Senior Advisor Carbon Market

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 the 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 low- and middle-income countries transition towards more low-carbon development paths and supports the integration of climate-resilience in national development. UNEP-CCC is actively engaged in implementing the UN Environment Programme’s Climate Change Strategy and Energy Programme by delivering technical assistance and analytical work to emerging markets and developing countries in the context of the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Institutional Development Section (ID) is one of five sections at UNEP-CCC. It provides the institutional development expertise required to engage in 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 a senior advisor on the carbon market to work on project management, technical analysis, and administrative support. The successful candidate 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 6 (IAA6), Sustainable Development Initiative (SDI) for Article 6, the Article 6 and Voluntary Carbon Market Database (Article 6 Pipeline), and others as needed. The candidate will strengthen the visibility of UNEP-CCC’s work on the 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. 

The candidate is expected to work independently on a varied portfolio of activities, including project management and program development, collaboration with partners, quantitative and qualitative analysis, presentation of analytical results using digital tools and web-based platforms as well as collaboration with relevant colleagues across UNEP and UNEP-CCC sections.

The main responsibility of the candidate will be to : 

• Lead and provide a science-based analytic advice and project management in the areas of: 

• Capacity building for implementation of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement with a focus on market-based approaches (Article 6.2 and 6.4). 

• Transparency, GHG accounting, reporting and review of NDC implementation using Internationally Traded Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs) for ambition raising. 

• Analysis of SDG impacts, transformational change assessment and institutional development.

• Lead the work on tracking and analyzing Article 6 implementation across countries, including host party strategies, cooperation agreements, projects and methodologies, authorization procedures, reporting frameworks, etc.

• Lead the development of a user-friendly web-based platform for the Article 6 pipeline database, including stakeholder consultations, partner selection and coordination 

• Work on capacity building for development of carbon market activities and institutional frameworks for implementation of Articles 6 and 13 of the Paris Agreement in low- and middle-income countries.

• Coordinate with the head of section the ongoing work of the ID section, including: the development and management of institutional frameworks and databases for carbon market implementation, integrated assessment of mitigation policies and actions to achieve the global goals of the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; and greening the power sector in partner countries. 

• Lead the enhancement and development of GHG and SDG impact assessment of mitigation activities for trading in ITMOs using digital tools and data visualization approaches to present insights and open access data to provide transparency on global carbon markets.

• Be responsible for project management and coordination, allocation of budget resources within the assigned projects and for regularly monitoring and assessing performance against KPIs and project milestones. 

• Contributes to the visibility and communication of UNEP-CCC’s activities and outcomes publicly. This involves contributing 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

a. Education 

• An advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) preferably in Computer Science / Natural Science / Engineering / Business / Policy / Economics / Social science or related field is required. 
• A First-level University degree (Bachelor’s degree or equivalent) combined with two additional years of relevant professional experience may be accepted in lieu of a Master’s degree.
• A PhD with a thesis related to carbon markets is an advantage.

b. Experience

• The candidate should have a minimum of 7 years of experience with carbon markets or related areas
• Experience working on carbon markets in emerging and developing countries is required. 
• Data analysis and database management skills (Excel, SQL, Qlik, Tableau and other digital tools) is desirable 
• Experience in impact assessment for sustainable development and/or transformational change is desirable 
• Experience and knowledge of GHG mitigation methodologies is desirable 
• Experience working in an international agency or organization is desirable
• Programming skills (e.g., Excel, Python, R, etc.) are desirable
• Experience in climate change negotiation and international climate governance, related to the Paris Agreement Articles 6 and 13 is desirable

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 3 / ICS 11
Contract duration: One year (12 months) initially, renewable subject to satisfactory performance and availability of funds

• 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.