The Foreign Service Journal, April 2014

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | APRIL 2014 25 Behind this innovation is dedication to conserving natural and financial resources and enhancing the vitality of communi- ties and workplaces. These are also the core tenets of the depart- ment’s overarching sustainability effort, the Greening Diplomacy Initiative. Bringing Everyone on Board With 60,000 State Department employees spread across 190 countries, harnessing new ideas can be a challenge—especially when the goal of reducing our environmental footprint is so important to so many. To help coordinate employee creativity and innovation, GDI is overseen by a unique executive body known as the Greening Council, established in 2009. Under Sec- retary for Management Patrick Kennedy chairs the Council, which consists of other State Department under secretaries, assistant secretaries, special envoys and ambassadors from a diverse cross-section of management, operations and policy- related bureaus and offices. Through quarterly meetings, the Greening Council provides a forum for cultivating, aligning and enacting employee ideas; developing and implementing department-wide policies; and With 60,000 State Department employees spread across 190 countries, harnessing new ideas can be a challenge. driving innovation and coordination across all bureaus and diplomatic missions abroad. With senior support behind them, individuals across the department are free to explore, design and implement greening programs, both inside missions and with local community groups. This department-wide ownership of the GDI is shown through the diversity of roles and expertise within the Council and its working groups. At any particular greening meeting at State, there may be an assortment of policy and regional ana- lysts, engineers, vehicle fleet managers, writers, marketers, archi- tects, information technologists and medical officers. There are also 150 “green teams” at posts worldwide. These are employee-led groups that work on a variety of sustainability-related activi- ties, from installing solar panels to holding Earth Day events. Many of the strongest teams are also diverse, gathering teammembers from across the mis- sion, including facility managers, locally engaged staff, family members and general service, public diplomacy, economic and consular officers. This variety is necessary to overcome the logistical, political and cultural roadblocks to reducing the department’s envi- Secretary of State John Kerry delivers the first of three major climate change speeches in Jakarta on Feb. 16. U.S. Department of State