UNDP Jobs - 59633- Preparation of Standardized Baselines for CDM in S

Preparation of Standardized Baselines for CDM in Sudan

Location :

Home Based

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

20-Sep-2015

Application Deadline :

05-Sep-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

50 working days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

50 working days

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

The overall commitments of the climate change Convention clearly recognized the need and importance for developing countries to pursue sustainable development paths. According to Cancun agreement (2011) “developing country Parties will take nationally appropriate mitigation actions in the context of sustainable development, supported and enabled by technology, financing and capacity-building, aimed at achieving a deviation in emissions relative to business as usual emissions in 2020”. It also invited developing country Parties to submit to the secretariat information on nationally appropriate mitigation actions for which they are seeking support, along with estimated costs and emission reductions, and the anticipated time frame for implementation. It further encouraged developing countries to develop low-carbon development strategies or plans in the context of sustainable development.

The parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) called for the use of standardized Baselines (SBs) at the Cancun Climate Change conference as one of a suite of potential solutions to these challenges. SBs aim to reduce transaction costs and to enhance transparency, objectivity and predictability. As a result, SBs are hoped to facilitate access to the Clean Development Mechanism, particularly with regard to underrepresented project types and regions, and scale up the abatement of greenhouse gas emissions, while ensuring environmental integrity. Under SBs, baseline scenarios and/or baseline emissions (including baseline emission factors) and / or additionally criteria are not determined on a project-by-project level but are established for a project type or sector in one or several CDM host countries. Guidelines and procedures for the establishment of standardized baselines have been developed and adopted by the CDM Executive Board (EB). SBs allow for board applicability – in CDM Projects as well as build the basis for greenhouse gas emission quantifications and monitoring for NAMAs.

As stipulated in Sudan’s Initial National communication (2003), the overall objective of Sudan's national implementation strategy is to promote sustainable development paths that improve Sudan's adaptive capacity and limit its growth in GHG emissions through integration of climate change issues and concerns into national policies, strategies and development plans.

According to Sudan’s second national communication (2013), the trend in total GHG emissions for 1995, the year of the initial GHG inventory, and 2000, shows that GHG emissions have increased by about 8%; from 72,014 Gg of carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO2e) in 1995 to 77,650 Gg CO2e in 2000.

The mitigation analysis conducting in the course of preparing Sudan’s national communications focuses on the energy and land use sectors (forestry and rangeland and agriculture) with the aim of identifying GHG mitigation options that can both serve national development priorities and contribute to the global mitigation efforts to achieve the overall objective of the climate change Convention. Number of options have been identified and analyzed in terms of both their GHGs reduction potential and economies.

To be able to achieve the result, the UNDP CO prepared the Project Initiation Plan (PIP) for Promoting Low Carbon development in consultation with the concerned government agencies and various development partners. The aim of the project is to encourage the government of Sudan to move towards low carbon and resilient development and better promote investment in GHG mitigation projects be able to claim carbon revenues and meet its obligation towards contributing to the global mitigation efforts and meet the eligibility requirement of accessing climate financing including through the newly established Green Climate Fund (GCF). The project will cover the development of CDM standardized baselines for priority sectors, develop a framework and capacity for Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs), capacity development on CDM methodologies and develop a project proposal for preparing a Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) for Sudan.

Duties and Responsibilities

The International Consultant (acting in his/her individual capacity) will be tasked with the following duties and responsibilities:

Determine the required data sources in Sudan for the selected methodology, again interacting closely with the members of the SBs Working group;
Identify and establish the baseline in consultation with SBs working group and develop eligible measures for SBs;
interaction with members of SBL Working Group who have in depth working knowledge of the SBs and overall Sudanese climate change strategie;
Establish a positive list of technologies for additionally determination and providing robust justification;
Develop the procedures for updating the baseline;
Finalize standardized baseline for submission to the CDM Executive Board; and
Assist throughout the UNFCCC review process until final decision on the Standardized Baseline.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
Ability to work with a multi-cultural and diverse team.

Functional Competencies:

Computer skills (e.g. Microsoft including MS Project, MS-Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Access);
Highly organized, with strong analytical and research skill including data collection, compilation and data analysis by statistical packages or modeling;
Knowledge on Low Carbon Development, CDM and Energy system analysis (technical/financial) is desirable;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Highest standards of integrity, discretion and loyalty.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s degree in energy, environmental policy, economics, international development, or a closely related field; PhD in one of these disciplines is an asset.

Experience:

At least 15 years of relevant experiences in the GHGs mitigation including 3 to 5 years international experiences in energy and development, with a good knowledge of international best practices in sustainable energy;
Good knowledge of international climate finance (CDM, voluntary carbon market etc.) and national financing mechanisms is desirable;
Prior experience of multilateral agency development projects, ideally in Sudan or the region, is highly desirable;
Proven expertise in the development of CDM PDDs and familiarity with CDM rules and guidelines and particularly with procedures and guidelines for Standardized Baselines;
Proven record in writing of CDM methodologies;
Experience working with a variety of stakeholders, including government agencies, NGOs, Civil Society, communities.

Language:

Fluent in English.