Environmental and social impacts are treated with tremendous variability across UN evaluations, particularly when they are not the primary focus.

To address this, the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) established a working group in 2019, chaired by the GEF Independent Evaluation Office, to develop common guidance and standards. This evaluation reviews the group’s progress in integrating environmental considerations across UNEG’s 53 member units and its alignment with the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.

There is tremendous variability across UN agencies in how environmental sustainability is addressed in evaluations, but the consensus view is that more needs to be done.

Evaluation overview

• Main challenges include variable treatment of environmental issues, limited evaluation capacity, and the absence of tiered guidance across agencies.
• Good practice examples show that evaluations work best when they systematically integrate environmental criteria, use cross-sectoral methods, and respond to active demand from UN units for practical tools.
• The report recommends developing shared guidance, aligning evaluation practice with UN environmental management standards, and expanding web-based resources to support evaluation offices.

Methodology

The evaluation draws on a stocktaking of guidance documents, a review of practice examples, and consultations with 15 UN agencies represented in the working group.