UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) Just Transition Consultant

Result of Service

The purpose of consultancy is to develop guidance on just transition finance in the banking and insurance industries. The project focus is to understand the implications of a just transition for the banking and insurance sectors and to establish guidance that provides a practical roadmap for action and ensures inclusive and equitable climate financing aligned with societal goals and national agendas for achieving environmentally sustainable economies and societies that leave no one behind.

Work Location

Working remotely

Expected duration

9 months

Duties and Responsibilities

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment.

The overall objective of the UNEP’s Economy Division is to encourage decision makers in government, local authorities and industry to develop and adopt policies, strategies and practices and technologies that promote sustainable patterns of consumption and production, make efficient use of natural resources, ensure safe management of chemicals and contribute to making trade and environment policies mutually supportive. It promotes the development, use and transfer of policies, technologies, economic instruments, managerial practices and other tools that assist in environmentally sound decision making and the building of corresponding activities.

The United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) is the strategic partnership between the United Nations and over 450 banks, insurers and investors. For over 28 years UNEP FI has been shaping and driving the international sustainable finance agenda, setting global standards and growing a global network of leading financial institutions. Through its work-streams and regional activities, peer learning, methodology development, training and research, UNEP FI promotes sustainable finance and helps the financial industry align with and contribute to the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals.

Climate change demands immediate action as society confronts the consequences of a warming world. Climate-related effects harm economies and societies worldwide in diverse ways and undermine the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015.

These impacts will have a greater effect on countries with less developed economies, and on those sections of the population, across all countries, that are most reliant on natural resources for their livelihoods and/or who have the least capacity to respond to natural hazards. There is no other way than a just transition to environmentally sustainable economies and societies that leaves no one behind.
The climate transition presents both opportunities and challenges. The transition can deliver a wide range of socio-economic benefits including improvements in the quality of jobs, increasing quantity of new job opportunities, as well as increase access to clean energy. A net gain of 18 million jobs can be achieved globally by 2030 through energy-related measures alone.

On the other hand, the climate transition has the potential to leave workers and communities behind in certain sectors or localities. For example: workers from carbon intensive industries might lose their jobs; low-income communities may be hit by increases in energy and commodity prices; or, clean energy projects can compete for land in places where land is owned by land-based communities or indigenous people.

UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) are contracting out consultancy services for the development of just transition finance guidance for the banking and insurance industries. This work will be done in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO).

The main objective of this project is to produce guidance and recommendations for practical actions that financial service providers in the banking and insurance industries can take to integrate the social dimension of the low-carbon transition, improve financial inclusion, and promote decent job creation through financial support and decision making and provide climate finance that “leaves no one behind.”

The provider of the consultancy services will:

¿ Liaise with the UNEP FI and the ILO project leads;
¿ Undertake desktop research on financing a just transition especially as related to banking and insurance industries;
¿ Liaise with the Just Transition Consultative Committee, comprising UNEP FI members (banks and insurers), to identify practical measures of just transition support, examples of their implementation and to ensure the recommendations are feasible and possible to operationalize;
¿ Liaise with the Just Transition External Advisory Group, comprising partners defined by the ILO and the UNEP FI, to ensure that the report and its recommendations are aligned and up to date with the latest work being done on just transition finance;
¿ Organize three online workshops with the Just Transition Consultative Committee members and one workshop with the Just Transition External Advisory Group to discuss and validate the main findings of the report;
¿ Develop a draft report for internal review and for public consultations;
¿ Collect and integrate the feedback from the consultation processes and develop the final report on just transition finance in the banking and insurance industries.

The consultant shall be under the overall supervision of the Head of UNEP FI and report directly to the Programme Management Officer, working in close coordination with UNEP FI’s Social and Human Rights team.

Qualifications/special skills

Education: A University degree in social, environmental, climate or a related field.

Professional Experience: 5 years of previous exposure and understanding of banking and/or insurance industries and processes as well as sustainable finance approaches; familiarity with approaches to integrate Human and Labour Rights in financing activities.

Skills & Knowledge: Applicants should have strong technical skills relevant to the topic of Financing a Just Transition as well as excellent research, communication and writing skills; a high degree of autonomy and motivation.

Languages

Languages: English is the working language of UNEP FI. Knowledge of other United Nations languages is 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.