Background

Nature, Climate and Energy at UNDP

UNDP is the knowledge frontier organization for sustainable development in the UN Development System and serves as the integrator for collective action to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNDP’s policy work carried out at HQ, Regional and Country Office levels, forms a contiguous spectrum of deep local knowledge to cutting-edge global perspectives and advocacy. In this context, UNDP invests in the Global Policy Network (GPN), a network of field-based and global technical expertise across a wide range of knowledge domains and in support of the signature solutions and organizational capabilities envisioned in the Strategic Plan.

Within the GPN, the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) has the responsibility for developing all relevant policy and guidance to support the results of UNDP’s Strategic Plan.  BPPS’s staff provides technical advice to Country Offices, advocates for UNDP corporate messages, represents UNDP at multi-stakeholder fora including public-private dialogues, government and civil society dialogues, and engages in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas. BPPS works closely with UNDP’s Crisis Bureau (CB) to support emergency and crisis response.  BPPS ensures that issues of risk are fully integrated into UNDP’s development programmes. BPPS assists UNDP and partners to achieve higher quality development results through an integrated approach that links results-based management and performance monitoring with more effective and new ways of working.  BPPS supports UNDP and partners to be more innovative, knowledge and data-driven including in its programme support efforts.

UNDP’s 2018-2021 Strategic Plan emphasizes the critical links between environmental sustainability, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and broader efforts to achieve the goals of the 2030 Agenda and Paris Agreement. As part of the Global Policy Network in the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support, UNDP’s Nature, Climate Change, and Energy (NCE) Team promotes and scales up integrated whole-of-governance approaches and nature-based solutions that reduce poverty and inequalities, strengthen livelihoods and inclusive growth, mitigate conflict, forced migration and displacement, and promote more resilient governance systems that advance linked peace and security agendas.

The NCE Team works with governments, civil society, and private sector partners to integrate natural capital, environment and climate concerns into national and sector planning and inclusive growth policies; support country obligations under Multilateral Environmental Agreements; and implement the UN’s largest portfolio of in-country programming on environment, climate change, and energy. This multi-billion dollar portfolio encompasses: Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services including forests; Sustainable Land Management and Desertification including food and commodity systems; Water and Ocean Governance including SIDS; Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation; Renewable and Modern Energy; Extractive Industries; Chemicals and Waste Management; Environmental Governance and Green/Circular Economy and SCP approaches. This work advances crosscutting themes on innovative finance, digital transformation, capacity development, human rights, gender equality, health, technology, and South-South learning.

In addition to UNDP’s bilateral partnerships on natural capital, environment and climate, UNDP is an accredited multilateral implementing agency of the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the Multilateral Fund (MLF), the Adaptation Fund (AF) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) which  includes the Global Environment Facility Trust Fund (GEF Trust Fund); the Nagoya Protocol Implementation Fund (NPIF); the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF); and the Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF)). As part of UNDP’s partnership with these vertical funds, UNDP provides countries specialized integrated technical services for eligibility assessment, programme formulation, capacity development, policy advice, technical assistance, training and technology transfer, mobilization of co-financing, implementation oversight, results management and evaluation, performance-based payments and knowledge management services.

UNDP’s approach to energy aligns with the SDG 7 targets (renewable energy, energy efficiency and energy access), and is formulated around a Signature Solution on energy as set out in UNDP’s 2018-2021 Strategic Plan. Clean, reliable, and affordable energy is a key driver of sustainable development. UNDP’s signature solution on energy has three main areas of focus: in low-income countries, on energy access (electrification, clean cooking), with a UNDP commitment to electrify 100 million individuals by 2030; in middle-income countries, helping achieve transformational change and accelerate a just energy transition, including a focus on smart cities (energy efficiency, e-mobility, rooftop PV, battery storage); and in crisis settings, providing sustainable energy solutions in situations of displacement, around energy as a means to build resilience.

The Climate Investment Platform (CIP)

Reinforced by the urgency of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated economic recovery, the importance of delivering financial resources to assist developing countries in tackling climate change is paramount. As UN SG Guterres noted on April 28 2020, there is “a profound opportunity” to steer the world on “a path that tackles climate change, protects the environment, reverses biodiversity loss and ensures the long-term health and security of humankind”.

Given the global call to raise ambition on climate action, the UN SG’s Climate Action Summit in September 2019 resulted in the announcement of a new initiative, the Climate Investment Platform (CIP), spearheaded by UNDP, SEforALL and IRENA, in coordination with the GCF. The four announcing partners have now advanced the CIP, with many additional institutions, initiatives and countries having since expressed interest in partnering.

The CIP’s problem statement recognizes that the climate finance ecosystem today is cluttered and fragmented. The ‘supply side’ in climate finance– development banks, funds, UN system actors and others – have put in place significant resources to help developing countries scale-up climate investment. However, developing countries governments and private sector – the ‘demand side’ – often struggle to navigate these options and access support. There can many similar ‘supply side’ initiatives addressing a particular issue, creating clutter and fragmentation. Each has their own criteria, requirements and process. The result is an inefficient, and often ineffective, climate finance ecosystem.

The CIP’s objective is to act as an inclusive partnership and a global public good that will provide integrated and streamlined support to developing countries and the private sector to accelerate climate investments, with the ultimate goal to contribute to the realization of ambitious NDCs.

The CIP is framed around four tracks, with each track bringing together a coalition of key partner institutions and initiatives to streamline the development of bankable projects by project proponents in developing countries and align the supply of climate finance to declutter the climate finance space:  

• Track 1: Targets (helping countries to raise and specify their climate targets in NDCs);
• Track 2: Policies and Regulations (providing support for well-designed, implemented and enforced policies and regulations to scale-up private investment);
• Track 3: Financial De-risking (increasing access to risk-transfer instruments that ensure bankability of climate investment opportunities and crowd-in private capital);
• Track 4: Market Place climate investment deal-making (connecting investors and project sponsors to achieve financial closure).

Each track acts as a building block, addressing a key step in the climate investment value-chain, and together the four tracks propose a comprehensive framework to deliver system-wide transformation across major economic sectors, including energy, infrastructure, cities, among others, with the start-up phase focusing on the energy transition.

The CIP Start-up Phase Project

In order to support the development of the CIP, the government of Denmark has made seed funding available for an initial two-year ‘start-up phase’ of the CIP (the ‘CIP Start-Up Phase Project’). The start-up phase of the CIP will launch country-level activities; the establishment of the CIP network and brand; and the advancement of the CIP’s design in relation to its full-scale operation as an inclusive partnership. It is envisaged that this start-up phase will be oriented around learning-by-doing, real-time adjustments to the CIP model, and making informed recommendations on rapidly and effectively taking CIP to scale. The start-up phase will then be followed by the full scale-up of the CIP. 

UNDP is creating a project team to execute on the CIP Start-up Phase Project.UNDP seeks to hire a CIP Lead Energy Finance Expert to lead the CIP project team during this two-year period, with an initial assignment of one year.

The key activities supporting this start-up phase, to be spearheaded within UNDP by the CIP Lead Energy Finance Expert, are as follows:

Country-level support

Identify and launch country-level activities to offer and deliver services along the four above Tracks. The CIP’s start-up phase will prioritize on-the-ground activities, albeit initially in a virtual manner (i.e. COVID19 contingency), aiming to achieve early results and impact. The CIP’s target clients are developing country governments, project proponents, and financial institutions. Country-level support will be country-driven and will be provided for along the service offerings of the CIP’s four tracks. It is anticipated that the project will support 5 countries in year 1 and 10 countries in year 2.

Partnerships and outreach

Establish CIP’s messaging and perform outreach activities with a view on broadening its support base and awareness. Capitalizing on the high-level support and visibility of the CIP deriving from its launch at the 2019 UNSG’s Climate Summit, the CIP will engage in outreach to and solicit inputs and feedback from stakeholders. These efforts to develop partnerships, secure resources, and establish relationships and operational modalities to respond meaningfully to inquiries for support will enable the CIP to perform its ‘platform’ function of linking demand for and supply of climate finance.

CIP design and scaling

Advance the CIP’s design as an inclusive partnership, taking a light, nimble and adaptative management approach. The start-up phase will advance the CIP’s design as an inclusive partnership, adopting an adaptive management approach to developing the CIP, informed by learning-by-doing. The start-up phase will focus on building relationships, operational modalities, and management and implementation capacity that deliver on the CIP’s potential and create a pathway to scale. The accumulated field experience and stakeholder engagement will inform the scale-up plan and readiness for full-scale rollout in 2022 and beyond.

UNDP seeks a dynamic and ambitious Energy Finance Specialist to champion the CIP, and to coordinate closely with current and future CIP partners. The CIP Lead Energy Finance Expert will work closely with the CIP project team, consisting of technical experts, a Partnership Specialist, a Communications Expert, and a Program Assistant. The CIP Lead Energy Finance Expert will work with other UNDP staff in the Nature, Climate, and Energy Team, UNDP Regional Bureaux, Regional Service Centres, and Country Offices. The CIP Lead Energy Finance Expert will report to UNDP’s Global CIP Lead based at UNDP Headquarters in New York.

Duties and Responsibilities

The CIP Lead Energy Finance Expert will support the CIP Lead in leading the overall development, implementation, and delivery of results under the Climate Investment Platform (CIP) Start-up Phase project, providing strong guidance on strategic, technical, and policy matters and project implementation.

In addition to managing the Start-up phase project itself, the CIP Lead Energy Finance Expert will liaise with UNDP staff and other announcing partners of the CIP to align ‘CIP-adjacent’ activities that are outside of the project scope but that reflect partner institutions’ support for the CIP and its activities.

Summary of key functions:

1. Provision of support to the strategic leadership and positioning of the CIP for scale-up through its Start-up Phase activities;
2. Support the CIP Lead in the management of the CIP Start-up Phase Project team;
3. Project implementation.

The CIP Lead Energy Finance Expert will have the following responsibilities:

Provision of support to the strategic leadership and positioning of the CIP for scale-up through its Start-up Phase activities

• Spearheads the project's support of the CIP, including coordination internally within UNDP and interaction with other CIP partners externally in close collaboration with IRENA, SE4All and GCF to mobilize resources and design high-impact thematic initiatives on energy transition and climate finance mobilization;
• Guides and provides strategic inputs on the substantive direction of the CIP Start-up phase project, which has three primary activities, organized into corresponding workstreams:
  • Activity 1:?Identify, launch and deliver innovative and high-impact country-level activities across the CIP’s four?Tracks;?
  • Activity 2: Establish CIP’s messaging and perform outreach activities with a view on broadening its support base and awareness;? 
  • Activity 3: Advance the CIP’s design as an inclusive partnership, taking a light, nimble and adaptative management approach;

• Refines and executes project activities with an eye towards establishing modalities, relationships, and experience that will enable the scaling of the CIP in 2022 and beyond;
• Vision in designing the CIP and building partnerships and collaborations to execute on the vision to streamline the climate investment value chain;
• Expansion of the CIP network and construction of the CIP global platform to serve the CIP’s goals of decluttering the climate finance space, accelerating the preparation of project pipeline, aligning climate finance supply, and facilitating matchmaking in the CIP ‘marketplace’;
• Supervise knowledge management, innovation and community of practice networking to build the value proposition of the CIP and its transmission to the CIP network and broader climate finance community;
• Collaborates closely with the UNDP Global Energy team, including UNDP's Regional Technical Advisors and Country Offices, to identify, select, refine, and position for financing high-impact CIP interventions building on identified needs and based upon political will and UNDP capacity and project implementation experience at the country level.

Support the CIP Lead in the management of the CIP Start-up Phase Project team

• Supports the coordination and optimization of performance of CIP project team members, including a Partnership Specialist, a Communications Associate, a Program Assistant, and numerous consultants on task-specific assignments;
• Contribute to the smooth running of the project, builds an effective team, and promotes teamwork and an environment that is conducive to delivering results.
• Supporting CIP Global Lead in accomplishing staff results by communicating job expectations, planning, monitoring, coaching, and appraising job results;

Project implementation

• Support the implementation of the project activities in accordance with the project document and grant from the Government of Denmark, annual and quarterly work plans and budgets, and UNDP policies;
• Support Energy, BPPS accountability for the project’s financial resources, including financial reporting, both internally and externally;
• Facilitation implementation of the project’s monitoring and evaluation (M&E) plan;
• Contribute to management and monitoring of risks and issues;
• Develop an adequate system to monitor and provide technical support to improve the quality of in-country deliverables;
• Organize meetings of project governance bodies, including the preparation of documents and materials;
• Liaise on UNDP country office involvement in the CIP’s in-country initiatives.

Information on Working Arrangements

• The Consultant will work from home;
• The Consultant will work in collaboration with the focal points in CIP partner organizations;
• The Consultant will report to and be directly supervised by the Coordinator, Climate Investment Platform Start-up Phase;
• The Consultant will be given access to relevant information necessary for execution of the tasks under this assignment;
• The Consultant will be responsible for providing her/his own working station (i.e. laptop, internet, phone, scanner/printer, assignment specific software, etc.) and must have access to a reliable internet connection;
• Given the global consultations to be undertaken during this assignment, the Consultant is expected to be reasonably flexible with his/her availability for such consultations taking into consideration different time zones;
• Payments will be made upon submission of a detailed time sheet and certification of payment form, and acceptance and confirmation by the Supervisor on days worked (with a “day” calculated as 8 hours of work) and outputs delivered.

Travel

• Mission travel to CIP sub-regional forums and other global climate finance events, with an estimated duration of 3 to 5 days per mission, may be required;
• Any necessary missions must be approved in advance and in writing by the Supervisor;
• The BSAFE course must be successfully completed prior to commencement of travel;
• Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director;
• Consultants are responsible for obtaining any visas and security clearances needed in connection with travel with the necessary support from UNDP;
• The Consultant is required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under https://dss.un.org/dssweb/;   
• The consultant will be responsible for making his/her own mission travel arrangements in line with UNDP travel policies;
• All related travel expenses will be supported by project funds and will be reimbursed as per UNDP rules and regulations for consultants.  Costs for mission airfares, terminal expenses, insurance, and living allowances should not be included in financial proposal.  

Competencies

Corporate

• Demonstrates commitment to UNDP’s vision, mission and values;
• 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 favouritism;
• Fulfils all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Technical Competencies

• Climate and Energy Financing: Knowledge of climate and energy finance concepts and instruments, as well as market-based energy financing, and the ability to apply to strategic and/or practical situations;
• Development Finance and Diplomacy: Understanding of multilateral development institutions and the development finance community, as well as diplomatic initiatives, partnerships, and practices to advance international development;
• Sustainable Energy:  Knowledge of energy transition solutions e.g., renewable energy (rooftop PV, electricity access) and energy efficiency), including key trends, and innovative business and finance models;
• Climate Change (General): Knowledge of climate change (including climate change international regime) and ability to apply to strategic and practical situations.

Functional Competencies

• Project Development and Implementation: Experience designing, implementing, and managing projects, particularly in international and field settings;
• Capable of working in a high-pressure environment with sharp deadlines, managing many tasks simultaneously;
• Ability to work effectively as part of a collaborative team and process;
• Ability to communicate effectively in writing to in a simple and concise manner;
• Able to work independently and remotely with minimal supervision;
• Ability to work under pressure and time constraints.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced university degree (Masters or equivalent) in Environment, Energy, Economics, Business Administration, Social Sciences or related disciplines (Max 20 points).

Experience:

• A minimum of 7 years of professional work experience in international development/diplomacy, with at least 5 years in climate finance and sustainable energy (Max 20 points);
• Experience in high-profile, climate change or sustainable energy, multi-stakeholder initiatives at the international level (Max 15 points);
• Experience in developing countries (Max 8 points);
• Experience working at, or with, a multilateral or UN institution. Experience working at a development finance institution, or climate fund, will be an advantage (Max 8 points);
• Experience managing development projects, including budgets and human resources will be an advantage (4 points).

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in spoken and written English; excellent English writing skills (Pass/Fail);
• Working knowledge of another UN languages is considered an asset (5 points).

V. Evaluation Method

• Only those applications which are responsive and compliant will be evaluated.  Incomplete applications will not be considered;

• Offers will be evaluated according to the Combined Scoring method – where the technical criteria will be weighted at 70% and the financial offer will be weighted at 30%;
• The technical criteria (education, experience, language [max. 80 points] and interview [max. 20 points]) will be based on a maximum 100 points
• Only the top 3 candidates that have achieved a minimum of 56 points from the review of education, experience and language will be considered for the interview;
• Candidates obtaining 14 points or higher in the interview will be deemed technically compliant and considered for financial evaluation;
• Financial score (max 100 points) shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal of those technically qualified;
• The financial proposal shall specify an all-inclusive daily fee. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal must additionally include a breakdown of this daily fee (including all foreseeable expenses to carry out the assignment);
• Financial Proposal must be submitted as a separate file encrypted with a password. None of the financial proposal data is disclosed in other documents of the submission. UNDP shall request password for opening the Financial Proposal only from the Proposers who pass the Technical
• Evaluation as per the criteria established and disclosed in the solicitation document. The Proposer shall assume the responsibility for not encrypting the financial proposal.
• Applicant receiving the Highest Combined Score and has accepted UNDP’s General Terms and Conditions will be awarded the contract.

VI. Application Procedure

Documentation to be submitted:

• Applicants must submit a duly completed and signed UNDP Personal History form (P11) and/or CV including Education/Qualification, Professional Certification, Employment Records /Experience;
• Applicants must reply to the mandatory questions asked by the system when submitting the application;
• Applicants must submit a duly completed and signed Annex II Offeror´s letter to UNDP confirming interest and availability for the Individual Contractor (IC) assignment to be downloaded from the UNDP procurement site.  This document should be password protected.
• DO NOT DISCLOSE YOUR PRICE IN THE LINE ITEMS. YOU MUST PUT PRICE AS 1 IN AND PROVIDE THE FINANCIAL PROPOSAL AS PASSWORD PROTECTED DOCUMENT.

Links

YOUR APPLICATION MUST BE SUBMITED THROUGH UNDP eTENDERING SYSTEM 

Link - https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=72717 

UNDP Personal History form (P11) required of all applicants: P11.

General Conditions of Contract for the ICs: GTC.