Economist/Sr. Economist (Climate) - STARE

Work for the IMF. Work for the World.

The Real Sector Division of the Statistics Department (STARE) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) provides global leadership on macroeconomic statistical methodologies and standards for the IMF, its member countries, and the international statistical community at large. It supports IMF surveillance and lending operations by strengthening member countries’ capabilities to produce and disseminate macroeconomic and financial statistics for sound policymaking. The Statistics Department (STA) collaborates with other IMF departments, donors, and other external partners to ensure that data needs for bilateral and multilateral surveillance and lending operations are met. Recently, STA launched a program to develop climate change and related environmental statistics for IMF and external stakeholders’ use in monitoring the inter-relationship between climate change, economic growth, and financial stability.

STARE has an opening for an Economist/Senior Economist that will contribute to the implementation of its emerging environmental economic and climate change statistics work program and its integration into macroeconomic and financial statistical frameworks.

Duties and Responsibilities:

The successful candidate will contribute to the development of frameworks that integrate economic, financial, and climate-related statistics to better inform climate-related economic policies. In addition, the candidate will deliver capacity development (technical assistance and training) to member countries to strengthen the production of data and indicators on the environment and climate change to support country policy-making purposes as well as IMF surveillance activities. The candidate will also contribute to the update of conceptual standards and the development of a forward-looking research agenda to develop new data at the intersection of the economy and the environment. Potential areas of work include the development of:

• Economic activity indicators and data, such as air emissions indicators, mitigation and adaptation expenditures and renewable energy indicators, that tie closely to the System of Environmental Economic Accounts (SEEA) Central Framework and Experimental Ecosystem Accounting.
• Forward-looking physical risk indicators, such as risks to population, economic growth, profits, and ecosystems, based on different climate change scenario models and scenario analysis.
• Measurement associated with the development of new national accounts data on environmental-related assets, such as on the recording and valuation of natural resource assets, biological assets, resource rents, depletion, carbon pricing, and carbon sequestration services.
• Cross-border related indicators, such CO2 emissions embodied in trade, and CO2 emissions from the production and investment of domestic and multinational enterprises.

Qualifications:

STARE is seeking a dynamic, highly motivated economist with proven ability to work independently as well as being effective in teams. Specialization in the development of climate change indicators is a strong asset. The successful candidate would have:

• An advanced degree (Masters’ or PhD) in economics, statistics, or related to environment and climate as well as a good grounding in quantitative analysis, with at least four (4 years) of relevant experience.

• Proven experience in the development of climate and environmental statistics and the integration of these data into macroeconomic and financial analysis. This demonstrated experience must be related to either:

  • Experience with international initiatives related to climate change scenario models and scenario analysis, such as those related to the Network for the Greening of the Financial System or the International Energy Agency, for example, and have demonstrated ability to work with geo-spatial data.
  • Experience with environmental and climate change statistics related to the System of Environmental Economic Accounts (SEEA) and related research agenda and the intersection (and integration) of the SEEA with the System of National Accounts.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English.
• Proven experience working with open-source software languages, such as Python (preferred) or R. Expertise would be an additional asset.
• A working knowledge of French or Spanish would be an additional asset.
• Strong relationship management, negotiating and influencing skills, and developing relations with national and international authorities will be critical success factors for this role.
• Strong drive for results with the ability to work on various projects under tight deadlines.

A regular staff member who is selected to fill the vacancy will maintain their open-ended status. If the selected candidate is a contractual employee, they will be offered a Term staff appointment. Staff members already on a term appointment will continue their current term but may receive an extension provided that their current term appointment has not already been extended.

Department:

STARE Statistics Department Real SectorHiring For:

A11, A12, A13, A14The IMF is committed to achieving a diverse staff, including age, creed, culture, disability, educational background, ethnicity, gender, gender expression, nationality, race, religion and beliefs, and sexual orientation. We welcome requests for reasonable accommodations for disabilities during the selection process.