Climate Change and Green Growth Officer at the African Development Bank Group (AfDB)

African Development Bank Group (AfDB) – Established in 1964, the African Development Bank is the premier pan-African development institution, promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. There are 80 member states, including 54 in Africa (Regional Member Countries).

The Bank’s development agenda is delivering the financial and technical support for transformative projects that will significantly reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable economic growth. In order to sharply focus the objectives of the Ten Year Strategy (2013 – 2022) and ensure greater developmental impact, five major areas (High 5s), all of which will accelerate our delivery for Africa, have been identified for scaling up, namely; energy, agro-business, industrialization, integration and improving the quality of life for the people of Africa.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Climate Change and Green Growth Officer

Reference: ADB/19/065
Location: Côte d’Ivoire
Grade: PL3
Position N°: 50076660

The Complex

The Vice Presidency for ‘Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth’ is a Sector Complex focusing on the Bank’s Ten Years Strategy, High 5s priority of “Light up and Power Africa”.
The complex’s objectives are (i) to develop policy and strategy; (ii) to provide deep sector technical expertise to the Regions by gathering pool of experienced individuals who can be consulted for their expertise on complicated transactions; (iii) to develop new financing instruments; (iv) to act as spokesperson to represent the Bank with external stakeholders on all aspects of “Light Up and Power Africa”.
The Complex will focus on areas of Power systems, policy and regulation, renewable energy; and, Climate and Green Growth.

The Department

The Climate Change and Green Growth Department has broad objectives of: i) mainstreaming climate change and green growth into Bank’s High 5s’ operations; ii) implementing the Bank’s climate change interventions through the Bank’s Climate Change Action Plan and the Bank’s Green Growth Framework; iii) managing access to the growing number of sources of Green and Climate Finance for all Operational Vice Presidencies within the Bank; iv) driving towards achieving universal energy access through the greenest solutions possible; and v) leading all efforts within the Bank focused on minimizing and reversing the effects of Climate Change on the continent.
The Department consists of two main divisions, Climate and Green Growth Division, and Climate Finance Division.

The Hiring Division

The Climate and Green Growth Division is responsible for ensuring that all efforts within the Bank are focused on minimizing and reversing the effects of Climate Change on the continent, including advising Regional Member Countries on climate and green growth policies and strategies, mainstreaming climate change and green growth in Bank-wide implementation activities, tracking climate-related operations financed by the Bank, with the view of achieving Bank’s climate and green growth mandates.

The Position

The position of Chief Climate Change and Green Growth Officer in the Green Growth and Climate Adaptation Division focuses on minimizing and reversing the effects of Climate Change on the continent and mainstreaming climate change and green growth in Bank-wide implementation activities. It supports all Operational Vice-Presidencies on the HI 5 initiatives.
The Chief Climate Change and Green Growth Officer will therefore provide technical leadership and advisory services to Bank’s operations on the mainstreaming of climate change and green growth in Bank’s High 5 related activities in various sectors and regional hubs, while leading Bank’s efforts on project finance initiatives and Fund structuring as they relate to climate change, green growth and green finance.

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the overall supervision and general guidance of the Division Manager, Climate and Green Growth, the Climate Change and Green Growth Officer will perform the following:

Climate change and green growth policy and advocacy:

Lead the provision of technical support on mainstreaming climate and green growth into all High 5 activities and support RMCs, in helping them achieve their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);
Support project teams in structuring their projects and financing instruments to benefit from climate finance, including project finance initiatives;
Provide advisory and investment services to all Bank’s sector and regional operations on matters relating to climate change and green growth;
Support all Bank’s sector and regional departments as well as RMCs to ensure an effective consideration of climate change adaptation and mitigation measures into development interventions;
Provide technical leadership and support to the secretariat of the Bank’s Climate Change Coordination Committee (CCCC), the Africa NDC Hub and related meetings and activities.
Lead on the implementation of the objective of the Bank’s Ten Year Strategy of supporting Africa’s transition to green growth.
Advise and assist Regional Member Countries in the development and implementation of climate and green inclusive policies and measures in order to achieve Nationally Determined Contributions, Sustainable Development Goals and access green and climate finance, by applying deep technical expertise to all of the Bank’s relevant activities;
Guide all Operational Vice Presidencies in the Bank to ensure that they incorporate green and climate relevant criteria in project design, and help them access green and climate finance;
Support the development of all High 5s as appropriate, by advising Bank’s sector and regional operations to mainstream climate change and green growth into operations;
Provide technical leadership on the promotion of climate-resilient and low-carbon development pathways in Africa, by advising RMCs to achieve their climate change and green growth objectives;
Lead the development of relevant adaptation, mitigation and green growth tools and instruments that support climate-resilient and low-carbon development trajectories in Africa ;
Engage in the United Nations Framework Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC) negotiations and provide input via AfDB’s observer status, in order to enhance African voice on climate change and green growth, by providing technical leadership for Bank’s participation in relevant international fora, including the Conferences of Parties (COPs);
Assess and make recommendations to management on engagement with other relevant conventions and protocols, including desertification & land degradation, biodiversity conventions, among others;
Provide technical leadership for the design and implementation of Bank’s integrated capacity development programme on climate change and green growth, to facilitate the delivery of Bank’s commitments and to ensure that Bank’s and RMC’s investments are protected against the impacts of climate change while taking advantage of the associated opportunities to low-carbon and climate-resilient development pathways;
Provide technical leadership for the implementation of the Bank’s Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP), the Green Growth Framework, and the Africa NDC Hub, in collaboration with relevant Bank’s departments and external partners;
Provide technical support for the implementation of global and continental initiatives arising from the multilateral and regional negotiations relating to climate change, including the regional flagship programmes, the Africa Adaptation Initiative, the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative, the NDC Partnership, as well as other climate change and green growth partnership initiatives by the UNFCCC Secretariat, the Global Green Growth Initiative (GGGI), the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and bilateral development agencies;
Assist the Director and the Manager in leading the Bank’s technical support to the Committee of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC), African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) and the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) and other relevant continental initiatives for effective consideration of Africa’s priorities and concerns into global frameworks;
Provide technical expertise on climate change and green growth to operations, by supporting Bank’s sector and regional operations through advisory services on climate change and green growth mainstreaming;
Providing technical leadership on project finance and fund structuring for climate change related interventions, with the aim of minimising climate risks to the economic and maximizing finance opportunities for adaptation and mitigation;
Support other Bank’s departments, including Treasury, and Environmental Safeguards on issues relating to Green Bonds, Environmental and Social Governance (ESG) ratings, and the Integrated Safeguards System (ISS);
Lead Bank’s engagement with other International Financial Institutions and multilateral and bilateral agencies on alignment of development interventions with the Paris Agreement’s goals and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);
Support Bank’s efforts to become a knowledge broker on climate change and green growth, by leading the development of technical papers and scientific studies on issues related to climate change and green growth in Africa;
Undertake any other task as assigned by the Director and the Division Manager.

Selection Criteria
Including desirable skills, knowledge and experience:

Hold at least a Master’s Degree in Climate, Environment and Natural Resource Management, Energy Policy, International Development, Economics, or a related field;
Have a minimum of seven (7) years of experience in a combination of related fields such as national and international climate policies and measures including the UNFCCC negotiations; climate and green growth; energy and project management; climate or green finance; trust fund management; multilateral development bank; public or private financial institutions; and development or related fields.
Excellent technical and analytical skills and established track record in operational and policy work on climate change, green growth and climate finance matters;
Strong knowledge in supporting the mainstreaming of climate change and green growth into major development investments within the Continent;
Knowledge of climate change and climate finance issues facing regional member countries (RMCs);
Strong practical experience in applying tools and instruments for mainstreaming climate change, tracking climate finance, green growth and climate finance into development concerns in Bank operations.
Strong project finance and fund structuring experience.
Extensive knowledge of climate change and green growth, and of multilateral climate governance framework and global climate finance architecture;
Understanding of climate change and green growth issues, challenges and practices relating to Africa;
Experience in the area of mainstreaming climate change adaptation and mitigation measures into development interventions, or field operations involving climate change and green growth matters;
Private sector experience, with focus on project finance, co-financing and fund structuring;
Proven track record on policy dialogue and cross-institutional collaboration at the highest level, including with representatives of government and non-government partners;
Ability to communicate orally and in writing effectively in French or English, with a good working knowledge of the other language.
Competence in the use of standard Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint).