E T Consultant – Sustainable Finance

World Bank Group•Washington, DC

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

Build a career with impact. Working at the World Bank Group (WBG) provides a unique opportunity to help countries solve their greatest development challenges. As one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries, the WBG is a unique partnership of five global institutions dedicated to ending poverty, increasing shared prosperity, and promoting sustainable development. With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, the WBG works with public and private sector partners, investing in groundbreaking projects and using data, research, and technology to develop solutions to the most urgent global challenges. The IFC 2030 Strategy places a strong emphasis on mobilizing private capital at scale and catalyzing private sector solutions for development in Emerging Markets (EMs). IFC’s integrated approach – combining financing, advisory services, and upstream project development – enables us to tackle complex development challenges that no single institution could address alone. Within this strategy, sustainable finance encompasses a critical set of financial instruments and tools for IFC to deliver targeted environmental or social impacts, underpinned by robust standards on transparency and reporting. The Financial Institutions Group (“FIG”) of IFC and the Financial Services Sector 2 Department in the Knowledge Bank provide investment and advisory services to financial institutions (“FIs”) across regions to help them raise and channel funding for projects with environmental and social impacts. To accelerate private capital mobilization towards EMs, IFC has partnered with global asset managers and launched several innovative debt funds. Two of these funds (REGIO Fund and SEED Fund) catalyzed approximately US$900 million in multilateral and private sector capital to support well-diversified sustainable investments in EMs around the world – largely through Green/Sustainability/Social Bonds issued by non-financial, or real sector, companies. In parallel to the investments in these funds, IFC manages Technical Assistance Facilities (TAFs) to undertake specific interventions to support the supply side of Sustainable Bond markets (these may include Green, Social, Sustainability, Sustainability-Linked or Transition Bonds). The simultaneous creation of demand (through the Funds) and stimulation of supply (through the TAFs) will help create and deepen Sustainable Bond markets in EMs. While IFC continues to implement other programs to support commercial banks in EMs to issue Green Bonds, the TAFs primarily focus on supporting real sector corporates and NBFIs. The key objectives are: • Stimulate supply side of Sustainable Bond markets in target EMs. • Encourage and facilitate 1st time Sustainable Bond issuances, particularly among real sector corporates in EMs. • Generate and disseminate country and industry-specific market intelligence; disseminate Green/Sustainability Bond Principles to improve quality standards and disclosure practices. The interventions of the TAF are structured in the following three components: i) Market Capacity Building Activities; ii) Technical Support to (Potential) Issuers, and iii) Support Services to Investment Managers in impact monitoring. The Consultant will be based in Sofia or Washington D.C. and may be required to travel occasionally. Responsibilities are expected to be divided between the TAFs. Specific responsibilities and qualification requirements are described below.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Business, Environmental Sciences, Economics, or related field.
2-5 years of cumulative work experience connected to Sustainable Finance areas.
Knowledge of sustainable finance, climate business, environmental, and financial markets and knowledge of the best international practices and global trends in the industry.
Awareness/familiarity with IFC Climate Definitions and Guidance Notes, Green Bond Principles, and donor and bilateral programs in Sustainable Finance including the capacity building and technical advisory initiatives.
Sound understanding of financial structures used to finance sustainable projects as well as how banks, insurance companies, capital markets, and other financial intermediaries typically work in sustainable financing.
Excellent communication and presentation skills in English and French languages skills are required.
Experience and proven ability to work with senior management of government institutions, industry associations, private sector technical players and financial institutions, through technical competence and excellent interpersonal skills.
Good interpersonal skills and team spirit.
Ability to work under pressure, handle multiple tasks simultaneously, travel and work across time zones.

Nice To Haves

Communication and presentation skills in Spanish are appreciated.

Responsibilities

Assist the team leader and industry specialists in preparing labelled bond training and workshop materials and presentations.
Organize working group meetings, workshops, conferences, publications and training modules for the program, as needed
Support and coordination of meetings with trainers, external speakers and target groups of participants
Research labelled bond issuances in target markets through desk research, analysis of available databases, and interviews with relevant stakeholders
Contribute to the elaboration of published research on sustainable bonds in target EMs in coordination with WBG internal experts and external stakeholders
Follow up with training participants to assess their progress and interest to issue labelled bonds
Assist in conducting Integrity Due Diligence (IDD) for potential issuers, primarily in the real sector
Engage with selected companies and work with the project lead to help target companies in preparing their labelled bond frameworks
Assist in the SPO process for target companies
Collect M&E data and provide input to Project Supervision Reports and other Operational Reports for donors/partners
Assist regional industry specialists in preparing documents, information and data for business development and client engagements
Attend regular calls with the IFC/WB team to discuss, plan and update project progress
Deliver other deliverables as required by IFC, as needed