GLOBAL INNOVATION LAB FOR CLIMATE FINANCE

The Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance (The Lab) is a public-private initiative that identifies, develops, and launches cutting-edge climate finance instruments. It aims to drive billions of dollars of private investment into climate change mitigation and adaptation in developing countries.

Since launching in 2014, The Lab and its initiatives have incubated 55 new innovative financial instruments, been awarded the United Nations Global Climate Action Award for Climate Financing and have collectively attracted over USD 3 billion in investment. The Lab’s annual impact report highlights the progress and key milestones achieved so far in mobilizing climate finance.

Background

While an environmental and socioeconomic ex-ante impact assessment is part of the Lab analytical process, the ex-post impacts of instruments which have been implemented are not systemically tracked. This is due to various reasons, among which: on the ground data availability; differing resources for data; high variability of estimates depending on local context; and diversity of value chains that can be targeted by a specific instrument.

Objective of the assignment

With these considerations in mind, the Lab Secretariat is looking to contract a consultant that will conduct a thorough assessment of the environmental and socioeconomic impacts associated with the instruments which have been implemented, enabling a better evaluation of the Lab’s performance in catalysing not only finance, but also tangible impact. This assessment will be integrated into a report that encompasses other aspects of performance evaluation and lessons learned. See Annex I and II for details.

Qualifications of the firm:

• Track record in conducting environmental and socioeconomic impact assessments in the developing country context.
• Demonstrated knowledge of technical tools and methods for analysing financial and impact data across climate mitigation and adaptation sectors
• Demonstrated organizational commitment to upholding strict environmental, social, and governance standards

Qualifications of the team:

• Advanced degree in social or natural sciences with a specialization in impact evaluation, climate finance, economics, sustainable development/ agriculture, or other relevant subjects.  
• Minimum of 7 years of professional experience in or with international development organizations, consulting, research institutions, policymaking and/or advice, or financial institutions.
• Demonstrated experience in sustainable agriculture development, carbon accounting, climate finance, and impact assessment of financial instruments or projects.
• Strong analytical skills and working experience with crisp, concise writing. Excellent business language skills in English are mandatory.  

Proposal Requirements

The bidder is required to describe their suitability for the assignment, their approach, timeline, and budget for the services and key aspects of the assignment in a cover letter of no more than 3 pages. In addition, CVs of the proposed consultant/s should also be submitted.

Proposals must be submitted in English by Friday March 25^th, 2022. Applications will be assessed on a rolling basis, so we encourage applicants to submit at the earliest opportunity. Only short-listed proposals will be contacted. Please add notifications@app.bamboohr.com to your contact list to ensure delivery of all correspondence from us.

Climate Policy Initiative is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion and we are working to embed DEI across every facet of our organisation. We seek to establish a working environment where all board members, staff, volunteers, and contractors feel respected and valued regardless of gender, age, race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation or identity, disability, education, or any other bias. We want to create an inclusive culture where all forms of diversity are openly valued as critical to the success of our organization and the achievement of our mission and vision.

If you have any support or access requirements, we encourage you to advise us at the time of application. We will then work with you to identify the best way to assist you through the recruitment process.

Terms of Contract

The consultant will be hired by CPI as soon as possible. All work is expected to be conducted virtually.

Annex I: Deliverables

Output 1: An analysis of the key environmental and social performance metrics for each instrument and a brief discussion of these results, including a description of the applied methodologies. The consultants may draw from general literature on the subject as well as structured interviews with instrument proponents and Lab analysts.

Format: The consultant should present the assessment in English in Microsoft Word or Power Point format, with a length of 20-30 pages including supporting graphs and tables.

A comprehensive list and description of each data source is to be provided in an annex to the Assessment, which should be clearly referenced.

The Lab’s methodology framework for impact assessments in agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) should also be used and referenced when determining impact of the agriculture-related instruments.

Output 2: A list of recommendations for how to improve ex-ante impact assessments which are compatible with the ex-post impact assessment methodologies for each of the instrument sub-sectors assessed for Output 1.

Format: The list should be in Microsoft Word or PowerPoint format, with a length of 5-10 pages including supporting graphs and tables.

Timeline:

Timeline to be discussed with the Lab Secretariat. Approximately Q2-Q3, 2022.

Annex II: Lab Instrument Finance Mobilization

Instrument	Description
Climate Investor One	Facilitates early-stage development, construction financing, and refinancing to fast-track renewable energy projects in developing countries.
Long-Term FX Risk Management	Provides tools to address currency and interest rate risk for climate relevant projects in developing countries.
Energy Savings Insurance	Insures the financial performance of energy efficiency savings projects in Mexico and other countries.
Climate Resilience and Adaptation Finance and Technology Transfer Facility	Blended finance fund that invests growth equity in climate intelligence and resilience building companies.
Affordable Green Homes	Builds demand for green homes in South and Sub-Saharan Africa by proving, measuring and marketing their benefits.
Proterra Electric Bus Battery Service Agreements	Lease financing model to lower up-front costs of electric buses, making them price-competitive with fossil fuel-powered buses from day one.
Sub-National Climate Finance Initiative	Private equity fund featuring a Technical Assistance Facility that provides local government capacity building and certifies all projects for SDG impact prior to investment.
Energy Efficiency Enabling Initiative	Private equity fund that relies on donor-backed equity capital, technical assistance, and risk mitigation instruments to crowd in private investment in energy efficiency.
Green Receivables Fund	Packages and securitizes cashflows of renewable energy projects to sell shares in local capital markets.
Loans4SME	Peer-to-peer lending platform for Indian SMEs operating in renewable energy and energy efficiency raise debt.
Agricultural Supply Chain Adaptation Facility	Addresses small to medium-sized farmers’ lack of access to medium- to long-term finance and capacity for investments in climate resilience.
SunSHIFT Modular Moveable Solar Assets	Provides modular and moveable solar farms as either stand-alone, on-grid, or integrated hybrid, off-grid power plants.
Terrafund: Rural Prosperity Bond	Provides loans to SMEs working in land restoration in Africa, South Asia and Latin America.
Water Financing Facility	Financing mechanism to mobilize long term local currency from domestic institutional investors and to strengthen water utilities.
Oasis Platform for Catastrophe and Climate Change Risk Assessment and Adaptation	Provides open access to data modeling tools that enable risk assessments and transparent evaluation climate risks.
Financing for Low-Carbon Auto Rickshaws	Provides up to 100% debt financing at competitive rates, and opportunities for rickshaw driver ownership.
Sustainable Energy Bonds	Class of bonds to drive impact investment to sustainable energy in India by offering debt exposure, sufficient returns, and standardized impact KPIs.
The Socio-Climate Benefits Fund	Invests and provides technical assistance to restore degraded lands in smallholders’ farms while developing and facilitating sales of their products.
Restoration Insurance Company for Coastal Risk Reduction	Social enterprise that invests in mangrove conservation and restoration in areas with high-value coastal assets.
Sustainable Agriculture Finance Facility	Provides customized bundled loans that match the farmers’ needs and takes into account specific ICLF parameters.
The West African Initiative for Climate Smart Agriculture	Provides financial and technical support to incentivize adoption of climate-smart agriculture and increasing local capacity for climate-smart lending.
Cloud Forest Blue Energy Mechanism	Engages hydropower operators in Latin America to pay for upstream forest conservation and restoration through a new ‘pay for success’ model.
Cooling as a Service	A pay-per-service model to decrease energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from cooling systems in cities around the world.
Climate-Smart Lending Platform	Brings together the tools, actors, and finance necessary to reduce climate risk in lending portfolios and scale up climate-smart lending to smallholders.
Blockchain Climate Risk Crop Insurance	Digital platform for standardized crop insurance for smallholder farmers in Africa which increases their resilience to climate change.
Smallholder Forestry Vehicle	Mechanism to scale up sustainable forestry in Africa through buying portfolios of trees, recouping investment once the trees are harvested and sold.
Pay As You Save for Clean Transport	Lowers upfront cost of electric buses, allowing utilities to capitalize on-board batteries and charging stations, recovering costs with a monthly fee.
Data-Driven Energy Access for Africa	Uses artificial intelligence to standardize metrics related to customer repayment risk, improving access to capital for distributors.