Background

On 25 November 2009, the Chinese government set the target to reduce its carbon dioxide emission per unit of GDP by 40-45% based on the level of 2005 by 2020, and clearly stated that this target will be included as a binding indicator into the "twelfth-five" and the subsequent mid-and-long term economic and social development planning.

The meeting of the National People's Congress held in March 2011 adopted the "National Economic and Social Development Twelfth Five-Year (2011-2015) Plan" clearly stated that carbon dioxide emission per unit of GDP in 2015 will be cut by 17% based on the level of 2010. It also specified that China will "explore low-carbon product standards, labeling and certification system, build up a sound system of greenhouse gas emissions statistics and accounting, and gradually establish a carbon emissions trading market."

The market mechanisms including emissions trading system (ETS) are helpful for China to achieve the goal of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) control. To gradually establish a carbon emission trading market, the greenhouse gas emissions accounting, reporting and verification system at enterprise level is firstly needed, especially in high energy consumption rate, high emission rate industries. China also needs to prepare in advance before launch of a national ETS across the country and to conduct capacity development on developing provincial sector-based GHG accounting methodologies. These works are of great significance for China to achieve the GHG emission control target, to gradually establish carbon emissions trading market, and to promote reasonable allocation of emission allowances.

On 2 December 2011, Contractual Service Agreements have been signed by MFA of Norway with UNDP, whereas MFA agrees to contribute funds to UNDP on a cost-sharing basis for the implementation of the climate change projects; whereas UNDP shall designate an Implementing Partner for the implementation of the two separate Projects, for supporting Provincial Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Capacity Building and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accounting Methodology for Enterprises of Key Industries (a. k. a “The GHG Project”) and Establishment of National Registry System for Domestic Emissions Trading Scheme and Voluntary Carbon Emission Reduction (a. k. a. “The ETS Project”).

The Goal of both Projects is to contribute to the development of measures aimed at reducing the carbon intensity in the Chinese economy as set in China’s 12th Five-Year Plan.

The objectives of the two projects as follows:

For the ETS Project, it is aimed to support these policies by designing and building technical measures to regulate and supervise the voluntary market.

The objectives of the ETS project are three fold:  

• Establish national voluntary emission reduction project registry system to maintain a common voluntary market with centralized information disclosure and standardized trading commodities;
• Establish a national registry for regional and nationwide emissions trading schemes to materialize the national objective to build carbon market gradually;
• Capacity building by carrying out education and training activities to build and enhance the capacities of stakeholders in the voluntary project market, and regional and national emissions trading market.

For the GHG Project, the Goal of the Project is to assist the GoC to better address climate change through capacity building and building up a Guidelines of Greenhouse Gas emission accounting methodology and reporting for  enterprises level for carbon trading. 

To achieve this, the project will take two actions: firstly, in order to lay a good foundation for local governments to develop climate change policies and accomplish GHG control target, the project will use "Guidelines on Provincial Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventory (Trial)", issued by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), as the teaching materials, to implement training activities nationwide and strengthen capacity of related local governments and agencies; secondly, inter alia to make preparations for GHG trading and permit allocation, the project will also develop Guidelines of GHG accounting methodology for certain industries, as well as GHG reporting format, by combining the analysis of the characteristics and the typical manufacturer in sectors such as power generation, iron & steel, cement, glass, Nonferrous metal, chemicals and aviation industry in China with the existing relevant accounting methodology. On basis of these, key outputs include: Capacity building in Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Development for all Provinces; and a set of GHG emissions accounting methodologies for enterprises of key industries.

Given the similarities in funding sources, implementing agencies, and interlink between the two UNDP projects, it was generally agreed at Annual Consultation Meeting on 15 may 2013 at the Norwegian Embassy that a joint independent Mid-Term Evaluation on the ETS + GHG be organized in mid August 2013.

 UNDP oversees the implementation of the entire project with NDRC, as the Executing Agency, manages the subcontracts directly with the 3 domestic teams (i.e. Tsinghua University, NCSC, and SCII) while UNDP manages the sub-contract directly with the Climate and Pollution Agency (Klif), which reports to the Norwegian Ministry of the Environment.

Further details of the two projects’ set-up, with regard to the interlinked topics and with all the different contributors on different levels, will be found in the project documents.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Whether there is effective relationship and communication between/among outputs so that data, information, lessons learned, best practices and results are shared efficiently, including cross-cutting issues;
• Whether the use of technical experts (both domestic and international has been successful in achieving component outputs;
• Whether the communication between the Chinese technical teams with Klif is adequate.

• Is the Project making satisfactory progress in achieving project outputs vis-à-vis the targets and related delivery of inputs and activities?
• Are the direct technical partners and project experts (both domestic and international) able to provide necessary inputs or achieve results?
• Given the level of achievement of outputs and related inputs and activities to date, is the Project likely to achieve their purpose/objective and contribute to the realization of their goal?
• Are there critical issues relating to achievement of project results that have been pending and need immediate attention in the next period of implementation?

• Is the project implementation and achievement of results proceeding well and according to plan, or are there any outstanding issues, obstacles, bottlenecks, etc. on the government (national and local), research institutes (sub-contractors) or private sector as a whole that are affecting the successful implementation and achievement of project results?
• To check ou through their interview that to what extent does the broader policy environment remain conducive to achieving expected project results, including existing and planned legislations, rules, regulations, policy guidelines and government priorities?
• Is the project design still relevant in the light of the project experience to date?
• To what extent do critical assumptions/risks in project design make true under present circumstances and on which the project success still hold? Has the project team validated these assumptions as presently viewed by the project management and determine whether there are new assumptions/risks that should be raised?
• Do the Projects’ outcomes remain valid and relevant, or are there items or components in the project design that need to be reviewed and updated?
• Are the Projects’ institutional and implementation arrangements still relevant and helpful in the achievement of the Projects’ objective and outcomes, or are there any institutional concerns that hinder the Projects’ implementation and progress.

• Are the project management arrangements adequate and appropriate?
• How effectively is the project managed at all levels? Is it results-based and innovative?
• Do the project management systems, including progress reporting, administrative and financial systems and monitoring and evaluation system, operate as effective management tools, aid in effective implementation and provide sufficient basis for evaluating performance and decision making?
• Is technical assistance and support from project partners and stakeholders appropriate, adequate and timely?
• Validate whether the risks originally identified in the project document and, currently in the Quarterly Operational Report (QOR)/Annual Project Report (APR), are the most critical and the assessments and risk ratings placed are reasonable;
• Describe additional risks identified during the evaluation, if any, and suggest risk ratings and possible risk management strategies to be adopted;
• Assess the use of the project work plans as management tools and in meeting with UNDP/Norwegian requirements in planning and reporting.
• Assess the use of electronic information and communication technologies in the implementation and management of the project;
• On the financial management side, assess the cost effectiveness of the interventions and note any irregularities.
• How have the QOR/APR process helped in monitoring and evaluating the project implementation and achievement of results? 

• Are there further opportunities for stronger collaboration and substantive partnerships identified to enhance the Projects’ achievement of results and outcomes?
• Are the project information and progress of activities disseminated to project partners and stakeholders? Are there areas to improve in the collaboration and partnership mechanisms?

Through the review of pertinent documents related to the projects such as project documents, quarterly and annual progress reports, other activity/component specific deliverables and evaluation, if there are any, etc; conduct of structured interview with knowledgeable parties (e.g., NDRC, the Project Management Office (set up in NDRC), Sub-Contracting Parties/Entities (3 Chinese technical teams and Klif respectively), UNDP Country Office Counterparts, the Norwegian Embassy, , etc.); and the evaluation mission will carry out the following tasks:

• Review of the project design, and planning to find out whether: the project approaches and strategy are sound; the immediate objectives and outputs are properly stated and verifiable in the project logical framework; the timeframe of the projects are feasible and practicable; and Others
• Review of project performance: timeliness and quality of inputs; timeliness and cost-effectiveness of activities undertaken; quality and quantity of outputs produced; achievement of outcomes; and a financial review against the project budget.

• Review the project impact: determine the extent to which the project objectives are expected to be achieved and what are the short-term and long-term impact of the project, including efficiency of the project, cost-effectiveness of the project;
• Provide recommendations on the improvement or sustenance of the implementation of the remaining activities of the project; and look at whether these are still relevant in light of policy development and related activities being undertaken by the government.

• The MTE Team is expected to deliver the following outputs:
• Inception report within one week after signing the contract: evaluator provides a very short report on clarifications on timing and method, showing how will meet TOR expectations. 
• Debriefing at UNDP: Presentation of initial findings to Project Team and Country Office prior to departure to home station;
• Draft final report for comment: within 25 days of the mission period, a draft Final Report based on UNDP template should be provided to UNDP;
• Final Report: within 30 days of the mission period, the Final Evaluation Report presenting the final -term evaluation results of the project, recommendations for the implementation of the remaining activities until end-of-project, and suggestions for implementation of the two projects in the remaining time frame. The documents should be submitted in electronic format.

Competencies

Required Skills and Experience

• Master degree in climate change, natural resources management, partnership and policy research. PHD would be extra merit.  

• At least 10 years of working experience in the area of climate change and GHG emission inventory;
• Previous experience with results-based monitoring and evaluation methodologies;
• Project development, implementation and evaluation experience;
• Professional experience with designing, reviewing, developing, or operating an ETS or involved in GHG emission inventory calculation or verification;
• Expertise in economic and social development issues;
• Professional experiences in working in China and with Chinese counterparts would be an advantage.

• Excellent communications and writing skills in English.