Climate Finance Transaction Expert at Palladium Group

Job Ref: req8293

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

• We are searching for Transaction Experts on a consulting basis for an upcoming Climate Finance Accelerator Programme (CFA) will be the central point of contact for providing technical advisory at the country level.
• The in-country transaction expert will be responsible for representing the programme with a range of partners, local funding sources, promoters, and other external stakeholders in the respective countries. The role is open to individuals and organisations who may be able to provide these services.
• The CFA is a technical assistance (TA) programme which will support Colombia, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Malaysia and Sout Africato improve the in-country ‘supply chain’ of bankable, low-carbon projects.
• The sectors: energy and energy efficiency, transport, agriculture, and forestry and land use. The projects best suited to the CFA approach are relatively large – with at least a $15 million financing requirement and have a significant private sector financing component. Smaller projects may be relevant if they can be aggregated via specialist vehicles.

The programme aims to:

• Improve understanding of participants on the climate finance supply chain, an awareness of their role(s) in the chain and how they need to interact with other chain participants to make the supply of projects effective.
• Improve participants (and other relevant stakeholders) understanding of supply chain bottlenecks and identification of how these bottlenecks can be addressed by policy, enabling environment, and regulatory changes, as well as by behaviour changes by supply chain participants.
• Establish an ongoing process for creating an effective climate finance supply chain
• Break down silos between various parties in the supply chain by improving understanding of their respective approaches, language (e.g. financing terminology) and culture, and by helping to establish effective relationships to solve practical financing problems.

Responsibilities

• Responsible for all in-country coordination, including but not limited to, sourcing both projects and financiers.
• Lead on the delivery of in-country workshops, convening stakeholders who will build their capacity to identify and develop bankable, low-carbon projects, and to identify barriers to an effective climate finance supply chain in their country.  
• Lead on the completion of a mapping exercise of the country’s climate finance ‘ecosystem’ (e.g. the availability of projects, finance for projects, technical assistance and capacity-building grants, concessional finance etc.) and the key gaps that prohibit a functioning climate finance supply chain.
• Lead on the design of the in-country CFA process, which addresses gaps in the supply chain and can support continued identification and development of bankable, low-carbon project proposals.
• Support the development of a plan for how the CFA process can be embedded within the country’s financial and policy ecosystems.
• Develop strong working relationships and regular dialogue on programme progress and challenges with the Team Leader.

Required Qualifications

• Strong expertise and experience in structuring and executing financing transactions within the focus country.
• Experience operating within donor-funded programmes.
• Track record in arranging financing in some of the target sectors (Transport, Energy & Energy Efficiency, Forestry and Land use, Agriculture).
• Well networked in the country, with the capability to seek out projects, funders and other stakeholders proactively
• Strong expertise in building and managing relationships with high-level stakeholders from financiers, investors etc.; and
• Fluency in English (both written and oral).