Climate Finance Specialist United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific Experience: Atleast 8 years Bangkok, Thailand Apply By: 11-09-2024

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Job Description

Result of Service

Outputs:

a. Define the scope of the assessment within the targeted jurisdiction, including review of urban climate action, policy and financing instruments, reference documents, stakeholders to be involved, and other sources of data/information relevant to the assessment tool. This information should be part of the consultant’s inception report together with the report outline. (by 8 October 2024) Deliverables: Inception report with a brief elaboration on the scope of the assessment, timeline, and report outline.

b. Conduct desk research on the four dimensions of enabling conditions for targeted cities and regencies to access climate finance, based on statutory local development plans, city/regency strategic and annual plans, regulations (national and subnational), relevant studies/research, and other sources of data/information identified in the previous step. (by 2 December 2024) Deliverables: Desk review summary of the four dimensions for the target area referring to the subnational assessment tool .

c. Organize two multistakeholder and expert roundtable discussions as part of the assessment. The first roundtable discussion is part of the data/information collection. It also aims to identify potential sources of climate financing for Medan City, Binjai City, and Deli Serdang Regency. The second roundtable discussion aims to validate findings and recommendations following data collection and analysis from relevant policies, plans and literature. Both meetings should be inclusive of relevant stakeholders and encourage active participation. The detailed agenda and methodology shall be discussed with the Urban-Act team in advance. Financing of both meetings is not part of the consultant budget.

Deliverables:

1. Organization of the 1st roundtable discussion (by 2 December 2024)

2. Organization of the 2nd roundtable discussion (by 14 March 2025) The deliverables include: – concept notes with agendas, – guiding questions when required, – presentations for the roundtable discussion, – post-event reports. Concept notes and guiding questions: 2 weeks prior to roundtables.

Presentations: 1 week prior to roundtables. Post-event reports: 2 weeks after roundtables d. Conduct key informant interviews and smaller focus group discussions with officials and/or experts to fill the knowledge gaps and clarify information from the previous assessment steps. Deliverables: 1. Interview plan including officials, experts and other stakeholders, questions to be asked, and schedule. (by 27 January 2025) 2. Interviews summary. (by 28 February 2025) Interview plan: 1 week before the first interview Interview summary: 1 week after the last interview e. Analyze data/information collected from the whole process, summarize findings, and draw recommendations by drafting and finalizing the report. Deliverables: 1. Draft report of the assessment for review from ESCAP and partners, expected within a two-week period. (by 7 March 2025) 2. Revised report of the assessment for finalization, for final review by ESCAP and partners, expected within a two-week period. (by 20 May 2025) How the outputs to be delivered: Working documents for consultation purposes with national and local stakeholders should be in Bahasa Indonesia, while final documents submitted to ESCAP must be in English. The following deliverables should be in English and Bahasa: – Inception report – Roundtable discussions concept notes and post-event reports – Assessment report (including draft and final report) The following deliverables can be in Bahasa Indonesia only: – Desk review summary – Interview plan and summary – Guiding questions for roundtable discussions

Duties and Responsibilities

Purpose:

More than half of the Indonesian population now lives in cities and the number is expected to increase. With rapid urbanization, cities are more exposed to potential climate impacts. Urban floods due to unprecedented precipitation and lack of adaptive infrastructure have created significant economic losses to cities. Rising urban heat has increased the use of energy for cooling systems and poses health risks to the population, especially the most vulnerable groups. With that, cities are also one of the significant contributors of GHG emissions mainly from the energy sector (transportation and buildings) and waste management. Implementing climate action in cities is strategic to mitigate and adapt to the potential impact of climate change and mobilizing funding to finance climate action in cities is critical. City governments’ abilities to access climate finance in Indonesia are varied, one of which is due to the enabling conditions such as institutional capacity, local policy, fiscal capacity, and existing engagement with non-government actors at local levels. A comprehensive understanding of enabling conditions facilitates the design of tailored financing mechanisms, incentivizing private sector engagement and unlocking innovative finance mechanisms. Understanding these enabling conditions at city level in Indonesia with reference to national and provincial conditions is key to gathering invaluable insights into the readiness and capacity of cities to attract and effectively utilise climate finance. The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (ESCAP) and Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance (CCFLA) under the Urban-Act project have launched standardised assessment tools for the context of Asia and the Pacific at national and subnational levels to assess enabling framework conditions for urban climate finance.

The national tool has been implemented in Indonesia and India in 2024. The subnational tool is complementary to the national tool to see in more detail the enabling conditions at a targeted jurisdiction. Similar to the national tool, the subnational tool consists of climate policy, public finance and budget, climate data, and vertical and horizontal coordination dimensions. The elaboration of each dimension with specific indicators for the subnational tool is explained in the diagram below. The subnational tool is now ready for piloting to capture opportunities and gaps in targeted jurisdictions and to test the tool itself. This year, ESCAP with Gold Standard and CCFLA under the Urban-Act project plan to support an area that is part of Urban-Act pilot cities for this piloting to strengthen enabling conditions at the local level. The location of the first piloting in Indonesia is Medan City, Binjai City, Deli Serdang Regency as part of the Medan Greater Area.

The assessment is done at the district (city/regency) level by considering the national and provincial context when necessary. Climate policy: – Climate change policies; and – Climate action implementation Public finance and budget: – Subnational funding sources and revenue mobilazation for urban climate action; – Subnational green budgeting, creditworthiness, borrowing, access to capital, and engagement in co-financing and / or innovative financing Climate data: – Climate data reporting; and – Climate data avaiability and analysis partnerships. Vertical & Horizontal Coordination: – Subnational government coordination; – Public invoilvement and stkeholder engagement; and – Cooperation and peer learning. Objective: Under the direct supervision of the Urban-Act project manager and general supervision of the Chief, Sustainable Urban Development Section, the objectives of the assignments are: • Together with the National Assessment Tool, assess the enabling conditions in Medan City, Binjai City, and Deli Serdang Regency in financing urban climate action. • Identify strengths and opportunities for improvement of the institutional and enabling conditions for urban climate finance in the Medan City, Binjai City, and Deli Serdang Regency. • Facilitate recommendations for subnational governments of Medan City, Binjai City, and Deli Serdang Regency based on analysing dimension responses and considering disparate local contexts. Those include specific recommendations for the respective city/regency as well as joint recommendations for multiple institutional actors in the Mebidang area and/or Provincial Government.

Qualifications/special skills

An advanced degree in the area of development studies, urban development, finance, public administration, environmental economics, environmental sciences, social sciences, or related fields. A minimum of 8 years of experience in the field of urban/regional development, public administration, climate change, climate finance, or municipal finance. Familiarity with subnational government documentation (development plans, sectoral plans, budget plans, regulations, etc.) in Indonesia. Experience in conducting qualitative research including facilitating consultative workshops and conducting interviews for data collection. A strong background in the urban context is preferred. Experience in working with subnational governments, especially the target locations (North Sumatra, Medan, Binjai, and Deli Serdang) is an advantage. Experience working with UN agencies and/or international organizations is desirable.

Languages