Description

IFC — a member of the World Bank Group — is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. We work in more than 100 countries, using our capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities in developing countries. In fiscal year 2023, IFC committed a record US$43.7 billion to private companies and financial institutions in developing countries, leveraging the power of the private sector to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity as economies grapple with the impacts of global compounding crises. For more information, visit www.ifc.org.

IFC has embarked on an ambitious new growth strategy to stimulate more investment activity, especially in Low Income Countries (LICs) and Fragile and Conflict affected Situations (FCS). This strategy calls for generating our own opportunities by proactively working “Upstream” to create, deepen, and expand markets and to imagine, design and implement investment projects. It requires taking a systematic approach to understanding the sector bottlenecks that prevent the flow of private capital into productive investment in our member countries and addressing these bottlenecks through World Bank Group engagement on policy reforms and programmatic interventions at the country and sector level. It also requires capacity to leverage WBG programs and projects to develop our own proactive sector interventions and to imagine and design projects even in the absence of reforms.

The Financial Institutions Group (FIG) is one of the major industry groups at IFC, responsible for managing roughly 40% of IFC’s overall business in terms of volume and capital at risk.  FIG engages in a wide range of sub-sectors including Climate, Microfinance, SME, Gender, Capital Markets, Housing, Distressed Assets, and other areas, with both investment and advisory services delivered to IFC’s clients through IFC’s global network.

The Climate business is one of the strategic priorities of the WBG.  IFC has set itself a very ambitious climate action plan and target – including energy efficiency, renewable energy, cleaner production and resource efficiency, waste and wastewater management, and green buildings – and has committed that 100% of all investments will be Paris aligned by 2025. To contribute to those targets, FIG has already quadrupled its climate finance investments over the last three years, working with FIs to scale up their financing of climate friendly projects. The focus is to support IFC’s client banks and non-bank financial institutions build viable and scalable climate finance operations, leveraging capital markets as well as their client base and partnerships with real market and government players to promote Paris Alignment objectives.

The FIG LAC Upstream (US) and Advisory (AS) Unit seeks to create opportunities for new private sector led investments in the region by developing a pipeline of investment-ready opportunities made possible using distinct tools and interventions, including investment structuring, and advisory. The objective of the unit will be to enhance the next generation of FIG investments across priority sectors in the region that promote net zero/decarbonization national strategies.  

IFC is seeking an US and AS climate consultant for its Financial Institutions Group in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), to support the climate business development, market creation, capacity building and advisory/upstream project execution, among others. This will be done in close collaboration with the climate US AS and investment teams, to ensure the creation of new investment opportunities in climate finance; with a particular focus on supporting FIG clients to align their activities with the goals of the Paris Agreement, including climate change mitigation and adaptation, the conservation of forests and biodiversity, as well as directing funding to activities pursuing these objectives.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

The US/AS Climate Consultant will have a range of evolving responsibilities in line with climate related strategic priorities of FIG LAC.  Anticipated scope of duties and responsibilities during the assignment include providing advice to FIs in the region to accelerate the development of capabilities, implementation of methodologies and adjustment to processes to enable:

•  The assessment of opportunities and risks arising from climate change, through the analysis of the impact of Transition and Physical Climate Risk scenarios to their clients and portfolios.
•  The implementation of these considerations in management by developing and implementing key metrics and defining their governance.
•  Expanding green and biodiversity finance, directing funding to clients with activities which are key to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, adapting to the physical impacts of climate change, and protecting the forests and biodiversity in LAC, particularly in the Amazon region.
•  Implementing green taxonomies to enable the classification of their portfolios according to standardized sustainability criteria, facilitating the definition and monitoring of the FIs green portfolio as well as raising funds though instruments such as green bonds.
•  The definition of the FIs sustainability strategy and transition plans by defining the necessary activities to align their lending portfolio to the Multilateral Development Bank’s methodology (Paris Alignment-PA), as well targets for green finance.
•  Aligning public disclosures relative to their climate strategy and risk to international standards.

For this purpose, the selected candidate will, among others:

•  Organize capacity building activities, related to the above-mentioned topics.
•  Design and produce knowledge content for the trainings, coordinating and collaborating with different IFC units, World Bank Group (WBG) and third-party experts.
•  Develop business and engage FI’s to adopt industry practices to their own portfolio, to ensure an PA alignment, and effective implementation of green finance, and climate risk management practices.
•  Analyze the financial sector and economic environment in which LAC FIs operate to prioritize advisory activities and guide their content.

Selection Criteria

•  Master’s degree or equivalent professional qualification in Business, Finance, Economics, or related discipline, and a minimum of 15 years of relevant experience.
•  Deep understanding of the financial industry and ability to link policy reforms, climate industry standards including climate risk and decarbonization approaches, advisory interventions, investment, and mobilization to deliver climate related solutions in the region.
•  Experience in management consulting for the financial sector, investment banking, capital markets and structured finance.
•  Track record of engaging with private financial sector clients, local and national governments, and other stakeholders to encourage pioneering business and market development.
•  Demonstrated capacity for innovating and challenging the status quo to develop business opportunities, particularly in capital markets.
•  Demonstrated capacity for collaborating across organizational boundaries to shift organizational behavior and generate buy-in.
•  Strong “deal sense” and understanding of bankability criteria.
•  Outstanding analytical and critical thinking skills; demonstrated ability to synthetize complex information and make concrete strategic and tactical recommendations.
•  Excellent people and communication skills, openness to feedback and new ideas, and ability to guide, and motivate others.
•  Excellent oral and written presentation skills in English and Spanish are required; Portuguese is preferred.
•  Willingness to travel.

World Bank Group Core Competencies

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