I. Background

1. The Green Climate Fund (GCF) was established by Parties to the UNFCCC at its meeting in Cancún in December 2010, and formally launched in 2011 when the Governing Instrument of the GCF was adopted and approved.
2. The GCF is set to become a main international financial institution for the delivery of climate finance in support of mitigation and adaptation activities in developing countries.
3. The GCF is governed and supervised by a Board that has full responsibility for funding decisions. The GCF has a Secretariat with responsibility for the executive management and operations of the Fund. The GCF also has a Trustee in charge of the management of the Fund’s financial assets and financial reporting thereof.
4. In the GCF’s proposal approval process (decision B.07/03), entities accredited to the GCF will submit funding proposals to the Secretariat for consideration, with a no-objection from the relevant national designated authority. The Secretariat will review the funding proposals from accredited entities on a rolling basis and will perform second-level due diligence on the proposals. The expert/specialist will support the Secretariat by reviewing specific aspects of the funding proposal(s) that align with the expert/specialist’s core expertise.

II. Minimum required qualifications and key fields of competencies

5. Individuals interested to serve as international experts/specialists as part of a Roster of Experts must have prior experience developing, reviewing and/or evaluating climate change mitigation or adaptation project/programme proposals, as well as experience implementing climate change projects/programmes in developing countries in different regions.
6. Applicants must also demonstrate recognized technical capacity and expertise, supported by at least 11 years of relevant professional experience in an international environment, in at least one of the following technical specialties:
(a) Experience working in developing countries across at least two regions (among LAC, Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Asia, and Pacific)
(b) Expertise developing, implementing, and reviewing climate projects/programmes in at least two sectors among the GCF result areas, and across micro to large project sizes.
(c) Experience working with international, regional, and national entities and with different financial instruments including grant, loans, equity and guarantee.
(d) Experience conducting financial and economic analysis on a project/programme level;
(e) Experience with ex-ante, mid-term or final evaluations and/or impact assessment of climate mitigation, including carbon accounting, or adaptation projects/programmes;
(f) Risk analysis of projects/programmes, particularly for the management of financial and operational risks;
(g) Implementation and oversight of environmental and social safeguards and policies, including gender policies; and/or
(h) Design and implementation of results management frameworks for the monitoring and evaluation of projects and programmes.
(i) Experience developing the Theory of Change (TOC) that will enable climate finance to address core mitigation and adaptation challenges
7. More broadly, individuals interested to serve as international experts/specialists should demonstrate the following qualifications:
(a) Extensive operational experience in some of the Fund’s result areas:
(i) Reduced emissions from:
• Energy access and power generation
• Low emission transport
• Buildings, cities, industries, and appliances
• Forests and land use
(ii) Increased resilience of:
• Livelihoods of people, communities, and regions
• Health and well-being, and food and water security
• Infrastructure and the built environment
• Ecosystems and ecosystem services;
(b) Professional experience in the financing, development, and implementation of public and/or private sector projects in developing countries;
(c) Working knowledge of the project management cycle, including origination, implementation, and activity oversight; and/or
(d) Deep understanding of policies and procedures of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and keeping abreast of communications of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and other relevant processes is desirable.
(e) The areas of technical specialization sought are as follows:
• Early warning and climate information services: Extensive knowledge in the design and implementation of climate information, early warning/early action and broader disaster risk reduction projects/programmes. This should include the use of climate information and early warning services in investment and financial decision for low-emission climate-resilient development,
• Health: Extensive knowledge of the effects of climate change into the social and environmental determinants of health and well-being, such as clean air, drinking water supply, sanitation sufficient nutrition and secure shelter, among others in developing countries. Experience of developing projects for resilient health systems and services.
• Agriculture and food security: Substantive experience in reviewing, developing and implementing low-emission and climate-resilient Agriculture and Food Security investments in developing countries including low-emission and climate resilient value chains, water management and irrigation for agriculture, resilient agricultural landscape and agroforestry, community-based adaptation, climate information tailored to small-scale farmers, capacity building, institutional and policy change, etc. Knowledge of crop, livestock, aquaculture, and fishery
• Water Security: Substantive experience in developing, reviewing and implementing low-emission and climate-resilient water resources management projects in developing countries, including water supply and sanitation, flood control and drought management projects.
• Infrastructure and built environment: Substantive experience in developing and implementing low-emission and climate-resilient Infrastructure investments in developing country settings, with special focus on adaptation. Ability to verify integrated approach to adaptation with predominant role of infrastructure. Experience in structuring and assessment of integrated approaches to infrastructure as systems and across systems (interconnected territorially) to assure undisturbed provision of services. Capacity to verify infrastructure related engineering studies and budgets. Proven experience in verification of financial and economic analyses in infrastructure projects.
• Ecosystems and ecosystem services: Substantive experience in developing, reviewing, and/or implementing ecosystem and ecosystem services investments and interventions. Knowledge and experience in nature-based solutions (NBS) in support of climate goals providing co-benefits in both biodiversity and ecosystem services for marine and terrestrial ecosystems in light of changing land use patterns and dynamics. Desirable: Experience with key areas i.e. coastal ecosystems (wetlands, mangroves), peatlands, coral reefs (especially warm water coral reefs), marine forests, drylands, etc. Experience in financing and governing NBS i.e. PES, integrated coastal management, conservation management blue carbon management, sustainable management of fisheries, etc. Experience in ecosystem valuation and related processes.
• Energy generation and access: Substantive experience in developing and implementing low-emission and climate-resilient Renewable Energy investments in developing country settings. Combined experience in both public and private sector in the energy value chain. Experience on delivery of Technical Assistance measures for the deployment of energy access or power generation is a must. Knowledge of renewable energy frameworks, policies and regulatory gaps for the deployment of renewable energy projects with records of hands-on advisory experience in the context of international cooperation are pre-requisites.
• Cities: Substantive experience in developing and implementing low emissions and climate resilient infrastructure and urban services as well as green technology solutions in cities / urban systems in developing countries; in particular, investments in known Transformative Action Fields (TAFs) being: decarbonization of urban energy systems; energy efficiency in building stocks; urban mobility and transport; improving waste management in cities; more efficient use of materials and material flow; compact urban form; and building urban resilience.
• Energy Efficiency: Aside from the energy efficiency in the urban sector above, substantive experience in developing, structuring, reviewing and implement energy efficiency policies and investment in developing countries with different development financial institutions including multi-lateral development banks. The consultant should have experience within the industrial processing as well as efficient appliances and equipment focusing on efficient cooling, efficient motor systems and etc..
• Low emissions transport: Substantive experience in policy planning and investment in low-emission and climate-resilient Transport investments in developing country settings; The consultant should have experience in mobility planning at national and municipal level, targeting movement of both goods and people; and expertise in different transport technologies such as EV and fuel-cell.
• Forest and land use: Substantive experience in reviewing, developing and implementing low-emission and climate-resilient investments, projects and programmes in forest landscapes in developing countries. This includes forest value chains, sustainable forest management, REDD+, forest restoration and conservation, financial mechanisms (grant and non-grant instruments) for sustainable forest landscapes, forest carbon accounting, deforestation-free commodities supply chains.
8. In addition to the above, interested individuals must demonstrate an unquestionable personal reputation, integrity, and ethical behaviour throughout his or her professional career. Selected experts working for GCF accredited entities or executing entities will not review proposal from these entities.
9. The working language of the GCF is English. Fluency in another language, particularly an official language of the United Nations, is a plus.

III. Application and selection procedure

10. Interested individuals should submit their expression of interest by providing a full documented CV and a cover letter specifying their technical specialties, based on their skills and experience, from those listed in paragraph 6 above.
11. The file containing the curriculum vitae should be named “CV [FAMILY NAME]” (e.g. CV SMITH), and similarly, the file containing the cover letter should be named “Cover letter [FAMILY NAME]”.
12. The experts will be selected through an open, transparent, and competitive process based on the criteria above and the annexed terms of reference.
13. The experts will be expected to work remotely under the supervision of a GCF staff member. The time required for proposal review will depend upon the volume and complexity of funding proposals, with an expectation of review of Concept Notes to be completed within 1-2 days, and full Funding Proposals to be completed within 5-7 days. The Secretariat will provide the necessary operational and administrative support to the expert.
14. Shortlisting will start on 1 July 2020 and will continue until the Roster of Experts has been filled.
15. Once accepted onto the Roster of Experts, individual consultancy contracts will be agreed for a fixed number of days on a timesheet basis.

Annex: Terms of reference for International Experts to support the Green Climate Fund on funding proposal assessments as part of a Roster of Experts
I. Role and mandate
1. The international expert will support the Secretariat by reviewing in full or specific aspects of the concept note(s) and/or funding proposal(s) that align with the expert’s core expertise. This will be done in accordance with the GCF’s investment framework and relevant policies, and in order to provide additional technical expertise in the review of funding proposals for the Board’s consideration.
2. The expert will be bound by these terms of reference (TOR) as well as by any relevant policies and procedures of the GCF, including the policy on ethics and conflict of interest for external members serving on panels, sub-committees and working groups of the Board.
3. The expert, in order to conduct of the technical assessment of funding proposals, will be provided with the relevant section(s) of the concept note or funding proposal package and other necessary information that may reasonably be requested from the Secretariat.
II. Modalities of work
4. The expert will conduct the review of concept notes and funding proposals remotely. The dates and timelines for reviews will be determined by the Secretariat in accordance with the proposal approval process. The time required for proposal review will depend upon the volume and complexity of funding proposals, with an expectation of review of Concept Notes to be completed within 1-3 days, and full Funding Proposals to be completed within 5-7 days, depending upon the length of documents and complexity of the project.
5. The Secretariat will provide the necessary operational and administrative support to the expert.
III. Compensation
6. A fee will be paid to the expert in accordance with the GCF’s rules and regulations, subject to the terms of their consultancy contracts. The time required for review of funding proposals will be determined in consultation with the Secretariat.
IV. Conflict of interest and confidentiality
7. A conflict of interest arises when an expert has an interest, which may include but is not limited to a financial interest that could, or could be deemed to, improperly influence the performance of his or her official duties or responsibilities as an expert. A conflict of interest applies to, among others, experts/specialists who hold positions in government or non-governmental organizations, or who are working in, or have any contractual arrangement as consultants or otherwise with, the Accredited Entity or an executing entity of the project under review.
8. All actual or potential conflicts of interest, or the appearance thereof, shall be immediately disclosed in writing to the GCF’s Integrity Unit. When the Integrity Unit determines that an actual or potential conflict of interest exists, the expert shall not participate in the matter that has given rise to the conflict absent a waiver from the Integrity Unit. The waiver may be designed to allow for any level of participation that the Integrity Unit deems appropriate.
9. Furthermore, at the time of appointment, all experts will sign an Oath for external members serving the GCF.
10. Experts shall adhere to the Policy on Ethics and Conflict of Interest for external members serving on Panels, Sub-Committees and Working Groups of the Board, as may be amended from time to time.
11. Experts shall adhere to the GCF’s information disclosure policy, as may be amended from time to time, including in respect of the treatment of confidential information.
V. Revision and termination of the terms of reference of the Expert
12. The Fund may revise these TOR as necessary in order to incorporate lessons learned and to reflect the evolving technical needs of the GCF.
13. The mandate of the Expert/Specialist may be revised or terminated by the GCF, if deemed necessary.