The head of the United Nations Environment is resigning from his position after swirling controversy over his air travel, which reportedly racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars and stained the legacy of the international agency, an audit found.
“As I have maintained throughout this process — I have been and remain — committed to doing what I believe to be in the best interest of UN Environment and the mission we are here to achieve,” said U.N. Environment chief Erik Solheim in a Tuesday statement. “For this reason, after deep reflection and in close consultation with the Secretary-General, I am stepping down as Executive Director of UN Environment.”
Solheim’s resignation comes after an audit from the U.N.’s Office of Internal Oversight Services, which uncovered ballooning travel expenses and a lack of proper documentation of travel logs.
Solheim, who became the U.N. Environment executive director in 2016, reportedly racked up a total of $488,518 over the course of two years, traveling for 529 out of 668 days.
Despite leading an agency with the sole mission of improving the climate and reducing the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, Solheim did not appear to mind embarking on international flights — even for the shortest of occasions.
The audit noted one instance in which Solheim took “an eight-hour trip from Washington DC for a weekend in Paris, before taking another flight to New York [C]ity.”
The U.N. Environment did not follow protocol when it came to oversight and documentation of employee travel.
When auditors asked for reports of the 596 trips taken by staff, the agency was not able to provide 210 mission reports and about 200 other reports were completed only after the request was made.
Solheim’s flights were approved by an individual who reported directly to him — a violation of United Nations rules.
Auditors concluded that Solheim’s behavior was “contrary to the ethos of carbon emission reduction.”
“I will remain a committed friend of UN Environment and to all the wonderful individuals and dedicated professionals with whom I have had the privilege to serve,” the outgoing U.N. Environment chief concluded in his statement.
Solheim — who served as a former environment minister in Norway before joining the U.N. — indicated that he reimbursed money where “instances of oversight” took place. His resignation will be effective Nov. 22.
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We need to remember the elitist concept. The scarifies to fight climate change need to be made by the “little people.” The elite are exempt. Perhaps if these elite had to endure hardships on the same order as the poor in Ireland, they would fell differently about action on climate change.
Including Trudeau, 383 Canadians flew to the Paris climate conference. Unfortunately, all 383 sponges returned home.
all these people should have oversight. You cannot trust people to “do the right thing” in this world. People are out for themselves and those with inflated ego’s and a monstrous sense of self-importance do this. I can only imagine how many politicians are guilty of such things. Politicians make me sick and this is just another instance proving why. Sue him for damages.
The same should go for Leonardo DiCaprio,Laurie David,John Travolta,Sting and Prince Chukie all those whining about Global Warming/Climate Change from their own private jets