Technical Lead in London

Climate Bonds Initiative The Climate Bonds Initiative (Climate Bonds) is an international, investor-focused not-for-profit. It is the only organisation working solely on mobilising the $125+ trillion bond market for climate change solutions. Climate Bondsruns the Standard and Certification scheme for green bonds with criteria specific to each sector. This robust labelling of bonds prevents accusations of greenwashing and serves to allow Climate Bonds to be considered as a thought leader in the green definitions space. As a standard setting body, Climate Bonds sets the guiderails for investors to understand the climate risks of their investments and the assets and activities which are aligned with a 1.5°C warming scenario. To date, over $2.3 trillion worth of issuances are aligned with the Climate Bonds Green Bond Database Methodology. The Sector Criteria establish specific benchmarks and pathways that assets and projects in different sectors need to meet to demonstrate compliance with the transition to net zero. The Sector Criteria are determined through an international consultative process in which a wide range of investors, issuers, corporates and technical experts from academia, international institutions and NGOs participate. The work is led by experts working collaboratively through Technical Working Groups (TWGs) and pragmatism is delivered by the supporting Industry Working Groups (IWGs). Purpose Climate Bondsis developing criteria for certifying bond investments (bonds and loans) in the Critical Raw Materials for the Energy Transition (CRM) sector. This will involve defining related assets and activities that are aligned with the transition to net zero and the Paris Accord. Owing to the uniquely diverse nature of this sector, we have opted to include an external, technical specialist driven, scoping phase to the existing (ISEAL aligned) criteria development process. This is a unique approach for Climate Bonds criteria development, intended to ensure integration of specialist industry knowledge and established Transition Principles into a strategic and crucial sector. The goal is to work with industry experts to identify the critical and strategic minerals and metals (various lists exist globally) and prioritise the most suitable (based on e.g. emissions materiality) mining/processing phases and for which critical metals or minerals to focus on. The goal for this work remains to ensure alignment with the Climate Bonds Transition Principles1 , existing credible criteria and standards in the market (e.g. European Critical Raw Materials Act (proposal), 2023). Criteria development context: Although the purpose of this scope of work, is not to develop final criteria, it is intended to fully develop the scoping boundaries, including a market review of highest impact (i.e. extraction and processing) areas and list of priority minerals. The full criteria development process covers the steps shown in Figure 1, to support the “develop” stage the TWG and IWG are engaged during the scoping phase and then the process continues as described below. The working groups’ primary task is to identify the key climate related impacts associated with the full pit to market value chain. This includes (but may not be limited to): Identifying existing or potential assets and activities that are aligned with a transition to net zero and 1.5- degrees pathway; Determining how those assets and activities should operate in order to be aligned as such Based on this the TWG will determine the Sector Criteria and as a result Bond investments that meet the Sector Criteria will be able to get Climate Bonds certification. Successfully published Sector Criteria will be a global tool to identify climate friendly CRM investments and align the sector with the Paris Agreement, bringing multiple benefits from both an investor and issuer standpoint. In parallel to the TWG discussions the IWG is consulted to gauge the usability and identify critical flaws, of the criteria in the bond market. A further, 60-day public consultation process is undertaken to ensure a robust, informed and credible final criteria Based on this the TWG will determine the Sector Criteria and as a result Bond investments that meet the Sector Criteria will be able to get Climate Bonds certification. Successfully published Sector Criteria will be a global tool to identify climate friendly CRM investments and align the sector with the Paris Agreement, bringing multiple benefits from both an investor and issuer standpoint. In parallel to the TWG discussions the IWG is consulted to gauge the usability and identify critical flaws, of the criteria in the bond market. A further, 60-day public consultation process is undertaken to ensure a robust, informed and credible final criteria Purpose of the scoping phase: Climate Bonds aims to convene a focused working group, comprised of key experts from representative geographies, academia, related international agencies, think tanks and/or NGOs. The group will assess the existing 1 https://www.climatebonds.net/principles-transition 3 RfP for Technical Lead for CRM Criteria - Climate Bonds Initiative ‘issues paper’ which includes a limited priority list of minerals and metals and their associate impacts and value chains, as basis for the discussion and review. The final deliverable is intended to be a series of scope recommendations, including process and site battery limits, core mineral or process ’groupings’ and/or priority list for future work. This will form the basis for Climate Bonds in developing a delivery plan for final CRM criteria. The aim is to come up with a scope that is manageable for the (later) criteria development stage, while also being relevant to the market and Climate Bonds’ goals. This means that we need to be able to develop criteria in a reasonable time and schedule for the materials and boundaries selected, while making sure the scope is still relevant and emissions mitigation impact is material. While the final Sector Criteria constitutes a tool to be used by the industry, investors and policy makers,supporting certification and financial issuance, this scoping phase also aims to identify the main organisations or initiatives that have already set out to define a pathway for the transition of the sector as well as existing credible standards that could be used as proxies in the criteria. This work ultimately constitutes a technically advanced market and industry review, that enables fast tracking of the final criteria development process Key Objectives Climate Bonds wishes to achieve the following objectives: a) Evaluate the proposed list of CRM for the energy transition and agree on an achievable criteria scope. b) Identify, review and assess existing resources (e.g. standards), and credible pathways (if any) to be used as potential proxies and key components of Climate Bonds’ CRM Sector Criteria. Core Tasks The Sector Criteria scoping phase will comprise the following: • Establish the Working Group by identifying potential members and convening the group. • Review Issues Paper, identify and assess existing Standards, metrics, benchmarks, and/or transition pathways that may be suitable (or adapted) as a proxy of final Sector Criteria - Working Group discussions: o Priority list of CRM materials to establish main impacts that need to be addressed and emissions materiality (including Scope 1, 2 and 3 considerations) of the supply chain. o Existing standards, metrics etc. (review of proxies). o Evaluating the need for an Adaptation & Resilience (A&R) TWG and recommend composition. • Working Group final discussion to determine final criteria scope boundaries including: o Identifying the supply chain boundaries to be covered in the next stage (i.e. mining, processing, refining). This deliverable aims to determine which assets and activities can be included in the final Sector Criteria. o Setting the scope of materials (or priority list) to be covered by the Sector Criteria. • Prepare final scope recommendations (including gap analysis) as part of the Issues Paper. Detailed requirements of the work Climate Bonds is looking to appoint a Technical Lead who will direct the above work. The role will be supported by Climate Bonds’s Senior Sustainability Analyst. The Technical Lead will support the establishment of a suitably competent Working Group, supervise and guide the preparation of the material for each discussion and see that consensus is achieved amongst the group in collaboration with Climate Bonds. Working Group meetings will likely take place every two weeks and last 1.5 hours2 . The material for the meetings will: • Synthesise previous discussions and address key issues raised by the TWG; • Facilitate discussions within the TWG, when appropriate.• Pose questions directly to the group for discussion and consensus In the meetings themselves, the Technical Lead shall provide technical insight to inform and shape the discussions as other TWG members do. Climate Bonds will set up, run the meetings and take minutes. In addition to the main meetings of the TWG, supporting meetings may be needed to focus on specific issues raised, or address concerns of one individual. This might be with the group member who raised the issue or just with Climate Bonds. The resulting documentation of this work will be an updated version of the Issues Paper that shall include: • The chosen scope and the rationale behind it. The scope can be either a specific list of materials or a generic approach can be proposed. If the last option is chosen (i.e. generic criteria that covers a group of materials), then explanation of how this can be done needs to be included. • The supply chain stages that will be covered per material and justification, based on emissions materiality and other ESG impacts of the activities. • A revised list of mitigation measures available for the scope chosen. • A list of standards, benchmarks or initiatives that shall be leveraged as proxies for the Sector Criteria. The Technical Lead will support the Analyst in the drafting of this document, thus throughout this process, regular calls will be required between the Technical Lead and Analyst. Deliverables: ● Final Draft CRM Issues paper Timeline Climate Bonds and the contractor will operate in good faith to work together and complete the project in a reasonable amount of time. Currently, Climate Bonds intends to have the Scoping Issues Paper ready by September 2023. After which planning shall be prepared to kick off the second stage of the process. After this, Climate Bonds aims to starting the Sector Criteria development stage in October 2023. TWG meetings will take place every two weeks leading up to September 2023. The first meeting is provisionally scheduled to take place in July 2023, though this will depend on initial TWG availability. Resources The Consultant will work hand in hand with the Climate Bonds Analyst who coordinates the work and drafts the Issues Paper. Climate Bonds will provide resources to the contractor to bring them up to speed with understanding the work structure of the Standards & Certification Scheme and the overarching principles and assumptions for Sector Criteria. Principal point of contact Fabiana Contreras will be the principal point of contact for the consultant. Paul Vermaak Head of Standards will provide oversight. Collaboration and interaction between the consultant and Climate Bondswill be necessary including regular checkins to coordinate both the TWG meetings and the drafting of documents. Weekly calls are expected during the process. A kick-off call at the start of the project will bring the consultant up to speed with the work and discussions that has already taken place. Background materials for the Technical Lead to read will be provided to facilitate this. Budget It is expected that this work will require the consultant’s support, spread over 3 months. The Budget for this stage is of GBP 5,000 (inclusive of all taxes, disbursements etc) Criteria for selection The consultant should outline their skills and what qualifies them to take up this role. This includes professional competencies and skillsets specific to technical knowledge of CRM industry. CV and examples of previous work (such as published reports or papers) should be provided. Client references are also encouraged. A line-item budget should be provided. • Proposals should be received by 5 July 2023, and queries should be directed to [email protected]. • Contract start date: July 3 2023 • Contract term: 3 months #J-18808-Ljbffr