Consultancy to gather data for the development of the harmonized GHG protocol and operationalization of carbon registry of the Climate Commission for the Sahel Region

Result of Service

DELIVERABLES 1. A consultancy workplan is delivered one week after the appointment. 2. A draft outlooks of data that will be gathered for the CCSR standardized and harmonized protocols, and carbon registry are prepared and submitted to ECA and CCSR two weeks after the appointment. 3. Draft report of compiled data covering all sectors including all the comments is prepared and presented to ECA and CCSR one month and half after the appointment. In addition, a draft workplan for communicating/disseminating the CCSR Harmonized Protocol for accounting and reporting mitigated GHG emissions, and the operationalized CCSR Carbon Registry is produced. The plan covers all the communication materials including videos, pamphlets, flyers, etc. 4. Final report of approximately 50 – 60 pages for each sector (indicated in point 3 under deliverables) including all the additional comments made by the CCSR, its member countries and ECA are presented three two months after the appointment. In addition, the CCSR Harmonized Protocol for accounting and reporting mitigated GHG emissions, and the operationalized CCSR Carbon are communicated to the member countries of CCSR recommended by the Office of the Executive Secretary of CCSR, and after clearance by ECA and CCSR..

Work Location

ECA- Home Based

Expected duration

3.5 months

Duties and Responsibilities

BACKGROUND The Climate Commission for the Sahel Region (CCSR) is an intergovernmental institution whose creation by African heads of state and government on November 16, 2016 on the sidelines of the 22nd Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP22) in Marrakech, was ratified by the Assembly/AU decision /Dec.640(XXVIII) of the 28th General Assembly of the African Union held on January 30 and 31, 2017 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The other two sister Commissions created on the same date as CCSR are the Congo Basin Climate Commission (CCBC) and the African Island States Climate Commission (AISCC). Its headquarters is based in Niamey, Niger. Its mandate is to promote and coordinate the implementation of initiatives and actions that respond in a unified, coherent, and sustainable manner to the effects of climate change known to constrain the sustainable development of the 17 member countries of the CCSR. Notable initiatives are those that achieve the following. Strengthen Africa’s climate resilience, including the (i) African Agriculture Adaptation Initiative, (ii) Great Green Wall Initiative – a large-scale nature-based solution comprising an 8000 km-long green wall made of living barriers of trees and vegetation erected to combat biodiversity loss, and desertification, and restore about 100 million of degraded land, sequester about 250 million tons of CO2, and generate about 10 million green jobs. (iii) Initiative for Sustainability, Stability and Security, (iv) Initiative for the Resilience of Rural Communities, or the Reinforced Action for Forests in the Mediterranean and Sahel Region in the context of climate change (v) Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Drought resilience and Sustainability Initiative (IDDRI) (vi) Desert to Power Initiative. Promote co-emergence of a sustainable Africa, including the (vii) Initiative for Renewable Energy in Africa (viii) Initiative for the Preservation of the Lake Chad Basin Ecosystem (ix) Initiative for Blue Growth (x) Initiative for the Creation of an African Corridor of Clean Energy. (xi) Initiative for the Creation of an African Corridor of Clean Energy. To accelerate the implementation of these large-scale initiatives, CCSR, the CCSR has a strategic framework consisting of the Climate Investment Plan for the Sahel Region (PIC-RS) accompanied by a Priority Program to Catalyze Climate Investments in the Sahel (PPCI-Sahel) and consistent with regional and international instruments for sustainable development and the fight against climate change. This strategic framework is designed to enable the Sahel region to tackle the significant challenges of mobilizing the main national and foreign financing, the flows of which in Africa are too limited or almost invisible. Among other additional and important sources of finance identified and promoted by CCSR, CBCC and AISCC are high-integrity carbon credit markets. These markets are not the panacea for the global great challenges. But they can generate premium, credible, additional, and tradeable carbon credits, thus, incentivize investment in projects that do not only mitigate the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) including carbon dioxide known to exacerbate climate instability. The markets can allow local and foreign investors, including firms, communities, and governments to generate tradable credits, and expand the revenue streams, from their invest in projects that conserve biodiversity, generate, and disseminate clean energy, reduce waste and green industrialization, and generate green jobs. The additional revenues generated could contribute to advancing the targets and goals the agenda 2063, Agenda 2030, CBD, and Paris Agreement, and building synergistic responses to those initiatives promoted by CCSR. The CCSR’s choice of high-integrity markets that work for its member countries aligns well with the emerging and growing global recognition of these markets as viable instruments for governments to mobilize private and public investment, with a view to complementing decarbonizing production and consumption systems, intensifying climate action and steering economic development towards sustainable pathways. The CCSR will work closely with the ECA and other partners to improve the transactions of these offsets or credits which generally occur either through market mechanisms (voluntary offset and compliance systems) and which have seen growth important in recent years, mainly in North America and in the countries of the European Union, but remains marginal or almost invisible in Africa. Among the reasons for this limitation to attract forest carbon funds, and scale-up carbon credit and trading are limited institutional capacities to manage the carbon credit trading, low prices for forest carbon, and weak or inexistent carbon markets integrity. Market integrity here is taken in a broader sense as including integrity in the supply and demand sides as well as in the exchanges of credits. Briefly, a high-integrity carbon market has such key attributes including those promoted by the UN as adoption or use of internationally available and accepted standards and methodologies in monitoring, reporting and verifying mitigated GHG including carbon emissions; transacting or exchanging offsets or credits within the markets, even downstream markets, transparency regarding corporate information, price information, equal and fair access to the markets, equal treatment of firms, brokers, retailers, and other participants, accountability, establishment of efficient, respect for human rights, land tenure rights (tribal land, family land, community land, government land), legitimate and reliable mechanisms for addressing grievances resulting from harms associated with mitigation projects on environmental health, human, community and other rights, social and environmental safeguards, solutions to carbon leakages, additionality, conflict of interests, and double counting following, sensitivity to Article 6, mainly Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement, etc. Although some efforts have been ongoing to improve the institutional capacities across Africa region over the past decade, limited efforts have been made to build such market integrity, yet it is the latter that significantly boosts transparency, predictability, and trust, which are widely known to give rise to efficient transactions and attract investors. Building such a market integrity will help CCSR countries to improve the delivery on some of their commitments including those made through the Paris Agreement aimed at contributing to global efforts to reduce global warming and the effects of climate change, the seventh, eighth, nineth, and tenth Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (ARFSD) (2021-2024), the High-Level Political Forums (HLPF) in 2021-2024 held annually through the auspices of ECOSSOC in New York, CBD, and Agenda 2063. The latter have also recommended development of transformative initiatives to scale-up, through CCSR, investment in conservation of forest, and other crucial ecosystems including peatland, mangroves, that not only play an important role in regulating the environment (climate), but also support development of economies and societies across Africa and beyond. To allow African countries to increase the delivery on some of those commitments, the Climate Change, Food Security and Natural Resources Management Division (CFND) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has started providing technical and substantive supports (intervention) to the CCSR to build carbon market integrity, scale-up public and private investment in biodiversity conservation, and several other developmental goals alluded to early. To accelerate this intervention that needs additional skills, ECA is seeking the services of a consultant from the CCSR’s member countries to gather data from the said countries and support the development of CCSR Standardized and Harmonized Protocol for GHG including carbon emission accounting and reporting, and the operationalization of the regional CCSR Carbon Registry. The registry will allow CCSR’s member countries to have a common and integrated infrastructure for fast tract the generation and flow of carbon credits happening from the CCSR regional markets. CCSR Carbon Registry will relate to national registry, where they exist. Countries without registries could use the CCSR Carbon registry and reduce the cost of managing one. The protocols will help establish transparency, accountability, predictability, trust, and efficiency that generally are good stimulus for investments. The harmonized protocol will include guidelines that developers, communities and other entities investing in project focusing on GHG carbon emission mitigation within CCSR will follow to obtain credits. The registry will incorporate the CCSR Harmonized Protocol for accounting and reporting carbon emission and CCSR project development templates. It will be interoperable with important regional registries, and registries from CCSR’s member countries. The main objective of the intervention is to strengthen ECA’s accountability to national, regional, and global development partners, the member countries of the CCSR, AU, RECs, United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the UNGA to improve its delivery on some of its core areas of actions, think tank, policy advocacy, capacity building through technical cooperation and consensus building on the important matters concerning sustainable development in Africa. The specific objectives of the intervention are to: Gather data from CCSR’s member countries to support the development of CCSR’ standardized and harmonized protocol for accounting GHG including carbon emission and the operationalization of the regional CCSR Carbon Registry for fast-tracking the generation and flows of carbon credits resulting from mitigation projects undertaken in CCSR’ member countries that will be validated by the CCSR’s member countries, and other key stakeholders, with the support of ECA. The regional CCSR Carbon Registry will incorporate the principles of high-integrity carbon markets recommended by the UN and other important entities outlined in the CCSR harmonized protocol for accounting the mitigated GHG emission. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Gather data from CCSR’s member countries to support the development of the harmonized protocol for accounting and reporting GHG including carbon emission migrated to be used by the member countries of the CCSR. Gather data on existing practices followed by the member countries of the CCSR in designing and implementing programmes/projects relating to GHG reduction, avoidance, and removal including through Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, plus the sustainable management of forests, and the conservation and enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+, energy efficiency/energy switching, waste management, agriculture including rice cultivation. On REDD+, the following aspects will be covered. • Existing rules, norms, regulations, and practices in the CCSR’s country members in in GHG reduction, avoidance, and removal markets. • REDD+ process and funding mechanisms focusing on offset cycles, average market prices. • Volumes and prices by project types, e.g., voluntary market forestry and land use credits, renewable energy, etc. • Transactions happening between primary markets and secondary markets, covering project developers, brokers, retailers, and end buyers by sectors including consumer goods, finance, airlines, energy, food and beverage, shipping, etc. • Existing types of projects, e.g., avoided unplanned deforestation, avoided planned deforestation, afforestation/reforestation, improved forest management, sustainable agriculture, etc. • Stages of project development: design, active, abandoned, etc. Countries will be selected by ECA and CCSR and informed to the consultant upon the commencement of the contract. Deliberate and agree with ECA and CCSR on additional data that may be added to the eligibility and other criteria, notably the following: (i) Accounting guidelines: project definition, offset crediting, reference standards following internationally established principles including ISO14064, WRI/WBCSD GHG protocols, etc., project location, performance standard, tests, assessment boundaries, quantification of emissions, project monitoring, handling of double-counting, methods of calculation including forecasting approaches. (ii) Project/programmes’ rules and procedures (at the CCSR level and country level): registration of accounts, submittal, fees, listing, titles, conflict of interests, project completion, verification, validation, and reporting, managing over issuances, appeals, and grievances, etc. Gather data on projects carried out in the following and other key sectors/areas per countries/location/region. i. Land and land use • Afforestation • Agroforestry • Grassland/ranged land management • Improved forest management • Regenerative agriculture • Urban forestry • Wetland restoration/management • Etc. ii. Energy and industry • Cleaner cookers • Hydropower • Solar power • Wind energy • Waste management/recycling/re-use, etc. Gather data on the following. • Human and institutional capacity development, mainly in the application of the Article 6 (6,2) of the Paris Agreement on cooperation in the areas of international transfer of mitigation outcomes. • Investment flows in mitigation projects promoting reforestation/afforestation, biodiversity conservation, renewable energy generation and adaptation, SDGs, etc. • Land tenure rights (tribal land, community land, family lad), mechanisms for addressing grievances if communities affected by infrastructure and other development projects that affect environmental health, cultural heritage, etc.

Qualifications/special skills

Education Advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in environmental sciences, forestry, environmental engineering, energy economics, energy engineering, with a specialization in GHG emission data gathering, accounting, reporting, and trading or related area is required. A first level university degree in a combination of additional two years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the master’s degree. Two (2) years or more of relevant national/international experience in collecting and analyzing GHG including carbon emission mitigation, GHG emission accounting, reporting, and trading, and programmes/project design, implementation, analysis, and administration are required. A track record of publications, contribution to intergovernmental reports relating environmental management/sciences, climate economics, environmental engineering, environmental laws, strong intellectual leadership in areas relevant to the evaluation is required. Contribution to international debates relating to biodiversity conservation, reforestation/afforestation, climate change, access to clean energy and development planning is desirable. Experience of working in Africa and knowledge of CCSR member countries is required. Familiarity with the development of regional GHG protocols is desirable.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this consultancy, Fluency in English and French in writing and speaking, with working knowledge of the other language is required. Fluency in Arabic is highly desirable.

Additional Information

Not available.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.

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