Consumer Information and Ecolabelling

Result of Service The Consultant will provide technical backstopping to the Consumer Information & Ecolabeling team of the Sustainable Consumption and Production Unit of UNEP. She or he will undertake outreach activities, support networking among key actors to promote consumer information knowledge product, contribute to the drafting of written outputs (knowledge products, reports …).

Work Location Home based

Expected duration 8.5 months

Duties and Responsibilities United Nations Environment Programme is the United Nations system’s designated entity for addressing environmental issues at the global and regional level. Its mandate is to coordinate the development of environmental policy consensus by keeping the global environment under review and bringing emerging issues to the attention of governments and the international community for action. UNEP’s Economy Division works with international governments and non-governmental organizations, national and local governments, business and industry to develop and implement policies, strategies and practices that are cleaner and safer, incorporate environmental costs, use natural resources efficiently, reduce pollution and risks for humans and the environment, and enable the implementation of conventions and international agreements.

The focus of the consultancy is to support activities of the consumer information portfolio located in the Consumption and Production Unit in Paris, France. Consumer information covers a range of tools and systems that seek to enable and encourage consumers to make more sustainable choices about products (goods and services), taking into account their use and end of life phases. The Consumption and Production Unit's work on consumer information (including eco-labelling) supports governments, private sector (including retailers), label and standard organizations/ certification bodies, and civil society (including consumer groups), through global tools and capacity building, awareness raising and technical assistance, as well as policy development. The work is also contributing to the global Consumer Information Programme (CI-SCP) of the One Planet network (10YFP), in line with its three objectives: improving availability, accessibility and quality of consumer information; driving change in government and business; and enhancing communication to drive behaviour change. Further information can be found on the One Planet Network (https://www.oneplanetnetwork.org/consumer-information-scp).

Under the supervision of the Associate Programme Officer of the Consumption and Production Unit, the consultant will provide support to the consumer information and eco-labelling work stream. Communication & networking: - Follow-up with identified partners (Universities, Global Compact, networks, e-learnings platform etc…) to increase outreach of the consumer information knowledge products as well as to invite them to join the Consumer Information Programme of the One Planet Network. Example of material to be disseminated: Guidelines as well as the supplements on e-commerce and on chemicals in products and Guidelines videos… - Draft articles for the One Planet Network website -“Communicating Food Sustainability to Consumers”: support with the dissemination of the knowledge products including organization of two global workshops - Contribute to the organization of the Global conference on ecolabelling and CSP. Take notes of the exchanges, technical support, liaise with speakers, draft the key messages etc… - Prepare a narrative and slides to present consumer information work to businesses (taking into account greenwashing, benefit and challenges for companies)

Green claim project: - Draft two case studies to assess performance of existing binding and / or non-binding policy instruments against the Guidelines for providing product sustainability information; suggest recommendations to better align these instruments with the Guidelines - Support the organization of at least 2 interviews held with countries or organizations regarding existing binding or non-binding policy instruments on providing product sustainability information;

Product Lifetime Extension : - Support development of 4 best practice case studies on product repairability around the world, including examples from policies and businesses, addressing textiles and electronics sectors.

Overall support: - Draft inputs for the Programme of Work 2023 of the consumer information team - Prepare a database with key contacts of the consumer information team. - Support with the design of the ecolabelling training material - Assess through a survey the knowledge gained by participants that attended the ecolabeling training - Assess CI-SCP program of the One Planet Network for MAC and partners (prepare and run a survey)

Qualifications/special skills Academic Qualifications: Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in business administration, communication, economics, environmental management, international relations or related field. Experience: - At least 1 year of working experience in environment/ sustainability related projects is required. - Demonstrated knowledge of sustainable consumption and production is required, expertise in consumer information & eco labelling and/or private sector sustainability practices would be an asset. - Experience working for an international organization is required, experience working with UNEP or the UN system is desirable. - Experience in organizing workshops, events, webinars is required - Experience in public information would be an asset - Excellent written and oral communication skills. Language: For the post advertised, fluency in oral and written English is required. Fluency in Spanish is desirable, fluency in French would be an asset.

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.