in view of COP21, the “Green Embassy” project is a comprehensive and progressive approach to reducing the environmental footprint of French diplomatic representations abroad. France aims to strengthen its commitment to sustainable development, showcase French expertise through the diplomatic network, improve the management and performance of posts, achieve cost savings, and strive for carbon neutrality.
The challenges are numerous:
- Reducing greenhouse gas emissions
- Managing energy and water consumption
- Promoting renewable energy
- Encouraging more sustainable purchasing
- Promoting sustainable mobility
- Protecting biodiversity and the environment
- Reducing and sorting waste
- Raising awareness internally and externally about sustainable development
The Permanent Mission of France is fully committed to sustainable development. To address these significant challenges, permanent representations in Geneva conducted an environmental impact assessment in 2019. Conducted by engineers, this assessment identified areas where greater eco-responsibility is necessary and feasible. Based on this precise and detailed assessment of their strengths and weaknesses in terms of sustainable development, permanent representations developed an action plan defining strategies and measures to be implemented in the short, medium, and long terms to reduce their environmental impact across five areas: energy, water, mobility, procurement, and waste.
As a result, eight actions have been established:
- Reducing carbon footprint in terms of electricity consumption;
- Optimizing heating efficiency and improving building insulation;
- Reducing water consumption and the carbon impact generated by it;
- Promoting more ecological modes of transportation;
- Achieving better control and management of waste produced;
- Adopting a sustainable and eco-responsible purchasing strategy;
- Enhancing biodiversity and better managing green spaces;
- Raising awareness among staff about eco-responsible practices.
Finally, the Permanent Representations of France in Geneva have joined the “2050 Today” network, which commits the international Geneva to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 through quantifiable monitoring of the efforts made by diplomatic missions to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
Footprint and emissions by scope
2050Today’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions measurement methodology follows the GHG Protocol. The Protocol provides standards and guidance for organizations to measure and manage climate-warming emissions. It was created in 1998 through a partnership between the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).
According to the GHG Protocol, the distribution of emissions is done by scopes:
Scope 1 represents direct emissions linked to the consumption of fossil fuels.
Scope 2 represents indirect emissions from the generation of purchased electricity, steam, heating and cooling consumed by the reporting company.
Scope 3 includes all other indirect emissions that occur in a company’s value chain (i.e. purchased good or services, business travel, employee commuting).
The 2050Today carbon footprint takes into account the reported emissions generated by the activities of the institution over one year and is divided by categories:
Energy and water
It takes into account the amount of the consumed electricity produced and purchased by the institution. The energy consumed to heat and/or cool the institution’s building area and the consumed water are included as well.
Mobility
It takes into consideration business travels and commuting (on a survey basis).
Food
The CO2 impact of food includes the catering of the institution and individual consumption (on a survey basis) during working hours.
Purchased goods
The perimeter of purchased goods is set to a list of new office equipment, new mobility equipment (vehicles) and construction materials.
Waste
The perimeter of the waste inventory is set to waste production from facilities and internal operations of the institution
It has to be noted that the collected data of the 2050Today members resulting in each carbon footprint are not yet fully standardized and might not be entirely complete. Data collection is being progressively harmonized and improved. Therefore, direct comparisons between tCO2 / employee among institutions – be it in general or per sector – are not yet possible nor relevant.
To ensure the reliability, the accuracy and a recurrent updating of the carbon footprint assessment, 2050Today is advised by an international Carbon Footprint Scientific Committee.
