The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialized UN agency founded in 1977 and headquartered in Rome, works to finance rural development projects, support smallholder farmers, promote sustainable agriculture, and reduce poverty, guided by the belief that lasting food security and economic growth start with empowering rural communities.
Mission
At the International Fund for Agricultural Development, we envisage vibrant, inclusive and sustainable rural communities where people live free from poverty and hunger.
Three in four of the world's poorest people live in the rural areas of developing countries. Most of them depend on agriculture for their livelihoods – and in turn, produce much of the food we eat. It’s not an easy job.
Many rural people living in poverty face massive economic, social and environmental challenges – from climate change and food insecurity, to inequality, conflict and lack of access to resources.
These overlapping problems cannot be solved working alone. As an assembler of development finance, we partner with governments, the private sector, civil society and others to provide grants and concessional and low-interest loans to developing countries. This helps to address critical needs and support rural people as they lead their own development.
IFAD-supported projects promote prosperity, food security and resilience by connecting rural poor people to the finance, markets, technology and knowledge they need to address their biggest challenges.
We catalyse public and private investments, advocate for policies that empower rural people and their institutions, and promote innovation in order to achieve lasting, systemic change for rural communities in every region of the world.
Throughout our work, we emphasize the importance of inclusion and equity, focusing special attention on gender and groups that are often overlooked, like youth, Indigenous Peoples and persons with disabilities. We strive to foster an organizational culture built around these values.
Furthermore, as a results-driven organization, we conduct rigorous monitoring and evaluation to assess our impact and scale up what we know works. That’s one of the reasons we are a top-rated development organization.
Our objectives
IFAD is the only UN agency exclusively dedicated to transforming agriculture, rural economies and food systems. We invest in the millions of people who are most at risk of being left behind: poor, small-scale food producers living in rural areas.
We support rural people in some of the most remote and fragile contexts so that they can:
- Produce and sell more
- Eat more nutritious foods
- Manage natural resources well
- Earn more money
- Access new technologies
- Adapt to climate change
- Build resilience to economic shocks, conflict and other crises
Through our investments, we help ensure that rural people lead their own change.
Bigger, better, smarter
We periodically update our strategic framework to align our objectives with the evolving global context.
Adopted in 2016, IFAD’s Strategic Framework guides how we will progress toward our vision through 2025. It articulates our contribution to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and outlines how we will work in ways that are bigger, better and smarter.
Bigger, by mobilizing and leveraging greater investment in rural areas.
Better, by strengthening the quality of rural development programmes.
Smarter, by sharpening our efficiency and delivering results in a more cost-effective way.
Emission Reduction
Alignment with Strategy for Sustainability Management in the United Nations System 2020–2030, Phase 1: Environmental Sustainability in the Area of Management
OVERVIEW – LEED Certification and key results
In 2015 IFAD was awarded Platinum LEED certification for the category Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance (EB:OM). IFAD is the first UN entity to obtain Platinum for existing buildings. In 2021 IFAD was again certified at LEED Platinum level.
LEED achievement is a result of a dedicated effort which started with a strategic gap analysis which identified specific actions and interventions. LEED requirements integrated in main contracts and measured quarterly through KPIs.
Through dedicated resources IFAD invested in solar panels, rain harvesting tanks, building sub-metering systems, improved waste management and modern printing technology.
Some key results the last five years:
- Reduced our daily water consumptions by 49%.
- Reduced our electricity consumption by 33 %.
- Reduced our gas consumptions by 20%.
- Our total emissions have decreased by 65 % in the past 5 years.
- Almost 80% of our emissions are caused by staff based at HQ in Rome.
- 47% of our emissions come from to air travel.
In order to raise awareness among the Staff, IFAD has installed a videowall at the entrance of the building showing our monthly consumptions of water, gas and electricity comparing it to the previous month.
In conjunction with World Environmental Day in 2018, IFAD banned the sale of drinks in plastic bottles from its HQ cafeteria and vending machines. In 2018 plastic cups and sticks from coffee machines were also replaced with FSC paper cups lined with corn starch material (PLA) and wooden sticks. Both are 100% compostable.
GHG EMISSIONS
We keep track of every value needed for reporting.
In every email we send to our colleagues in the country offices we attach an excel file containing the major information needed. Starting in 2025, a new data platform was launched by UNEP to collect all energy data across UN agencies worldwide. At least one or two staff members from each country office were selected to participate in training sessions on how to use this new data platform.
Some of our country offices are currently hosted by other agencies: in order to avoid any double reporting, we use only any extra information given by the country director, such as km’s travelled with a car owned by the Agency or any flight bought outside our main system.
In 2024, the total calculated emissions for IFAD (HQ and Country Offices) amount to 3 785 tCO₂eq. The most significant contributor is air travel (around 70%), which has returned to pre-COVID levels in terms of both frequency and distance.
As for the other emissions, which have considerably decreased:
- 10% from purchased electricity.
- 6% from stationary combustion.
- 4% from mobile sources.
2% from non-air business travel.
EMS and Reduction Efforts
In 2015 IFAD was awarded Platinum LEED certification for the category Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance (EB:OM). IFAD is the first UN entity to obtain Platinum for existing buildings.
LEED achievement is a result of a dedicated effort which started with a strategic gap analysis which identified specific actions and interventions. Through dedicated resources IFAD invested in solar panels, rain harvesting tanks, building sub-metering systems, improved waste management and modern printing technology.
In conjunction with World Environmental Day in 2018, IFAD banned the sale of drinks in plastic bottles from its HQ cafeteria and vending machines. In 2018 plastic cups and sticks from coffee machines were also replaced with FSC paper cups lined with corn starch material (PLA) and wooden sticks. Both are 100% compostable.
For the 2024 reporting year, IFAD's progress on the EMS is rated as: Does not meet.
Planning is underway for the adoption of the EMS within IFAD as well, since the LEED protocol has provided the foundation to strengthen and implement the documentation related to the EMS.
Waste Management
One of the main pillars of LEED certification is waste management: IFAD obtained 6 points out of 10 in the latest recertification.
IFAD and AMA work together to improve the quality of recycling collection and enable many types of materials to be recycled. In IFAD there are recycling points with bins for separate collection of: plastic, paper, glass and undifferentiated waste. There are also organic waste containers in the cafeteria.
In addition to this waste, as part of IFAD’s commitment to sustainability, we also collect various types of special waste:
- Exhausted toner
- Light bulbs
- Small electrical and electronic equipment (RAEE)
- Used batteries
- Expired medicines
- Used cooked oil
- Discarded sports material (used rubber sneakers, used tennis/padel balls, inner tubes and bike tyres - the dedicated bins are located just outside the gym in -2 basement. This material is recovered to make raw material to be used to create playgrounds for children or athletic tracks.
Waste audits are carried out once every year in accordance with the requirements of the LEED protocol. All bins in the building are collected to evaluate the effectiveness of waste separation. Over the past years and some very disappointing results we have implemented new strategies:
- As a result of negotiations in 2013 with the local authority for waste management, IFAD got its own dedicated area for waste separation, located at the entrance of parking area A. It was an important step in our efforts to reduce and recycle waste.
- As an attempt to improve recycling, by only removing the desk bins from all participating offices, we achieved a reduction of 78% of the other, non-recyclable waste.
Improved recycling points were set up in all common areas in HQ.
Water and Wastewater Management
One of the main pillars of LEED certification is water efficiency: IFAD obtained 11 points out of 14 in the latest recertification.
IFAD monitors and measures water data since 2008: since then, we have highly reduced our water consumptions thanks to the introduction of efficient water tap breakers installed in every bathroom, alarm notifications in case of excess water usage and rainwater harvesting systems to reduce potable water usage for green areas. The water is collected into 5 tanks with a total storage capacity of 20.000 litres of water.
In November 2024, a complete replacement will be carried out for both the irrigation system (subirrigation), with a more efficient one, and the remote management system, which will become more accurate and precise in assessing soil conditions and irrigation needs.
Other environmental measures
IFAD efforts in reducing the environmental impact and maintaining a high-quality standard of the building are also in the following areas:
- Sustainable purchasing policy – every purchased product has to respect very strict rules regarding energy efficiency, local production and reduced toxic components.
- Indoor environmental quality – obtained thanks to a green cleaning policy, thermal comfort and air quality monitoring and a very efficient daylight control system.
In June 2024, electric vehicle charging stations were installed to encourage staff to choose a more sustainable transportation option and to promote the use of electric vehicles.
Environmental Training for Personnel
At the entrance of the IFAD HQ based in Rome, consumption data from the previous month are displayed on a videowall, compared to those from the same month of the previous year, to showcase the progress made in IFAD's technological choices. Furthermore, a monthly challenge is introduced for the staff, providing tips and suggestions on how to be more sustainable, take better care of their homes maintenance, and promote green initiatives both within and outside the Agency.
Starting in 2025, a new data platform was launched by UNEP to collect all energy data across UN agencies worldwide. At least one or two staff members from each country office were selected to participate in training sessions on how to use this new data platform.
For the 2024 reporting year, IFAD's status on providing training on environmental sustainability is: Yes, but it is voluntary.
In 2022, new travel policies were issued that also addressed sustainable mobility/travel, encouraging hybrid meetings for informal or non-essential gatherings and changing the rules for the allocation of business class tickets.
Offsetting
Our process of offsetting covers all of IFAD’s emissions – including air travel and all our country offices. IFAD’s climate neutrality started back in 2013 and since then we have always completed the offsetting of all the GHG emissions as a result from the report produced by the SUN team.
As soon as we receive our final report from the SUN team, we get in contact with the UNFCCC in order to purchase CERs that are bought directly from the Kyoto Protocol’s Adaptation Fund (AF). The AF finances climate change adaptation projects in climate vulnerable developing countries. Financing for the AF comes mainly from sales of CERs from those CDM projects: 2% of proceeds is reinvested in the Fund.