The UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20) became the first major UN conference to reduce its paper consumption, implementing the “PaperSmart” program.
Almost 20 million sheets of paper likely were saved from being printed during the negotiations.
The UN plans to follow the PaperSmart model at future conferences.
20 June 2012: The UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20) was the first major UN conference to implement the “PaperSmart” programme to reduce its paper consumption, according to the UN Department of Public Information. The UN reports that the amount of paper used at Rio+20 was far less than at a typical large UN conference, where 20 million sheets of paper normally are used. Rio+20 would use under one million, PaperSmart estimated.
Participants adapted to the PaperSmart model, with printing requests limited to the text under negotiation rather than the entire 90-page negotiation text. Conference documents were shared on a web platform instead.
The UN plans to follow the PaperSmart model at future conferences. The model also provides access for the hearing and visually impaired, such as offering sign language interpretation and making documents available for reading via Braille. Before a conference can be entirely paperless, however, challenges would need to be addressed such as income and generational gaps limiting the use of new technologies by some participants. [UN DPI Press Release] [UN Greening the Blue Press Release]