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There were too many trips to Paris. And it wasn’t helping to save the environment.
That was among the conclusions of an internal audit that resulted in the resignation Tuesday of Erik Solheim, a veteran Norwegian diplomat, from his post as head of the United Nations Environment Program. The investigation, conducted by the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services, criticized the environment agency for “a culture of scant regard for internal controls and existing rules” on the use of public funds.
Mr. Solheim said in a statement he had decided “with a heavy heart” to step down after receiving the final audit results on Saturday. He admitted no wrongdoing and, in a statement, said that he remained “committed to doing what I believe to be in the best interest of U.N. Environment and the mission we are here to achieve.”
The United Nations Secretary General, António Guterres, without mentioning the audit, said Tuesday he had accepted Mr. Solheim’s resignation. In a statement later in the day, Mr. Guterres described Mr. Solheim as “a leading voice in drawing the world’s attention to critical environmental challenges.”
The scrutiny of Mr. Solheim and his travel expenses came at a time of shrinking resources at the world body, so much so that some donors to the environment program decided to withhold funds pending the final audit results.
The audit, which was seen by The Times, cited “uneconomical routing of flight itineraries, opting for more expensive airlines, implementation of teleworking arrangements that were outside the existing policy on flexible working arrangements.” It also noted a failure to account for absences from the office.
At issue in particular were his frequent trips to Paris and Oslo. The audit found that Mr. Solheim, referred to in the audit as “a senior manager,” had spent 79 percent of his time away from the agency’s headquarters in Nairobi and incurred $488,519 in travel expenses over a 22-month period.
According to the audit, he selected flight itineraries that passed unnecessarily through Oslo and Paris and failed to account for what he did in those cities for a total of 72 days. The audit found that the travel arrangements were “uneconomical” and contravened United Nations travel rules.
“Most of the rerouted trips to the two cities were made prior to or during weekends or public holidays,” the audit found. Immediately after taking office, in July 2016, the audit found, Mr. Solheim flew to Paris for a one-day meeting but stayed for a month, accounting for nine days as his annual leave. Then, he went on a six-city tour of North and South America. His travel costs for the whole trip exceeded $14,000.
Separately, he flew through Oslo on his way to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which is only a two-hour flight from Nairobi. On another occasion, he flew to Paris between meetings in Washington and New York. He refunded the world body $7,022 in travel expenses after an internal investigation of that trip.
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