Carbon Market Specialist

The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners' peacebuilding, humanitarian, and development projects around the world.  Mandated as a central resource of the United Nations, UNOPS provides sustainable project management, procurement, and infrastructure services to a wide range of governments, donors, and United Nations organizations.  With over 8,000 personnel spread across 80 countries, UNOPS offers its partners the logistical, technical and management knowledge they need, where they need it.  By implementing around 1,000 projects for our partners at any given time, UNOPS makes significant contributions to results on the ground, often in the most challenging environments.

The UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre (UNEP-CCC) was established in early 2022. UNEP-CCC is programmatically guided by UN Environment (UNEP) and operationally supported by UNOPS. UNEP-CCC was established to ensure preservation and continuation of the experience and capacity established through a 30-year working relationship between UNEP, the Danish Technical University (DTU), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), known as the UNEP DTU Partnership (UDP). 

UNEP-CCC is a leading international advisory institution on energy, climate and sustainable development. Its work focuses on assisting developing countries and emerging economies transition towards more low carbon development paths and supports integration of climate-resilience in national development. UNEP-CCC is actively engaged in implementing UN Environment’s Climate Change Strategy and Energy Programme by delivering technical assistance and analytical work to emerging markets and developing countries in context of the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals.

The Institutional Development Section (ID) is one of five sections at UNEP-CCC. The ID section provides the institutional development expertise required to engage on policy, planning, transparency, and market development and for climate policy integration into regular development processes.

The ID section is involved in several projects that support the center strategy in the areas of policy, transparency, and implementation. The ID seeks to recruit carbon market programme officers in climate governance and carbon markets to work on project management, technical analysis, and administrative support.  The successful candidates will be part of the team supporting capacity building projects to implement Article 6 of the Paris Agreement including Supporting Preparedness for Article 6 Cooperation (SPAR6C), Integrated Assessment for Article Six (IAAS), Sustainable Development Initiative (SDI) for Article 6, the Article 6 and Voluntary Carbon Market Database and Pipeline Analysis, and Implementation of NDC Action. The candidates will strengthen the visibility of UNEP-CCC’s work on implementation of Article 6 carbon market approaches in international fora and contribute to analytical work and publications.

The ID section also supports countries to translate their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) into concrete sector strategies and actions ready for financing and implementation, and to increase the ambition of their NDCs. The section engages key decision-makers and stakeholders: national and sub-national government entities, the private sector, financial institutions, civil society, etc. 

Under the direct supervision of the Carbon Markets Coordinator / Head of Section, Institutional Development, the Carbon Market Specialist will have the following functional responsibilities: 

• Provide science-based advice in the areas of: GHG, SDG, and transformational impact assessment, institutional and regulatory governance of carbon markets, transparency of NDC implementation, accounting and reporting on the use of Internationally Traded Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs) to enable ambition raising. 

• In collaboration with the Head of Section independently work on a varied portfolio of activities, including project management support, collaboration with partners, quantitative and qualitative analysis, presentation of analytical results using digital tools and web-based platforms

• Collaborate with relevant colleagues across the UNEP-CCC sections.

• Work on the analysis, database development and capacity building support for implementation of Article 6 cooperative approaches in emerging markets and developing countries.

• Collaborate with his/her supervisor in the work of the ID section, including the development and management of institutional frameworks, financing of mitigation activities, integrated assessment of mitigation policies and actions with long-term mitigation strategies for net zero emissions to achieve the global goals of the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

• Ensure the development and/or application of GHG and SDG impact assessment methodologies to enable trading in ITMOs using digital tools and approaches for monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV).

• Ensure project management and coordination, allocation of budget resources within the assigned projects.

• Regularly monitor and assess performance against KPIs and project milestones.

• Contribute to the visibility and communication of UNEP-CCC’s activities and outcomes publicly.

• Contribute to analytical work, resulting in both peer-reviewed publications and reports, perspectives, and policy briefings.

Monitoring and Progress Controls

The process will be based on performance evaluation including the following:

• Successful completion of project management tasks that will be assigned to the staff, including timely submission of corresponding deliverables

• Successful and timely maintenance of the project website and online knowledge-sharing platform

• Level of contribution to the strategic discussions and common tasks as part of the ID section

a. Education 

• An advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent), preferably in Natural or Computer Science / Engineering / Business / Policy / Economics / Social science is required. 
• A first level university degree (Bachelor degree or equivalent) in the related fields with two (2) years of additional professional experience will be accepted in lieu of a master’s degree.
• A PhD degree with a thesis and/or research related to carbon markets is a strong asset.

b. Experience

• The candidate should have a minimum of 5 years of work experience in the carbon market area
• Project management, coordination and Fund-raising experience is an asset
• Experience in emerging markets and developing countries is a strong asset.  
• Data analysis and programming skills (e.g. Excel, Tableau, digital tools, phyton AI) is a strong asset
• Experience in impact assessment for sustainable development and/or transformational change is an asset  
• Experience in carbon pricing and international climate governance, related to the Paris Agreement Articles 6 is desirable 
• Experience and knowledge of CDM and VCM methodologies is an asset

c. Languages

• Fluency in English (written and oral) is required. Fluency in one or more other UN languages, in particular French and Spanish is an asset.

Contract type: International Individual Contractor Agreement 
Contract level: IICA 2 / ICS 10
Contract duration: One year (12 months) initially, renewable subject to satisfactory performance and availability of funds 

*Please note that this is a partner personnel contract, and as such, the is no mobility/relocation grant. UNEP-CCC will cover the cost of the individual's flight to the duty station.

• Please note that UNOPS does not accept unsolicited resumes.

• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.

• Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process, which involves various assessments.

• UNOPS embraces diversity and is committed to equal employment opportunity. Our workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures,  languages, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, and abilities. UNOPS seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. 

• Qualified women and candidates from groups which are underrepresented in the UNOPS workforce are encouraged to apply. These include in particular candidates from racialized and/or indigenous groups, members of minority gender identities and sexual orientations, and people with disabilities.

• We would like to ensure all candidates perform at their best during the assessment process.  If you are shortlisted and require additional assistance to complete any assessment, including reasonable accommodation, please inform our human resources team when you receive an invitation.

Terms and Conditions 

• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post. 

• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few Mandatory Courses (they take around 4 hours to complete) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS. For more information on a retainer contract here.

• All UNOPS personnel are responsible for performing their duties in accordance with the UN Charter and UNOPS Policies and Instructions, as well as other relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, all personnel must demonstrate an understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a manner consistent with UN core values and the UN Common Agenda.

• It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential personnel. Recruitment in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.