NDC Climate Reporting Specialist (Retainer, home-based from Port-Louis, Mauritius)

The Water, Environment and Climate (WEC) portfolio, based in Vienna, and with offices based globally is part of the UNOPS Global Portfolio Office. The Portfolio has built strong partnerships and is effectively managing a portfolio of over 500 million USD over the last 15 years to support key initiatives with fund management, project implementation and administrative support.  

WEC effectively operationalizes partners' agendas with global approaches, as well as regional and country specific activities focused on climate action, protection and conservation of the environment. Partners profit from WEC’s ability to operationalize and/or scale up their important substantive agendas, including in support of key multilateral environmental and climate agreements, such as the Paris Agreement, the Cartagena Convention as well as the Sustainable Development Goals. 

The NDC Partnership is a global coalition advancing the Paris Agreement by strengthening capacity and collaboration for country-owned climate and development action. 

With over 270 members, including over 140 countries and more than 120 institutions, the NDC Partnership aligns partner support behind country priorities, builds shared knowledge and generates evidence to inform effective NDC implementation, sustained investment and higher ambition that drives sustainable development. Working through a country-driven model, countries set the agenda by identifying their NDC priorities, and partners deliver coordinated, high-impact support that increases efficiency and reduces duplication. 

The NDC Partnership has unmatched insight into on-the-ground climate realities, drawn from diverse expertise and collaborative learning across its membership. Grounded in country action, these insights shape the global climate agenda.

The NDC Partnership Support Unit is jointly hosted by the World Resources Institute (WRI), the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the UN Climate Change Secretariat (UNFCCC). 

Established under the Climate Change Act 2020, the Department of Climate Change of the Ministry of Environment, Solid Waste Management and Climate Change is inter alia mandated to establish reporting mechanisms for public and private institutions, including statutory bodies, relating to climate change; establish and maintain a climate change database system to establish the assessment, monitoring, reporting and verification of measures relating to climate change; and compile, analyse and disseminate information on climate change.  To meet its obligations, creating a unit dedicated to climate change Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) is being envisaged.

The MauNDC Registry is an online platform registry aiming to track the impacts of climate policies and measures, and support needed and received, towards the achievement of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) targets.  Since the platform went live in 2022, operationalisation of the platform was achieved through the Initiative for Climate Action Transparency (ICAT) project through the preparation of excel-based templates with identification of outcome, intervention and indicators; ensuring all functions of the platform are working; and by granting platform access to users from different key institutions.  For the moment, there is no online platform for data entry and tracking of the GHG inventory of the country. 

Under the SIDAR programme, Guidelines for Climate Change Reporting and a Climate Reporting Framework have been developed. The Climate Reporting Framework proposes a phased approach for voluntary and mandatory reporting by the private sector, based on the organisation size and listing status.  To monitor compliance a climate Reporting Sub-Committee under the Climate Change Committee will be created. This Sub-Committee will work closely with Financial Reporting Council (FRC) to ensure coherence with the broader requirement of sustainability reporting.

In this context, several priority activities have been identified to be carried out over the next twelve (12) months, including:

• Support the operationalisation of appropriate coordination mechanism related to climate data and MRV, including formulation of national documents such as BTR and NC.

• Assessing resource needs (including human resource and capacity building) to ensure the Department effectively complies with ETF requirements;

• Development of sectoral guidelines on Climate Reporting;

• Selection of metrics and targets for climate reporting;

• Review of existing climate reporting guidelines/legislative/regulatory frameworks;

• Establish a continuous learning culture by analysing and assessing training needs and developing appropriate training programmes.

The incumbent will support the Ministry of Environment, Solid Waste Management and Climate Change and will be responsible for strengthening the climate reporting of the country.

The embedded advisor will implement all tasks under the direct supervision of the NDC Partnership Country Engagement Specialist and work closely with the Focal Point of the NDC Partnership at the Ministry of Environment, Solid Waste Management and Climate Change and will work in close collaboration with all relevant stakeholders. 

*This is a retainer national vacancy / position for twelve months, maximum of 220 working days, with possibility of an extension depending on satisfactory performance and on availability of funds. 

**This is a Homebased position, meaning that the incumbent will not work from a UNOPS office but from the government facilities. Therefore, the incumbent will need to use his/her own laptop and software. 

***As this is a Local Position, in order to be eligible, the incumbent should be a national of Mauritius or have a valid residence or work permit in Mauritius.

****Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

The incumbent will support the efforts of the Mauritian Government for climate reporting. The role is one of support to climate reporting coordination and capacity building. They play a key role in ensuring the smooth operationalization of the Climate Reporting Unit and Climate Change Subcommittee on Climate Reporting, by supporting coordination efforts between the various relevant stakeholders.

1. Support for operationalization of the Climate Reporting Unit

Based on the country context, propose recommendations (e.g. ToR, Standard Operating Procedures, Human Resource Strategy, training needs plan, training plan or any other such documents) for the effective operation of the Climate Reporting unit of the Department of Climate Change, and any committees, sub-committees and/or technical working groups established related to climate data MRV.

Conduct a resource needs assessment for the operationalization of the Climate Reporting unit of the Department of Climate Change.

Propose a training and resource needs plan for the Climate Reporting/MRV Unit of the Department of Climate Change to effectively comply with ETF requirements stipulated in the Paris Agreement.

Coordinate virtual/in-person consultation meetings with relevant stakeholders for the elaboration of BTR/NC.

Support the process of consultation with stakeholders and existing institutional arrangements for collection of activity data and compilation of the reports such as the BTR/NC.

Build in-house capacity by enhancing the skills of at least 2 staff of the Climate Reporting unit of the Department of Climate Change to engage and liaise with stakeholders for collection and analysis of activity data used in the preparation and compilation of National GHG inventory/BTR/communication briefs and any other such reports, including the use of appropriate software.

Coordinate a 1–2-day national validation workshop to finalize the BTR/NC.

2. Operationalization of Climate Change Subcommittee on Climate Reporting

Provide support for the setting up of an MRV/Climate reporting subcommittee under the Climate Change Committee.

Assist in the agenda setting and conduct of the meetings of the subcommittee.

Provide support to the Department of Climate Change as member of the steering committee under the Financial Reporting Commission.

3. Capacity Building

Analyze and assess the training needs of relevant stakeholders from Government, private sector and civil society organizations on climate data collection, analysis, reporting and quality assurance.

Develop appropriate training materials to build national capacity and ensure continuous learning.

Create and maintain a database for the Department of Climate Change of training conducted and the beneficiaries.

Organize and deliver training sessions in English, French or Mauritian Creole if required.

Identify capacity building opportunities for the continuous training of stakeholders on climate reporting and the ETF.

Required

• Master's degree (or equivalent) preferably in Statistics, Data Science, Mathematics, Science, Engineering or related fields with 5 years of relevant experience OR

• Bachelor's degree (or equivalent) in any of the above or related fields with 2 additional years of relevant experience is required

Required

• Relevant experience is work in public and/or private sector with a focus on climate data collection, analysis, monitoring, reporting, and verification or related areas. 

• Experience working with multistakeholder teams.

• Knowledge of the country’s context on climate change.

Desired

• Experience working on national GHG inventories, ETF or sustainability reporting

• Experience working with IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 standards
  
  

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