Terms of Reference for Framework of Support (Senior Expert Consultancy) – Entity or Individual

Collaborative Instruments for Ambitious Climate Action (CI-ACA)

 

The Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) is a non-profit policy research institute promoting sustainable development across the Asia-Pacific region. Established in 1998, IGES is headquartered in Hayama, Japan and has branch offices and desks in Bangkok, Beijing, Kansai, Kitakyushu, New Delhi, and Tokyo.

 

Since the year 2015, IGES has partnered with UN Climate Change to establish the UN Climate Change Regional Collaboration Centre for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok, Thailand.

 

IGES, on behalf of UN Climate Change and the regional Collaboration Centre, Bangkok (RCC Bangkok), seeks to hire a consultant to carry out activities related to the ‘Collaborative Instruments for Ambitious Climate Action (CI-ACA)’ initiative in Pakistan as described in the ‘Objectives and Details of Project’ section below.

 

Background

Carbon pricing is a straightforward approach for addressing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as it puts a price signal on carbon, creating an incentive for cutting emissions and investing into more climate friendly solutions.

 

The Paris Agreement, which has already been ratified by 176 Parties (as of 29 January 2018), among which Pakistan, explicitly recognizes the important role of carbon pricing (decision CP21/1 para. 136).

 

Recognising the growing number of Parties to the Paris Agreement that are considering carbon pricing instruments as an approach for implementing their climate action and the related need for support, the CIACA initiative was announced during the COP22 in Marrakech. The initiative’s objective is to support Parties in the development of carbon pricing approaches for implementing their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and foster cooperative climate action with other jurisdictions

 

The initiative is operationalized regionally through the UN Climate Change Regional Collaboration Centres (RCCs).

 

Purpose of the Assignment

 

Carbon pricing instruments can help guide economies towards a sustainable low carbon future and, therefore, support the achievement of NDC targets. However, such economic instruments for climate action do not exist in isolation, but are part of a much wider context which includes among others the international climate regime, domestic climate action and policies, and other national circumstances.

 

 

Recognizing that an effective carbon pricing instrument should be rooted in the national context, be aligned with national priorities, and take into account the views of key national stakeholders, from both the public and private sectors, the Ministry of Climate Change, Pakistan has expressed interest in launching of a study, supported by the CI-ACA in initiative, on the design of carbon pricing instruments for the country.

 

Since many possible designs for carbon pricing instruments are possible, the purpose of this assignment is to determine which approach would be the most appropriate and beneficial for Pakistan.

 

Role and structure

In this context, through RCC Bangkok the CI-ACA initiative of UN Climate Change is seeking an expert in launching and execution of this study. The senior expert will be joined by a junior expert who will be placed in Pakistan with the Ministry of Climate Change to execute the study and gather data on the ground. The senior expert will be responsible for guiding the work of the junior expert, and ensuring the timely delivery of outputs as well as their quality. The Senior expert is in particular expected (i) to be responsible for ensuring the quality and timing of deliverables and (ii) to provide substantial input to analysis of instruments in the national context and regarding their amenability under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

 

The team conducting the study will be supervised by the Ministry of Climate Change in Pakistan. The team will work under the guidance of representatives of the CI-ACA initiative and UN Climate Change staff at RCC Bangkok.

 

The expert will be contracted by RCC Bangkok partner IGES and required to be located at RCC Bangkok and on site (Islamabad, Pakistan) as required. The assignment may also include, as required, missions to Pakistan.

 

Objectives and Details of Project

Specifically, the objective of the project and the study is to support the Ministry of Climate Change of Pakistan in considering and drafting a proposed instrument (or set of tools) that provide a price signal on carbon emissions - in order to contribute to the achievement of the NDC of the country at the domestic level, considering the national context and priorities, while enabling potential cooperative mitigation action under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

 

The project will culminate in a study which will compare the merits of the different approaches, taking into account the needs and specific priorities of the country with regard to potential carbon pricing instruments and issue recommendations in the following areas:

• Which type of instrument with specific design would be the most appropriate and beneficial in the context of Pakistan
• How the proposed instrument would in practice enable cooperative mitigation action under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement

Set of actions which would be required to introduce the instrument in practice, considering in particular potential needs for capacity-building, awareness raising, policy development and institutional arrangements.

 

The study will incorporate the feedback of key public and private stakeholders at the federal and provincial levels, and therefore the consultant will additionally be responsible for convening of relevant meetings and roundtables in the country.

 

The study is expected to be between 70 and 100 pages and is to be written in English.

 

The study must address and incorporate the following topics, among others:

• Background on carbon pricing
  • Presentation of main existing types of approaches
  • Experiences to date, lessons learned and current developments in the Asia-Pacific region and internationally
• Analysis of the National Context
  • Identify key stakeholders and gather their views
  • Mapping of key national social, economic and fiscal and strategic objectives to be taken into account
  • Mapping of national climate and energy objectives and priorities to be taken into account
  • Mapping the landscape of relevant existing or planned policies and initiatives and institutions
    • For achieving social, economic and fiscal and strategic objectives
    • For achieving climate and energy objectives
  • Identify key sectors that emit GHGs (with regard to direct and indirect emissions), as well as measures with high GHG mitigation potential
  • Identification of strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for introducing carbon pricing and how threats and weaknesses could be addressed
  • Description of the national institutional architecture and decision-making process
• Identification and evaluation of carbon pricing options
  • Identification of options
  • Analysis of options and their merit, including the potential for interaction with other policies and instruments at national and international levels.
  • Options for international cooperation under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement
    • Identification of requirements regarding principles as well as rules under development for Article 6 of the Paris Agreement
    • Identification of approaches for concrete implementation
  • Recommendations with regard to the approach to be selected and details of design
  • Identification of actions needed for implementation and tentative roadmap for next steps

 

It is expected that the described study is developed in close collaboration with the Federal Government of Pakistan and interested parties.

 

Expected date for start of work

The work will start in March 2018.

 

Duration

The work will initially be of a 6-month duration. The international consultant will be allocated 60 working days.

 

Duty Station

The duty station of the expert shall be their regular place of work, the Ministry of Climate Change in Islamabad, or UN Climate Change’s Regional Collaboration in Bangkok. The consultant will be required to undertake missions to Pakistan and may be required to work in the offices of the local entity designated as national focal point for this project for extended periods of time (1 to 4 weeks). In addition, the consultant may be required to travel in the region or internationally for one or two missions in order to present interim or final results, as required. Travel and subsistence allowance will be provided at prevailing rates. 

 

Implementation and Reporting

Staff of the UN Climate Change secretariat, especially those at the Regional Collaboration Centre Bangkok will provide support and act as reviewers.  The Federal Government of Pakistan will also review and validate stages of the study of sub-packages of work.

 

The assignment shall be implemented based on a mutually agreed timeline.  All deliverables shall be submitted to the CI-ACA project with a copy to the responsible Regional Collaboration Centre and the country focal person/s.

 

Qualifications and Competencies

• Advanced educational qualifications in a relevant field (environmental economics, public policy, or any relevant discipline) along with relevance of experience,)
• At least 6 years of professional experience in climate change, particularly at institutional and policy level; including 2 years of concrete experience in designing and/or analysing domestic carbon pricing and carbon market schemes such as carbon tax, emission trading systems and carbon funds.
• Familiarity with the following subtopics related to carbon pricing is desirable: scope and coverage, oversight and institutional arrangements, flexibility provision, setting of cap/price, allocation or management of price impact, linking and Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.
• Strong technical expertise in market and pricing mechanisms.
• Knowledge of international developments in the field of carbon pricing.
• Experience in climate policy, including working with government and non-government stakeholders
• Demonstrated knowledge of latest developments in the field of carbon pricing.
• Experience working with and managing multicultural teams.
• Working experience in the region, and preferred experience of working in Asian counties (preferably Pakistan)
• Desired skills: Report writing, research and analysis, presentation, consulting and advisory.
• Language skills: Proficiency in written and spoken English is essential. Proficiency in spoken Urdu or another local language is highly desirable.

 

How to apply

Candidates, whose qualifications and experience match what we are looking for, please send the documents cited below to Ms. Ariel Yu (yu@iges.or.jp) and copy saudamini.bagai@mx.iges.or.jp. Please indicate “Senior expert - carbon pricing” in your email subject.

 

This position is open for either entities or individual consultants to apply.  In case of an application received from an entity, please submit the below listed documents for the Senior Expert as well as the documents listed in the ToR for the Junior expert under this project. Applications from entities received without complete documents for both experts will not be accepted.

 

Only candidates under serious consideration will be invited for an interview via teleconference.

 

Please include the following documents in your application:

 

• Up to date CV
• Cover Letter
• A technical proposal that will have a description of methodology for implementing the assignment and the tasks therein, including essential topics to address that may be additional to the topics mentioned in the ToR.
• A financial proposal that will constitute a budget for the work described in this ToR, with a proposed payment schedule;
• A timetable for the completion of the work aligned with the reporting requirements and tentative timeline which should include a timeline for in-country presence for information gathering, coordination, meetings and roundtables.

 

Assessment criteria, based on desk review of submitted material: 

 

• Listed Qualifications (1-10 points)
• Technical Proposal and Timeline (1-10 points)
• Financial Proposal (1-10 points)

Contact : yu@iges.or.jp

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