CBIT’s most important contribution will be to strengthen Argentina’s reporting capacities so as to adequately comply with the requirements of the Enhanced Transparency Framework through the new reporting format under the Paris Agreement: the Biennial Transparency Reports (BTR). In order to carry out the activities of Argentina’s CBIT project it requires the hiring of a Legal Expert in Carbon Markets.
Ultimate Result of the Service:
¿ The national legal framework linked to carbon markets in the NDC and the LTS is analyzed and improved.
¿ The mapping of private stakeholders to work with and obtain input on the legal nature of carbon in Argentina is developed.
¿ The working process and its instances of exchange with the different stakeholders to develop the national strategy for the use of carbon markets is formalized.
¿ The training and awareness of public sector stakeholders, within the framework of the National Climate Change Cabinet and the External Advisory Council, was carried out.
The consultant will carry out the following activities:
¿ Generate inputs to develop a roadmap for the proposal of the National Carbon Market Strategy to meet the NDC target. The proposal of the National Carbon Market Strategy will be provided by the NCCD.
¿ Develop a report including a proposal for the implementation of the national carbon legal framework.
¿ Promote technical exchanges with public sector stakeholders about the national legal framework for carbon markets.
¿ Collaborate in the development of the national position on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.
¿ Develop and periodically update a stakeholder’s map of possible private stakeholders related to carbon markets in Argentina.
¿ Analyze the progress made at the international level regarding cooperative approaches of Articles 6.2 and 6.4 of the Paris Agreement.
¿ Identify and provide technical advice on bilateral initiatives to achieve national mitigation goals on the countries´ NDC and LTS and objectives for potential 6.2 agreements.
¿ Provide legal advice to the experts related to carbon markets.
Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, Buenos Aires, Argentina
6 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 UNEP Latin America and the Caribbean (LACO), located in Panama City, works closely with the 33 countries of the region and its activities are integrated into the Medium-term Strategy and the Programme of Work approved by the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA).
The Argentine Republic ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1994 (Law No. 24,295), the Kyoto Protocol in September 2001 (Law No. 25,438) and the Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol in May 2015 (Law No. 27,137). As a signatory of the UNFCCC, Argentina undertook obligations including the report of the national greenhouse gases inventories, national programs with mitigation and adaptation actions against climate change and any other relevant information regarding the fulfilment of the objective of the UNFCCC. As part of the country’s undertaken obligations, Argentina submitted its First National Communication in July 1997, and a revised communication in October 1999. The Second National Communication was submitted in December 2007 and the Third National Communication, and the First Biennial Updated Report (BUR) were both submitted in December 2015. The Second BUR was submitted in August of 2017, the Third BUR was presented to the UNFCCC in November 2019, and the Fourth BUR was presented in December 2021.
In December 2015 during the 21st Conference of Parties (COP 21), the Paris Agreement (PA) was adopted; its article No. 2 established the objective of “holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels''. In September 2016, Argentina ratified the Paris Agreement (Law No. 27,270), then in December 2019, the National Congress approved the National Law No. 27,520 on Global Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation.
In terms of mitigation, in accordance with decisions 1/CP.19, 1/CP.20, 1/CP.21, 1/CP.24, 4/CMA.1, 9/ CMA.1 and 18/CMA, the Argentine Republic submitted in 2015, its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), which was reviewed and updated in 2016, and showed a much higher level of ambition and transparency, than the previous document. Subsequently, in December 2020, Argentina presented its second NDC to the UNFCCC, with an updated version in November 2021, also increasing its ambition in the mitigation and transparency objective. In the second updated NDC, Argentina commits to the absolute and unconditional goal, that covers the entire national territory and all sectors of the economy, of not exceeding the net emission of 349 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) in the year 2030, a goal that is 27.7% more ambitious compared to the first NDC, in 2016.
When it comes to Carbon Markets and its use towards compliance with its NDC, the Argentine Republic has reserved its national position and decision-making in relation to the possible use of any market mechanism established under the Paris Agreement, until negotiations on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement within the framework of the UNFCCC arrive to a conclusion. Until then, any operation that involves emission reduction units achieved in the Argentine territory, both public and private, must be registered and have the express authorization of the National Government and, unless expressly provided otherwise, all emission reductions in the national territory will be counted towards the achievement of the NDC goal. Nonetheless, this statement must be now re-evaluated in light of the results of the last Conference of the Parties (COP) number 26, that took place in November 2022, in Glasgow, Scotland, regarding the rules for the implementation of carbon markets.
To date, Argentina is designing its national strategy for the use of carbon markets and generating technical inputs to plan a possible structure and subsequent operationalization of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. In order to advance in addressing this topic, in December 2021, the National Registry of Climate Change Mitigation Projects was created, under the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development’s Resolution No. 363/2021. Its main objective is to register and systematize projects that reduce anthropogenic emissions or that increase the capture of greenhouse gases in the National territory. However, this Registry comes out as an isolated instrument within the Ministry’s current needs to begin a complete and integrated approach towards market mechanisms.
Following the results of COP26, and the consensus reached on key actions which permitted the conclusion of the Paris rulebook, an important further step in addressing carbon market mechanisms established in the Paris Agreement, is to determine specific eligibility criteria for projects that may fall under the provisions of Article 6.4.
One of the most relevant challenges that the implementation of the Paris Agreement poses on countries is to count with strong Transparency Frameworks. Article No.13 of the PA establishes the need for Parties to implement national robust and transparent reporting and accounting systems to give clarity on action and support while providing clear information to stakeholders. As part of building and enhancing their Transparency Frameworks, Parties of the UNFCCC will progressively implement better tools and institutional practices, many of them not sufficiently developed in the countries. This is especially true for developing countries.
The UNFCCC Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) demands substantial and immediate progress in the countries’ domestic Monitoring Reporting and Verification (MRV) systems and strategic de-carbonization planning. This entails moving from often disintegrated and often different-methodological approaches in data management to an integrated and robust system. The success of the Paris Agreement hinges on enhanced transparency of action and support, as a critical foundation to making its bottom-up, country-led approach work, as well as building mutual trust and confidence amongst Parties. Under the framework of Article 6 rules reporting needs to be complied, in consistency with Article 13, concerning the ETF. The national framework needs to be developed to ensure transparency reporting for both.
In this respect, implementation of Article 6 mechanisms entails the need for an adequate accounting system of emissions, including corresponding adjustments to avoid double counting, increasing the Parties necessity to have a transparent national structure and monitoring system.
Rules established by the UNFCCC for the implementation of article 6 of the Paris Agreement include the need to comply with the additional criteria. For this reason, and to comply with the Argentine Republic international commitments, including the Enhanced Transparency Framework, the implementation of market mechanisms requires setting up specific criteria to determine the additionality of potential projects. These shall be proved through an exhaustive evaluation that demonstrates the activity would not have occurred in the absence of the incentives generated by the mechanism, to avoid double counting and to reveal the additionality of the mitigation actions that allow compliance with the NDC.
Article 6 mechanisms seek to promote the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions in a cost effect way in the long term while fostering sustainable development. Therefore, the construction of a national structure for implementing these mechanisms, has substantial repercussions in medium and long-term strategies.
The Global Environment Facility - Capacity Building Initiative for Transparency (GEF-CBIT) will support the Argentinian government for four years, mainly in strengthening its ETF. This will happen by improving the accuracy, completeness and consistency of its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventories and increasing its capacities to domestically track and evaluate mitigation measures and related finance support received and provided, as well as generating the technical inputs needed for medium and long-term planning contributing to the improvement of climate-related decision-making in the country. In order to achieve this objective, Argentina’s GEF-CBIT project, which was approved in July of 2019, is organized into three components:
- National and subnational GHG inventory System
- Domestic tracking of mitigation actions and support received
- Medium and long-term projections
In this sense, the Climate Change Unit of UNEP LACO is recruiting a Legal Expert in Carbon Markets in the form of a consultant to strengthening Argentina’s reporting capacities so as to adequately comply with the requirements of the Enhance Transparency Framework-ETF through the new reporting format under the Paris Agreement: the Biennial Transparency Reports (BTR). The incumbent will work 40 hours per week, from Monday to Friday, full time and will be supervised by the Regional Coordinator for Energy Efficiency for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Climate Change Unit for Latin America and the Caribbean of UNEP LACO. He or she will work in close collaboration with the National Climate Change Directorate (NCCD) within the Secretariat of Environment, Sustainable Development and Innovation of Argentina’s Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MAyDS) where he/she will be seated.
ACADEMIC:
¿ Bachelor’s degree in law, or similar university degree relevant to carbon markets, climate finance and/or environment and national development (required);
¿ Postgraduate degree in Environmental areas specially related to GHG accounting, climate change policy and/or carbon markets (desirable);
PROFESSIONAL:
¿ 4 years of experience in areas of work related to environmental policy, natural resource management, development and/or climate change (required);
¿ Verifiable professional experience of at least 2 years, within the 4 years of professional experience, related to activities within public environmental law and climate change (desirable);
¿ Demonstrates good understanding of Argentina’s national policy related to climate change and national framework with particular focus on carbon markets (desirable);
¿ Experience in participation in the processes of development and implementation of public policies regarding compliance with the NDCs in Argentina (desirable);
¿ Experience working with, and building partnerships with public and private sector both national and subnational (desirable);
LANGUAGE:
¿ Fluent in Spanish is required.
¿ Confident in English is desirable.
¿ Confident in French is desirable.
SPECIAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS:
¿ Very good knowledge and understanding of theories, concepts and approaches related to the climate change policy and carbon markets (required);
¿ Very good understanding of the Argentina’s legal framework and infrastructure related to the climate change and carbon markets (required);
¿ Verifiable experience using IT tools such as Microsoft Office (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) and related apps (required);
¿ Relationship skills with public and private sector officials (desirable);
¿ Demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; Is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; Is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns (desirable);
¿ Shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; Remains calm in stressful situations; Shows leadership capacities (desirable);
¿ Experience in teamwork, with recognition in the field of their specialty to cooperate with consultants of other specialties (desirable);
¿ Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals; solicits input by genuinely valuing others' ideas and expertise; is willing to learn from others; supports and acts in accordance with final group decision, even when such decisions may not entirely reflect own position; shares credit for team accomplishments and accepts joint responsibility for team shortcomings (desirable);
¿ Develops clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies; identifies priority activities and assignments; adjusts priorities as required; allocates appropriate amount of time and resources for completing work; foresees risks and allows for contingencies when planning; monitors and adjusts plans and actions as necessary; uses time efficiently (desirable).
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.