Climate Finance Senior Technical Advisor Seconded to the Presidential Climate Commission (PCC)

Reports to: Programme Director JUST SA and the Head: Climate Finance and Innovation at the PCC

Duration: Until – 14 May 2025 (with possibility of extension)

BACKGROUND

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) is leading the JUST SA consortium, comprising five local implementing partners: GreenCape, TIPS, NBI, WWF and Yes4Youth. The 5-year JUST SA project is commissioned through the International Climate Initiative (IKI) by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK).

JUST SA supports the implementation of pathways towards a Just Transition in South Africa towards an environmentally sustainable, climate-change resilient, low-carbon economy and just society. At the national level, JUST SA supports the Just Transition work lead by the South African Presidential Climate Commission (PCC). In this context JUST SA is seconding a Senior Technical Advisor on Climate Finance to the PCC.

The Presidential Climate Commission is an independent advisory body established by the Presidency and overseen by a Commission drawn from government, business, labour, NGOs, community-based and research constituencies. The PCC advises government and social partners on South Africa’s response to climate change and its long-term transition to a climate-resilient and low-carbon economy and society. The PCC is required to provide independent expert advice and broker agreement between its social partners on climate change mitigation and adaption. Among others, the PCC is tasked to:

  • Develop a common vision for a just transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient economy, and society by 2050.
  • Recommend pathways to achieve this vision within energy systems; industrial processes; infrastructure and the built environment; and land-use and ecosystems (including water security & food security). Pathways should consider the socio-economic, environmental, and technological implications of potential choices.
  • Identify livelihood vulnerabilities and threats as a result of climate change, as well as opportunities for new upstream and downstream job creation as part of the just transition.
  • Develop a Climate Finance Strategy that includes a regular climate finance mapping study, develop the framework for a just transition financing mechanism, and generally assist the process of acquiring climate finance for South Africa’s just transition.
  • Provide a platform to develop and promote appropriate climate resilience interventions.
  • Facilitate the uptake of clean and climate resilient technologies, and the flow of climate finance and investment to support the transition.
  • Monitor and review progress towards government’s emissions reduction and adaptation goals.

The PCC is committed to a just transition and an inclusive, open, and participatory approach in its deliberations and proceedings. It aims to engender a social compact around the climate transition. It is important that social partners and key stakeholders are given the opportunity and platform to express their views on various aspects of the just transition, and that sufficient consensus is found to successfully implement the just transition.

In close partnership with the Government of South Africa (GoSA), the World Bank is providing advisory and analytical technical assistance to implement the country’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). Funding and technical support are organized around three themes: transformative policy, closing the financing gap, and sectoral and spatial actions (figure below). Financing for this work comes from the NDC Support Facility—a multi-donor trust fund administered by the World Bank and a contribution to the NDC Partnership. This TOR will support the theme on closing the financing gap.

Scope of Work

As part of the PCC’s mandate to define and advise on South Africa’s Just Transition, a critical area of work is in climate finance. The PCC is currently developing a national Climate Finance and Transition Strategy Roadmap. Core to this strategy development is the need to further define the financing requirements for the Just Transition programme of South Africa. In this regard, the PCC is currently also working to define its Just Transition Financing approach, to enable a better understanding of the various quanta and types of finance required, and their potential sources. In addition to developing a framework for a just transition financing mechanism (potentially a just transition mechanism), it is imperative that the requirements of South Africa’s net-zero pathways be adequately funded. In this respect, the PCC will be developing a comprehensive and forward-looking financial model. This will help to scale up the flow of climate finance commensurate with investment and expenditure requirements for the just transition. PCC has completed work on analysis the climate finance ecosystem, both international and domestic, and has produced a Working Perspectives Paper: “Financing a Just Transition”. Following on this perspective paper, the PCC has commenced work on articulating arrangements for a just transition financing mechanism, as well as a multi-year project to map and track climate finance in South Africa, towards a biennial Climate Finance Landscape Report and a State of Climate Finance Report. In addition, the PCC is evaluating the recently announced Just Energy Transition Investment Plan. Critically, as South Africa implements the Just Transition, the modalities of investment and finance to enable this transition need to be clearly assessed and recommendations developed. The PCC has been the mandate to advise, build stakeholder consensus and to play a role in mobilising and scaling up finance towards the just transition.

The Climate Finance Senior Technical Advisor will support this process by providing technical guidance on the:

  • Validation of the strategy with key stakeholders.
  • Co-ordination of additional inputs into the strategy.
  • Development of an implementation project plan.
  • Development of a monitoring and evaluation plan, with a clear reporting mechanism.
  • Evaluation of the regulatory environment, including providing recommendations for potential changes.
  • Identification and cultivation of relationships with donor and financial partners to ensure successful funding of the PCC’s climate finance work programme.
  • Facilitation of inter-governmental co-ordination and harmonisation of work streams; and
  • Engagement with key financial institutions, investor groups, donors and development finance agencies to promote the acquisition and appropriate allocation of capital and finance to the various projects that constitute South Africa’s just transition pathway.

Senior Technical Advisor Responsibilities and Tasks

TASKS:

The appointed Climate Finance Senior Technical Advisor will be expected to provide strategic, technical, and research support in the development and implementation of the following outcome and outputs:

  • Outcome: Support the Head of Climate Finance and Innovation to achieve the PCC's objective of informing, providing advice, and making strategic interventions to ensure an adequately financed just transition for South Africa's programme and pathways as envisaged in the NDC. The Advisor will lead development of the following specific outputs:
    • Output 1: Analyse the financial regulatory environment in South Africa and produce a report of recommendations to improve the enablement of just transition financing.
    • Output 2: Lead inputs into a “Just Transition Financing Mechanism for South Africa's Decarbonisation Programme": this will include overseeing the research of global best practises for just transition financing mechanisms, with particular emphasis on the coal transition, and producing a report with recommendations for a Just Transition Financing Mechanism for South Africa’s Decarbonization Programme. This research should be done in awareness of and in concert with other efforts, including those being developed at the sectoral level, to develop just transition financing tools. The Advisor will be expected to coordinate support for the conceptualization, development, and implementation of such a mechanism.
    • Output 3: Provide expertise on the financial structure and technical aspects of the recently proposed multi-party facility for the Just Energy Transition Transaction.
    • Output 4: Evaluate the methodology and models used by GreenCape and Climate Policy Initiative to produce the "South African Climate Finance Landscape 2020". Join the Climate Finance Mapping project team to contribute to the development of a sound methodology for future climate finance landscape mapping exercises.
    • Output 5: Support the PCC's overall stakeholder engagement processes, in particular climate finance and transition related engagements and management activities.
  • The selected candidate will disciplinarily report to the JUST SA Programme Director. Day to day business and content-items should be directly reported to the Head of Climate Finance and Innovation.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Suitable candidates should apply by submitting:

A motivation letter (concisely 1 page) stating why they should be the preferred candidate, the value added they will bring to the project and their desired salary range.

This should be accompanied by a detailed CV and indicating their nationality.

Applications should be submitted to: recruit-pretoria@giz.de, with the email subject line “Application for PCC STA” for the attention of Head of Human Resource.

Closing date for applications 30 April 2023

Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be informed!

Applications without a motivation letter will not be considered!