The Group’s members will form an informed perspective on the future plastic agreement, its relevance for the finance sector, and the provisions that are relevant to be included in the future treaty agreement from a finance sector perspective.
Through the launch of a Finance Statement on Plastics, the finance sector will have an amplified voice in the negotiation process and a wider finance community will have an increased awareness and willingness to take action on the issue of plastic pollution.
The Intergovernmental Negotiation Committee will get input from the finance sector on its role in tackling plastic pollution and its needs for the future plastic agreement to create the enabling environment and allow the finance sector to play its role, support the required system change and align financial flows with common goals.
Through the Position Paper the roles and needs of the finance sector to support the system change required to transition towards a circular plastic economy and prevent and reduce plastic pollution will be better understood and described.
UNEP FI’s membership community will have increased knowledge on the future plastic agreement and what it will entails for the finance sector.
Home based
12 months
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment.
The overall objective of the UNEP’s Economy Division is to encourage decision makers in government, local authorities and industry to develop and adopt policies, strategies and practices and technologies that promote sustainable patterns of consumption and production, make efficient use of natural resources, ensure safe management of chemicals and contribute to making trade and environment policies mutually supportive. It promotes the development, use and transfer of policies, technologies, economic instruments, managerial practices and other tools that assist in environmentally sound decision making and the building of corresponding activities.
The United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) manages a network of over 450 banks and insurers to help align the financial sector with the global agreements to address the triple planetary crisis on nature, climate and pollution. UNEP FI launched Principles for Responsible Banking in 2019. The Principles for Responsible Banking guide the change towards a new, sustainable global banking industry that takes on a key role in helping society to achieve its goals for a sustainable future. With these Principles, banks commit to strategically align their business with and scale up their contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals and the objectives of the Paris Agreement on Climate. The Principles are supported by a strong implementation framework that defines clear accountabilities and requires each bank to set, publish and work towards ambitious targets and report publicly on their positive and negative impacts and progress in implementing their commitments in areas including circular economy/resource efficiency. UNEP FI provides capacity building to support implementation of the Principles for Responsible Banking and related guidance and tools.
Furthermore, UNEP FI hosts the Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI), which is the largest collaborative initiative between the UN and the insurance industry. The PSI serves as a global framework for the insurance industry to address environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks and opportunities—and a global initiative to strengthen the insurance industry’s contribution as risk managers, insurers and investors to building resilient, inclusive and sustainable communities and economies on a healthy planet. In addition to the above, the PSI is working on resource efficiency-related initiatives that capture the roles of the insurance industry as risk managers, insurers and investors. An example of this the first ever study on the risks of plastic pollution to the insurance industry, launched in 2019.
Per the IPBES Global Assessment (2019), pollution is one of the major drivers of biodiversity loss, as well as an important factor in climate change.
At UN Environment Assembly (UNEA 5.2) held in March 2022, representatives of 175 nations endorsed a resolution to end plastic pollution. The resolution addresses the full lifecycle of plastic, including its production, design and disposal. The resolution established an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC), which began its work in 2022, with the ambition of completing a draft global legally binding agreement by the end of 2024 (“the future plastic treaty”).
UNEP FI is convening a Finance Leadership Group on Plastics, a core group of banks and insurers, with the objective to support the development process of the future plastic treaty and to build readiness in the finance sector to take action on preventing and reducing plastic pollution.
UNEP FI currently does not have the internal capacity to develop and implement the work program of the Finance Leadership Group on Plastics, and hence outside expertise is required. The consultant will lead the development and implementation of the activities of the Finance Leadership Group on Plastics (the “Group”).
The consultant is required to lead the development and implementation of the activities of the Finance Leadership Group on Plastics, with the objective to contribute to the negotiation process of the future plastic treaty and to build readiness in the finance sector to take action on preventing and reducing plastic pollution. This will entail supporting, in collaboration with the Project Directors, the development and launch of a Finance Statement on Plastics, the organisation of informative and dialog sessions between the Group’s members and experts and/or businesses of the plastic value chain and the development of the Group’s contributions to the negotiation process. The consultant will supervise the development of a Finance Position Paper on plastic pollution prevention and reduction. The consultant will also support in organising informative sessions or webinars on plastic pollution and on the future plastic treaty negotiation process targeting UNEP FI membership community.
The consultant will build on the work of UNEP FI’s Pollution and Circular Economy team, Nature team, Banking team, Insurance team and on other relevant initiatives at UNEP FI related to plastic pollution, chemical pollution, resource efficiency and circular economy, and other related topics. He or she should align his or her work to UNEP’s Medium-Term Strategy priorities and be developed in coordination with UNEP’s colleagues as needed.
The objectives: Objective is to lead the development and delivery of a work plan for the Finance Leadership Group on Plastics, with the objective to support the development process of the future plastic treaty and to build readiness in the finance sector to take action on preventing and reducing plastic pollution.
The consultant shall have the following specific tasks and responsibilities:
• Prepare, organise and hold informative and exchange sessions with experts on plastic pollution and actors of the plastic industry value chain, which will inform the Leadership Group on the negotiation process, and facilitate exchange on sustainable practices, risk and impact assessment, metrics, data collection, barriers related to data availability and quality (including on chemical additives in plastics), and other barriers, and on opportunities for financial and cross-sector solutions and circular business models along the value chain, including human rights and gender considerations. The sessions will also explore which provisions the future plastic agreement should include to allow the finance sector to play its role in preventing and reducing plastic pollution.
• Building on the work already developed by the Finance Leadership Group on Plastics, develop and launch a Finance Statement on Plastics calling for an ambitious plastic treaty. The consultant will incorporate input received from the Group’s members, sponsor and experts and partners group. The consultant will coordinate with PRI and other partners as needed, including with UNEP FI Nature team. The consultant will coordinate the outreach to a wider private finance community, including UNEP FI and PRI membership community and the Sustainable Blue Finance community. The consultant will lead the launch of the Finance Statement, in collaboration with UNEP FI’s and PRI’s Communications teams.
• Facilitate the recurring contribution of the Finance Leadership Group on Plastics to the treaty negotiation process. The consultant will coordinate the work of the Group to develop input to be provided to the INC during intersessional periods or at INC meetings, side events or multistakeholder dialogs / forums. This will include developing and implementing a work plan for each intersessional period, preparing content and materials, organising and moderating meetings of the Group, drafting written submissions, white papers and/or briefing notes, collecting and consolidating inputs from the Group and other stakeholders, organising as needed events and sessions with experts and partners, industry, policy makers and other stakeholders, including at regional level. The consultant will work in close collaboration with relevant UNEP and UNEP FI teams as well as with the Group’s sponsor and experts and partners group. The consultant will organise and coordinate the representation of the Finance Leadership Group on Plastics at INC meetings, side events and/or stakeholder dialogs and forums.
• Supervise the development and launch of a Finance Position Paper on Plastics containing ambition and possible ways for financial institutions to address the issue of plastic pollution, including chemical pollution considerations, gender and human rights considerations and fostering a just transition. This will include providing support in defining scope, objectives and outline of the Position Paper, as well as supervising desktop research and consultations with experts, partners, financial institutions and other relevant stakeholders to inform the development of the Position Paper, and supervising the review, finalisation and launch of the Position Paper. The consultant will work in coordination with the Finance Leadership Group on Plastics, relevant UNEP FI teams and colleagues, UNEP teams, PRI and other partners.
• Organise and hold at least one session/webinar to inform the finance community, especially the UNEP FI membership community, on the topic of plastic pollution, its relevance to the finance sector and progress of the plastic treaty negotiation process. The consultant will build on materials developed with the Finance Leadership Group on Plastics and will involve as needed members of the Group and experts.
• The consultant will leverage on the work developed by UNEP FI Pollution and Circular Econonomy team to support the transition to a circular economy and promote circular solutions to prevent and reduce plastic pollution, by UNEP FI Nature team to support the negotiation process of the Global Biodiversity Framework adopted at COP15 in December 2022, and to support the implementation of the Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Principles. The consultant will work in collaboration with all relevant UNEP FI teams including the Banking team and Insurance team, as well as the Social team, Policy and Regulation team and Climate team, and will work as needed with UNEP FI regional coordinators, especially for possible regional engagement with negotiators and stakeholders.
• The consultant will closely coordinate with the UNEP teams involved in the plastic treaty negotiation process.
• The consultant will work in collaboration with the Finance Leadership Group on Plastics’ sponsor, with PRI and with various experts and partners. The consultant will seek and take into account input provided by the Finance Leadership Group on Plastics’ members and experts and partners group, and other experts and peer reviewers engaged as needed.
The consultant shall be under the overall supervision of the Head of UNEP FI and report directly to Programme Officer at UNEP FI. The consultant will work in close collaboration with the Pollution and Circular Economy Lead.
Education: Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent experience) in economics, finance, environment, resource management, sustainability, business, strategy, management, or a related field. A first-level university degree in combination with seven (7) additional relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.
Professional experience: A minimum of five (5) years of progressively responsible work experience, ideally in the area of finance/sustainable finance. Experience working in/with banks, insurers and/or investment firms is an advantage, as well as experience working in international contexts. Experience working in the area of resource efficiency/circular economy/plastic pollution is a plus. Furthermore, the candidate should have a track record of delivering consistently high-quality outputs on time and on budget. The candidate should have successfully managed complex, ideally multi-stakeholder, research projects or studies. Experience of stakeholder engagement is a plus.
Skills & Knowledge: The candidate should have excellent proven conceptual, analytical, research, interviewing, writing and editing skills. The consultant should have strong project management, stakeholder engagement and consultation competencies. He or she should have an understanding of financial services (banking, insurance and/or investment) and sustainable consumption and production/resource efficiency in the private sector. The candidate should be able to work independently in an organized and timely manner. The consultant will have the ability to prioritise and identify and capture opportunities to add value to the work programme and engage financial institutions in the development of the activities. Strong technical skills will be an advantage. Knowledge of sustainable finance and/or banking and/or insurance is desirable, as well as knowledge on the issue of plastic pollution and/or the circular economy. The consultant should have excellent listening, writing and speaking communications skills.
Languages: English is the working language of UNEP FI. Knowledge of other United Nations languages are an asset.
THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.