Job Description

Position Title: City Adviser, Rio de Janeiro
Department: Regions
Reporting To: Head, Climate Action Planning, Latin America
Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Salary: US$63,407.50 per annum
Term: Fixed Term Contract – until September 2020

Background

The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, now in its 14th year, connects 94 of the world’s greatest cities which have committed to tackling climate change. We bring mayors from around the world together to learn from each other in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and creating resilient, sustainable and low carbon cities. C40 cities represent more than 700 million urban citizens and their economies account for 25% of the global GDP. C40’s ‘Deadline 2020’ report sets out the critical role that the world’s major cities have to play in delivering the historic Paris Agreement to prevent catastrophic climate change.

C40’s team of 180+ staff is headquartered in New York, with offices in London, Rio de Janeiro, Copenhagen, Beijing and Paris and individual staff based across 25+ different locations. C40 is primarily funded through the generous support of philanthropic foundations.

The strategic direction of the organization is determined by an elected Steering Committee of C40 mayors which is chaired by the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo. Three-term Mayor of New York City Michael R. Bloomberg serves as President of the C40 Board of Directors, which is responsible for operational oversight. A seven-person management team, led by Executive Director, Mark Watts, leads the day-to-day management of C40. C40’s three core strategic funders are Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) and Realdania.

Climate Action Planning

C40 is establishing a programme of technical assistance, guidance and training to member cities in Latin America to (a) build technical capacity to develop ambitious and robust long-term climate action plans that are compatible with the ambitions of the Paris Agreement, and (b) identify mechanisms to facilitate better national and local integration of climate action. Sub-national activity is key to delivering the Paris Agreement, particularly in Latin America which is urbanising faster than any other region in the world. To coordinate this programme on the ground, we are recruiting a City Adviser for selected C40 cities in Latin America.

Position Description

The C40 City Adviser will act as the focal point for long-term climate action planning within the city. S/he will be responsible for engaging internal and external stakeholders; facilitating knowledge transfer across the city and the wider C40 network; and working with C40 and consultants to provide high-quality tailored technical assistance to support locally-led efforts.

Technical assistance provided will need to be comprehensive and may consist of: a review of the city’s existing plan(s) and capacity and national level climate commitments; scenario modelling; sector-level roadmaps; climate risk assessments; stakeholder engagement; access to climate finance; and monitoring and evaluation.

The ideal candidate will have a strong background in carbon accounting and/or climate risk assessments, climate action planning and stakeholder engagement; experience working with cities on climate action planning; knowledge about international commitments and agreements aligned with the Paris Agreement and Agenda 2030 in the context of cities; and excellent project management and communication skills.

Responsibilities:

Working closely with Rio de Janeiro, the Head of Climate Action Planning for Latin America and C40’s Regional Director for Latin America, the City Advisor will develop and implement a delivery strategy to support Rio de Janeiro in developing / updating an ambitious and robust climate action plan that is compliant with the goals of the Paris Agreement and aligned to the city’s pre-existing plans and strategies. Main areas of responsibility are:

• Contribute to updating the city’s climate action planning to deliver mitigation and adaptation outcomes, inclusive low-carbon resilient development consistent with the ambitions of the Paris Agreement and aligned to the city’s pre-existing plans and strategies;
• Engage internal and external stakeholders to ensure their commitment to resource and implement ambitious and transformational action and facilitate better national and local integration of climate mitigation activities;
• Manage consultants and coordinate technical assistance with the aim to build city capacity to implement climate action, including capacity building and awareness raising workshops for city officials;
• Support the development of a portfolio of potential projects that will enable the implementation of actions listed in the climate action plan;
• Facilitate the city’s engagement in C40 Cities networks and initiatives.

Person Specification:

• Demonstrable experience in government, business or NGO sectors with a focus on sustainability and/or climate change, and substantive experience working with or within municipal governments;
• Technical expertise in completing city-wide greenhouse gas emission inventories, climate risk assessments and developing climate action plans;
• Excellent project-management, strategic thinking and analytical capabilities, with MS Excel experience and data management skills;
• Demonstrable problem-solving, budget and people management experience, including working with third party delivery teams, and ability to manage multiple parallel tasks;
• Strong interpersonal, relationship building and written and verbal communication skills, combined with English and Portuguese fluency;
• Strong stakeholder engagement experience, as well as experience in developing or facilitating webinars and workshops;
• International experience, working across different cultures, languages and time zones.

Other Requirements:

• Applicants must already have the right to work in Brazil.
• Moderate travel may be required as part of the role.
• This position is based in Rio de Janeiro. The city government will provide a work space.
• There is a likelihood for this position to be extended until 31 December 2020.

Application Process:

Interested applicants should submit a curriculum vitae and cover letter to careers@c40.org. Closing date for receipt of applications is Thursday, 18 April 2018.

To learn more about the work of C40 and our cities, please visit www.c40.org, follow us on Twitter @c40cities and like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/C40Cities.

C40 is an equal opportunities employer.

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Job Email id: careers(at)c40.org