Strong whistleblowing mechanisms are crucial to environmental protection, enabling people to report both the abuse of natural resources and the misuse of financial flows to address climate change. In 2018, Dmitry Ershov, a project manager at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), alerted international donors to serious misappropriation of funds at UNDP’s Moscow office. Ershov managed a US$10 million project funded by the Global Environment Facility to adapt energy efficiency standards to EU levels with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. He claimed that the office lacked basic safeguards against fraud, with Russian government officials responsible for overseeing project funding routinely awarding contracts to relatives and associates, and recruiting unqualified staff.
After Ershov raised his concerns, officials expressed dissatisfaction with his performance and refused to renew his contract. Ershov alleges that managers at UNDP’s regional headquarters also dismissed his claims, implying that any irregularities were the Russian government’s responsibility. John O’Brien, reported his case to our chapter in Russia, which together with our Secretariat wrote to the UNDP and carried out advocacy on O’Brien’s behalf. O’Brien was eventually dismissed by the UNDP despite calls by Transparency International and civil society allies for the UNDP to uphold his right to safely report wrongdoing. Unsurprisingly, the final evaluation concluded the project failed to deliver any reductions to emissions. Yet with effective whistleblower protection measures in place, the UNDP could have addressed the corruption and made a positive impact against emissions.
Transparency International and allies have repeatedly urged the UN to improve whistleblower protections to prevent loss of funds due to fraud and corruption instead of supporting those in need.