Consultant on Climate Policy and Energy

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

Result of Service

Under the overall supervision of UNEP Programme Officer, the consultant will undertake a part-time assignment to perform the following tasks and functional responsibilities:

Deliverable 1: Provision of an outline /table of content for the report “Financing Options for Brazil’s NDCs and 2050 commitments” (February 10th, 2024)

Deliverable 2: Provision of technical inputs to and review of a final deliverable to BNDES “Financing Options for Brazil’s NDCs and 2050 commitments”. (March 29th, 2024)

Work Location

Remote from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Expected duration

2 months

Duties and Responsibilities

The purpose of the assignment is for the consultant to develop an analytical product distilling findings on the climate-aligned investments and trends of the finance landscape in Brazil, especially the role of BNDES. The consultant is expected to present findings on the current gaps and barriers experienced by the banks on financing NDC-consistent projects and portfolios. Details of the activities underlying the consultant and deliverables are listed below. Lastly, the consultant is expected to guide the research activities and review the deliverables of the second consultant under the same project.

The consultant will work on this assignment alongside the UNEP Copenhagen Climate Center (UNEP-CCC). The consultant will propose an outline/ table of contents in cooperation with the UNEP-CCC team, and separate sections and research areas will be distributed among team members. For example, the consultant will not be asked to cover the sub-national development banks, public expenditure, multilateral and bilateral development finance institutions and donors, and Brazil’s private financial sector, but will have to review UNEP-CCC team members’ analysis on these topics. Moreover, the consultant will look into the role of Brazil’s national development finance institution (DFI) Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES) in financing the NDCs.

The consultant will be responsible in delivering the following activities: Activity 1: Provide technical inputs relating to the financial landscape regarding NDC targets and decarbonization scenarios, and BNDES’ role in financing these efforts. • The consultant will undertake a desk review of relevant documents on BNDES’ role in the resource mobilization for NDCs. This includes, amongst others, BNDES evaluation reports, its strategy document around the new climate approach, and reports for BNDES by international consulting companies on the topic. • Moreover, the consultant will organize and conduct interviews with stakeholders in BNDES and relevant Ministries and agencies. • The consultant is expected to assess how NDCs are being financed and how this can be scaled through BNDES and regional banks’ disbursements and delivery channels, focusing, where possible, on the transportation sector. Resource mobilization strategies, innovative finance mechanisms, and the role of BNDES alongside the State level banks in this effort will be the subject of this activity. • A particular case study will be the transport sector, which is expected as a case study and example in the report and should serve to illustrate BNDES’s role in the financing of NDCs.

Activity 2: Review technical inputs of UNEP-CCC team members regarding different financial actors’ efforts and role in financing NDC-aligned efforts in Brazil. • The consultant is expected to review UNEP-CCC’s desk research and technical review mapping out the current trends and efforts currently carried out by state-level development banks, the private sector, and multilateral and bilateral development finance institutions and donors in Brazil along with the public expenditure financing NDCs. To this end, UNEP-CCC will review and assess the state-level banks’ reports, white papers on the banks’ strategy around financing climate efforts, published reports and publications by international consulting companies on the topic, etc. If necessary, and viable, primary data (i.e., interviews) with senior staff in one of the state-level development banks can supplement the desk research. The consultant is thus tasked to assess UNEP-CCC’s analysis of how NDCs are being financed in Brazil by the stakeholders listed above and how this can be scaled through the regional banks’ disbursements and delivery channels, focusing, where possible, on the transportation sector.

• The consultant is expected to facilitate an introduction with the relevant stakeholders and can join discussions with them on an ad-hoc basis. Consultations with staff that work on climate and environment topics are expected to take place with e.g., the Energy Research Office (EPE), other relevant Ministries, the energy regulator, and business associations that are linked to high-emitting sectors, including transportation. For the transportation sector example, the Ministry of Transportation and other relevant federal actors will be consulted, along with any relevant professional associations and regulatory bodies. At sub-national levels, transport agencies may be consulted selectively.

To summarize, the consultant’s work under Activity 2 will consist of a technical review of the contribution to NDC financing made by public expenditures, the private sector, and multilateral and bilateral development finance institutions and donors and to facilitate stakeholder access and meetings to support UNEP-CCC’s research.

Activity 3: Contribute non-logistical details to meetings, a validation presentation, and a knowledge-sharing webinar. • The consultant will be responsible for arranging meetings with relevant local stakeholders and UNEP-CCC experts when the latter visit Brazil. • The consultant is expected to gather stakeholders from BNDES and other relevant decision-makers for a presentation of the findings (format TBD), where the consultant’s own experience and findings will be presented by the consultant with inputs from UNEP-CCC. • A webinar for broader public dissemination of the public results will be held by UNEP-CCC and the consultant should participate.

Qualifications/special skills

• Advanced degree (PhD degree preferred) in energy and environmental planning.
• A minimum of 10 years of relevant professional experience including research experience on climate change policy, climate finance and related issues in the Brazilian context is required.

Languages

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required.
• Fluency in written and spoken Portuguese is required.

Additional Information

Not available.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.