UN’S chief for environment criticised over globe-trotting

THE head of the United Nations’ environmental agency has been strongly criticised for his frequent flying in a report raising doubts over his green credentials.

Erik Solheim, a 63-year-old Norwegian former environment minister, spent 529 of his first 669 days in the job travelling, according to a draft UN report obtained by Norway’s Aftenposten newspaper. The UN’S Office of Internal Oversight Services claimed that Mr Solheim spent 79 per cent of his time away from the agency’s Nairobi headquarters.

The auditors accused him of taking a flight from Washington DC to Paris for the weekend, before boarding another flight to New York. In total he spent 90 days in Oslo and Paris, with some of the trips registered as “bilateral meetings” – despite taking place on weekends or during the Christmas holidays.

The globe-trotting diplomat spent $490,000 (£370,000) on travel in his first two years, the report alleges. “The extensive travel patterns of [Solheim] did not set an example for the rest of the staff to follow,” it said.

The audit alleges that Mr Solheim had “no regard for abiding by the set regulations and rules”. He is accused of having twice opted for more expensive airlines, costing the UN more than £5,000.

Mr Solheim insisted that some of the accusations had been a case of oversight, telling The Guardian that he had since paid back the money for instances of oversight, and would “immediately correct” any other mistakes found in the full auditor’s report, which is yet to be published.

The report also criticises Mr Solheim for allowing two senior managers to work unofficially from Paris, rather than at the Kenyan headquarters.