Sustainable development at the ICRC - 2012 report

16-06-2013 Report

This is the first annual report on sustainable development at the ICRC. It documents the progress that has been achieved in the implementation of sustainable development principles throughout the organization in 2012.

  • In Chapter 1 of this report, four delegations and the headquarters are measured using six newly developed indicators for sustainable development, which show some aspects of environmental and social performance in the sites examined. For a more comprehensive analysis in the future, more indicators will need to be developed across the social, economic and environmental dimension, the three domains of sustainable development. Also, a more comprehensive analysis can only be made in the future with the availability of historic data, which will allow the results of different sites to be compared over time. Therefore, in this report, the methodology for the calculation of each indicator is clearly explained to lay the groundwork for future reporting and notably to monitor progress against the 2012 results.

 

  • Chapter 2 presents some innovative initiatives started over the past several years aimed at reducing the environmental impact of some of the ICRC’s activities. These initiatives are designed to solve complex problems in the fields of resource management, and hazardous waste treatment. They examine the feasibility of using existing technologies rarely used in humanitarian organisations, showing the importance of working with external partners who can provide the expertise and technical know-how where needed. Particular attention is also dedicated to the ICRC’s supply chain which has a major impact in the three domains of sustainable development, from the manufacturing process to the beneficiaries.

 

  • In Chapter 4 some recommendations are proposed. Although the progress made related to sustainable development and the amount of initiatives put in place is encouraging, some key issues remain, which could jeopardize the progress made.