Senior consultant

Environment

Overview

Provide consultancy support for carbon credit projects in Africa using blockchain technology.

You have:

• Advanced university (Master's degree preferably PhD) in environmental economics, environmental engineering, energy economics or engineering, physics, applied chemistry with a particular emphasis in climate change and development or other relevant area is required
• A minimum of seven years of practical experience in carbon markets development, large-scale ecological project development and implementation is required
• Experience of working in carbon market development focusing in the main sectors highlighted in the TOR in emerging economies is required
• Proven experience in the development and applications of blockchain, artificial intelligence, big data in environmental management is required
• Experience of carbon markets in Africa is desirable
• Fluency in English is required. Working knowledge of French is desirable.
• Knowledge of another UN language is desirable

Result of Service The two main goals of the consultancy are the following

1. Provide support to countries’ identified projects for potential issuance of carbon credits. The CBCC has done a pre-identification of potential projects in their region. The consultants will review potential projects and identify those which have the most potential and provide advice and guidance. The consultant will also review other potential projects from the Mano River Climate Commission and other regions beyond the CBCC by reviewing and restructuring the projects to meet the requirements of being able to issue carbon credits.

2. Use blockchain and other technologies proposed by ECA to facilitate (a) the linkages of the registry developed by ECA for the CBCC member countries and mainly using blockchain technologies and (b) the monitoring, verification, and regulatory compliance of project outcomes to enhance transparency and increase the integrity of the potential carbon credit issuances. This will allow ECA’s efforts to build trustworthy digital systems based on blockchain technologies for (c) carbon emission accounting system building from the harmonized protocols for carbon offsetting co-produced by ECA and CBCC and (d) credit trading system linked with the CBCC Regional Registry.

Those systems should allow transparent trading of carbon credits, and improved accuracy, quality, and reliability monitoring, review, and evaluation in both cases (c) and (d). In addition, the systems should ensure that the following are observed. Encoding a unique serial number to a verified emission. Immutability of records or all surrendered credits will be stored in an append-only ledger to avoid double-counting. No distortion and forgery of vital log data. Cybersecurity measures, the two systems will be piloted in the following and several and/or other related sectors defined in the CBCC Carbon Offsetting Protocols.

• Avoided/reduced deforestation

• Energy, including renewable/clean energy, energy efficiency, etc.

• Rice cultivation

• Soil carbon enrichment

• Other relevant areas/sectors selected by TCND/ECA.

  Work Location Ethiopia

  Expected duration 3

  Duties and Responsibilities Background

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa is supporting the efforts of its member states to be able to secure access to voluntary markets for carbon credits. Globally, there is an increasing recognition that carbon financial flows are an essential vehicle to accelerate the implementation and delivery of global, regional, and national plans and programmes aiming to increase the conservation of natural resources and ecosystems, achieve responsible production and consumption, and propel economic growth towards sustainable patterns. Among the major policy instruments that promote those financial flows aimed at conserving ecosystems, and promoting conservation efforts by communities, are carbon pricing and trading, mainly tradable carbon emission credits or offsets generated by carbon emission offset by those conservation efforts or programmes.

The transactions of such offsets that have been occurring either through market mechanisms (voluntary and compliance carbon offset schemes) or non-market mechanisms mainly through REDD+ have also been growing over the past years, despite several challenges that have been corrected to some extent through public policy.

Growth of such transactions is significant across other regions, but it remains marginal in Africa, which unfortunately is endowed with vast natural capital resources which lend themselves to the development of carbon credit markets.

The ECA has already launched a programme of support to countries of the Congo Basin Climate Commission, to be able to develop a high integrity regional carbon registry, and the creation of a standardised and harmonised protocol for the measurement of Green House Gas Emissions.

The Congo Basin Climate Commission requested the ECA to support the development of transformative initiatives to scale-up, through the Congo Blue Fund, investment in conservation of forests, and other crucial ecosystems including peatland, and mangroves, that not only play an important role in regulating the environment (climate) but also support the development of economies and societies across Africa and beyond.

To support African countries, increase the delivery of some of those commitments, the Technology, Climate Change and Natural Resources Management Division (TCND) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has started providing technical and substantive support (intervention) to the Congo Blue Fund to build carbon market integrity, scale-up public and private investment in biodiversity conservation, and several other developmental goals alluded to early. In addition, ECA is addressing the major causes known for the underperformance of many carbon offset programmes. First, most centralized carbon trading systems are limited by the following problems. Credit scams. Inaccurate monitoring, reporting, and verification. lack of transparency, and lack of proper authentication of participants in the multiunit allocation. Higher probabilities for modification of transactions, fraud, sale of non-existing credits, exploitation of weak regulations, and identity theft All these factors can explain to a certain extent the unwillingness of potential participants to engage in trade. Second, most emission accounting systems are limited by the following. High cost and paucity of emission monitoring, and verification processes. High costs for generating quality and reliable data. Inaccurate and unreliable verification which does not help high-quality credits.

To accelerate this intervention that needs additional skills that are not available in ECA, ECA is seeking the services of an international consultant to support the following. 1) development of relevant projects that can be used to generate carbon credits mainly by helping to structure these projects and engaging with potential partners and investors. 2) Assisting with the certification and verification of these carbon credits using appropriately accredited international mechanisms. 3) Designing blockchain-based systems to facilitate the linkage of the carbon registry developed by ECA for the CBCC countries with the international markets, and improving carbon credit worthiness, quality, and market integrity.

The intervention is aimed to support the following:

1) Member countries of the Congo Basin Climate Commission

2) Member countries of the Mano River Commission

3) Individual countries which have requested assistance from ECA.

Under the direct supervisor of Technology, Climate Change and Natural Resources Division Director the consultant will assume the following duties and responsibilities

• Review project proposals from member states and partner organizations for the purposes of issuing carbon credits.

• Development of a brochure of prioritized projects for presentation to investors.

• Presentation of prioritized investment opportunities to potential investors and partners.

• Apply blockchain technology for linking the carbon registry ECA has developed for the CBCC countries and ensuring the reliability of data regarding projects issued for the generation of carbon credits and facilitating the verification of project outcomes.

Deliverables

The consultant is expected to deliver the following outputs:

Deliverables Outputs Expected delivery time

1) Consultancy Workplan. 24 November 2023.

2) Brochure of prioritized projects. 1 December 2023.

3) Production and presentation of blockchain-based systems for (a) improving GHG including carbon emission verification, and carbon credit traceability, quality, and integrity, and (b) linking the CBCC Regional registry with other registries and facilitating transfer including trade of carbon credits. The systems are tested using the projects proposed by ECA and CBCC mainly pertaining to the energy, forest conservation, and related sectors outlined in the TOR. 20 November 2023.

4) Production and presentation of the report on the use of blockchain technologies for verification of project outcomes, and linking the CBCC carbon registry with international registry and markets. 29 November 2023.

5) Presentation of priority projects made to investors. 30 November 2023.

1. A consultancy workplan is delivered one week after the appointment. A preliminary report reviewing potential projects proposed by the Congo Basin Climate Commission, the Mano River Commission, and selected individual countries will be provided after one month with prioritization of potential projects.

2. Brochure of prioritized projects is drafted for the purposes of engagement with investors after one month.

3. Two blockchain-based systems are produced for (a) improving GHG including carbon emission verification, and carbon credit traceability, quality, and integrity, and (b) linking the CBCC Regional registry with other registries and facilitating transfer including trade of carbon credits. The systems are tested using the projects proposed by ECA and CBCC mainly pertaining to the energy, forest conservation, and related sectors outlined in the TOR. The systems are presented for review to ECA, CBCC, and other stakeholders selected by ECA 45 days after the appointment.

4. A draft outlook of the report is produced as outlined in the TOR. The report is expected to analyze factors used to inform the design of the blockchain-based systems for generating high-quality accounting including verification of carbon emission reduction credits, and the linkages of the CBCC regional Registry with other registries as outlined in the TOR. The report is submitted for review to ECA 60 days (two months) after the appointment.

5. A final report of approximately 50-60 pages including all the additional comments made by the Congo Blue Fund’s member countries and ECA is presented to ECA 90 days (three months) after the appointment. Presentations of priority projects are made to investors in events identified by ECA by the end of the three-month period.

All the documentation including annexes, notes, and reports will be submitted in English. Upon receipt of the deliverables and prior to the payment of the first installment, the deliverables and related reports and documents will be reviewed and approved by ECA. The period of review is one week after receipt.

Qualifications/special skills Advanced university (Master's degree preferably PhD) in environmental economics, environmental engineering, energy economics or engineering, physics, applied chemistry with a particular emphasis in climate change and development or other relevant area is required A minimum of seven years of practical experience in carbon markets development, large-scale ecological project development and implementation is required. Experience of working in carbon market development focusing in the main sectors highlighted in the TOR in emerging economies is required. Proven experience in the development and applications of blockchain, artificial intelligence, big and data, in environmental management is required. Experience of carbon markets in Africa is desirable.

Languages English and French are the working languages of the UN Secretariat. For this consultancy, fluency in English is required. Working language of the other is desirable. Knowledge of another UN language is desirable

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.

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Added 3 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: careers.un.org