Sustainable Finance Officer, LAC
JOB DETAIL
Sustainable Finance Officer, LAC
INTRODUCTION TO GGGI
The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) is a treaty-based international, inter-governmental organization dedicated to supporting and promoting strong, inclusive and sustainable economic growth in developing countries and emerging economies. To learn more please visit about GGGI web page.
The Sustainable Finance Officer will support and coordinate the implementation of the GGGI’s sustainable finance technical assistance. The Officer will coordinate the engagement with government stakeholders, while leading the delivery of thematic bond capacity building and technical assistance to achieve the program’s intended goals. S/he will act as a trusted advisor to potential issuers, bringing his/her practical experience to support successful issuances of thematic bonds.
The Officer will report to GGGI Project Manager and the Deputy Head of Programs for Latin America and the Caribbean.
CONTEXT
The pandemic had a dramatic effect on the NDC and SDG financing gap in developing countries, which is estimated to have increased to USD 3.7 trillion by the end of 2021, a 50% increase compared to the pre-pandemic period.[2]
GGGI and the Government of Luxemburg have formalized a collaboration for the establishment of a Global Trust Fund on Sustainable Finance Instruments: Scaling up Thematic Bond Markets in Developing Countries offering a novel approach to closing the development financing gap by leveraging the capital market’s potential to promote climate change mitigation and adaptation by setting in place policy incentives and de-risking measures to direct bond proceeds towards low carbon resilient projects and initiatives. With an estimated global capitalization of USD 129.3 trillion[3], the bond market represents the main source of capital for sovereign governments and public and private financial institutions. Shifting only 2.8% of global issuances towards development financing gaps of developing countries would be sufficient to fill the NDC and SDG USD 3.7 trillion gap
During the coming 4 years, GGGI’s technical assistance will strengthen the national green finance ecosystem of 10 developing countries through the development of policy frameworks across 6 countries and training of 400 private and public sector sustainable finance experts. GGGI will deliver pre- and post-issuance and credit enhancement support to up to 15 potential issuers, leading to an expected 10 thematic bond issuances raising USD 2 billion earmarked to NDC targets. The program’s direct capital mobilization will contribute to the avoidance of 130 million tCO2 emissions, enhance the climate change resilience of 2 million beneficiaries, and create 400,000 green jobs.
The program aims to deliver four interrelated outcomes:
- National policy frameworks are enhanced: supporting financial regulators across 6 countries to develop regulatory frameworks and guidelines to mitigate perceived thematic bond risks, lift barriers to issuance and promote alignment with international standards.
- Capacity of prospective issuers enhanced: in collaboration with LuxSE deliver capacity building webinars training to an estimated 400 sustainable finance experts from issuers, stock exchanges and regulators, followed by bilateral on-the-job training to incentive and promote issuances. Country-level capacity building will be complemented by international learning networks, providing a platform for capital market actors across prioritized geographies to receive specialized training, share lessons learned, and recommendations.
- USD 2 billion mobilized for NDC and SDG activities via thematic bond issuances: delivering credit-enhancement, pre- and post-issuance support to prospective issuers. GGGI will support issuers from developing countries develop ambitious issuance strategies, bond frameworks, processes for projects evaluation and selection, impact reporting and management of proceeds. GGGI will assist the development, evaluation and selection of underlying project portfolios and support SPO processes to demonstrate issuances alignment with NDCs and SDGs targets. Following the issuance, GGGI will support issuers prepare impact and allocation reports to ensure transparent monitoring and reporting of environmental and social benefits.
- Program knowledge is shared: promoting knowledge sharing in collaboration with LuxSE through participation to events and development of case studies. The project will leverage its broad base of beneficiaries to collect recommendations and share these with ICMA’s members and other relevant stakeholders.
PURPOSE
Support the delivery of climate and sustainable finance activities, including:
- Work with National Governments to support the implementation of Sustainable Finance priorities and strategies
- Support sovereign institutional players in developing their respective policy frameworks and institutional capacities
- Deliver technical assistance to public and private financial sector actors on the design of thematic bonds (green, social, sustainability and sustainability-linked)
- Deliver technical assistance to prioritized beneficiaries on the design and implementation of sustainable and climate finance instruments, including debt for nature/climate swaps, green loans, etc
- Development of content for knowledge, training, and communication materials on Sustainable Finance instruments
- Capacity building and technical assistance to local financial institutions/local market players to promote wider adoption of sustainable finance instruments.
- Development of concept notes and funding proposals for international climate funds, including the Green Climate Fund, Adaptation Fund and Global Environment Facility
ENGAGEMENT
- Support the engagement with national and subnational governments, financial institutions and non-financial corporations prioritized by the program
- Build and maintain strong relationships with the Ministry of Finance, local financial institutions, national development banks, international financial institutions and international climate funds;
- Engage with financial regulators to influence finance policy development and decision making
- Organize and deliver consultation and validation workshops to validate products and activities
- Support the establishment of and periodic engagement with the program steering committee
- Support the engagement with government counterparts, negotiation MOUs, advance membership and HCA negotiation
- Support the engagement with potential donors and partners
- Participate to GGGI-wide events to create awareness about GGGI Sustainable Finance work and activities
- Represent GGGI in national, regional and international events
- Support the conceptualization and formalization of knowledge sharing networks within and across the region to share experiences, best practices and learn from each other
- Organize relevant workshops, consultations, and focal group discussions with key department-level stakeholders to ensure alignment of GGGI´s service with client needs.
DELIVERY
- Support prospective issuers throughout thematic bond pre- and post-issuance phases
- Perform thematic bond readiness assessment of prospective issuers
- Develop a diagnostic of prospective thematic bond issuer’s internal systems to identify weaknesses, gaps, and areas of improvement
- Collaborate with prospective thematic bond issuer’s internal teams to review, identify and prioritize eligible projects to be funded with bond proceeds
- Collect best practices on thematic bond issuances, develop case studies and deliver presentations to the projects’ primary beneficiaries
- Develop and deliver recommendations to prospective thematic bond issuers on thematic bond governance structures
- Assist prospective issuers identifying, developing and formalizing their thematic bond governance structure
- Develop and formalize the process and methodology for identifying, prioritizing and selecting eligible projects
- Develop and deliver recommendations to prospective issuers on impact reporting standards and practices, including the development of indicators for periodic use of proceeds and impact monitoring, standardized procedures for portfolio-level and project-level monitoring and reporting
- Develop thematic bond frameworks (green, social, sustainability and sustainability-linked) in alignment with international best practices and principles
- Assist prospective issuers in obtaining a Second Party Opinion from a reputable certifier/verifier
- Support project reporting to GGGI HQ and donor(s)
- Provide technical advice to government counterparts on sustainable finance policies, instruments and green investment projects.
- Develop and deliver sustainable finance capacity building presentations and material
- Develop policy recommendations to reduce barriers to thematic bond issuance in emerging economies
- Develop and disseminate capacity development and knowledge sharing products such as insight briefs and toolkits in the field of sustainable bonds.
REQUIREMENTS
QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Economics or other related fields;
- An advanced degree in Finance, Public Administration, Economics, Sustainable Development, or other relevant field is a plus;
- At least 5-6 years of professional experience in sustainable finance; experience in client facing roles in financial institutions or development agencies
- At least 3 years of professional experience designing thematic bond frameworks
- At least 2 years of international experience
- Prior experience developing and delivering sustainable finance capacity building
- Understanding of green finance and sustainable financial instruments (bonds, grants, debt, guarantees and equity)
- Verbal and written fluency in English and Spanish
FUNCTIONAL
- Leadership, teamwork and creative problem-solving abilities
- Ability to develop and maintain working relations with financial sector stakeholders
- Committed to learning about the growing field of sustainable finance
- Ability to multi-task and prioritize under stressful circumstances.
- Ability to interact and form relationships with high-level government officials and partners
- Knowledge of and experience in adhering to internationally agreed environmental and social safeguards (ESS) and gender-sensitive design requirements
CORPORATE
- Understand and actively supports GGGI’s mission, vision and values.
- Promote an organizational culture of trust, transparency, respect and partnership.
- Process and share information easily.
- Manage emotions and stress positively, builds rapport and resolves conflict easily.
- Promote creativity and innovation among staff.
- Be able to lead where needed and provide solutions to project-level challenge.
