Local consultant for the Brazilian Sustainable Taxonomy - Water Waste Management

The Climate Bonds Initiative (Climate Bonds) is an international non-governmental organisation whose main task is to mobilise capital to achieve climate goals. Currently, Climate Bonds has been chosen to assist in developing Brazil's sustainable taxonomy, which aims to contribute to (i) the mobilisation and redirection of public and private investments towards economic activities with positive climate, environmental, and social impacts, aimed towards sustainable, inclusive, and regenerative development; (ii) the promotion of technological development aimed at climate-related, environmental, social, and economic sustainability, with increased productivity and competitiveness of the Brazilian economy on a sustainable basis; (iii) the provision of the basis for producing reliable information on sustainable finance flows by encouraging transparency, integrity, and a long-term vision for economic and financial activities. 

The project will consist of many stages and involve the active participation of a local partner with expertise in the field of Water, Sewage, Waste Management Activities and Decontamination. 

The project is expected to last from June 2024 to December 2024. During the project, a comprehensive analysis of the target sectors of the Brazilian economy will be carried out, including Water, Sewage, Waste Management Activities and Decontamination; technical working groups of local experts, government and industry representatives will be created; criteria for classifying activities in all sectors as low-carbon and in transition to net-zero will be developed; recommendations will be given on the application of the resulting criteria in real life the economy. 

Upon completion of the development process, three rounds of technical, targeted and public consultations will be held to gather feedback on the drafted taxonomy. After finalising the document, capacity-building sessions will be held to help integrate the results of the work into the day-to-day operations of the Brazilian government, as well as financial and industrial enterprises in Brazil. 

Purpose and Objectives 

Climate Bonds is seeking an experienced consultant with expertise in Water, Sewage, Waste Management Activities and Decontamination, who is highly proficient in both English and Portuguese, to contribute to the development of the Water, Sewage, Waste Management Activities and Decontamination technical screening criteria of the Brazil Sustainable Taxonomy, comprised of a) a screening tool that helps define the eligibility of the economic activities under the taxonomy based on pre-determined climate and environmental objectives (e.g., climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation; b) do no significant harm assessment, ensuring that economic activities substantially contributing to the Water, Sewage, Waste Management Activities and Decontamination objective do not cause significant harm to the other climate and environmental objectives defined in the taxonomy. 

Scope of Services and Deliverables/Outputs 

The tasks under this consultancy are outlined below as well as the number of days per task. The project will be conducted from June 2024 and February 2025, and will use twenty-five (25) business days of the consultant, to be split into the outputs below: 

Expected Outputs, Days and Completion Date 

• Analyse Brazil's existing policies in the field of decarbonisation of Water, Sewage, Waste Management Activities and Decontamination and map their main activities against industrial codes (CNAE) – 5 days (June-July 2024) 

• Participate in the organisation of and attend the meetings of technical expert groups, including the search and selection of relevant institutions and experts – 3 days (June – October 2024) 

• Assist in the creation of criteria for decarbonisation of Water, Sewage, Waste Management Activities and Decontamination sectors, following international best practices and in accordance with the current conditions in Brazil – 8 days (July – October 2024) 

• Integrate the feedback harvested from the multi-phased revision processes, including two internal revisions and one public consultation into the second, third, and final drafts, respectively – 7 days (July – October 2024) 

• Participate in capacity-building sessions regarding the Water, Sewage, Waste Management Activities and Decontamination criteria, if needed – 2 days (December 2024 – February 2025) 

The number of days is up to an extension depending on the needs of the project and the approval of the international organisms coordinating the project. 

Requirements

The consultant should have the following skills and experience:  

• Education/training: university qualification (Master) in urban planning and development, architecture, engineer, or a relevant related field. A Ph.D. in relevant topics is considered an advantage 
• Language: with C1-level language proficiency in Portuguese and English 
• General professional experience: 5 years of professional experience with water and wastewater management/treatment, (solid) waste management, or urban planning and development 
• Specific professional experience: 

• 1 expert with 3 years of professional experience with sustainable urban planning and development, sustainable urban infrastructure, sanitation, sustainable water and wastewater management, or sustainable waste management. 

• 1 expert with 3 years of professional experience with standards, instruments, norms, initiatives, and metrics related to the environmental/climate/social aspects relevant to the sector/theme (systems/taxonomy for sustainable economic/financial activities) 

• Regional experience: 2 years of experience in Latin America (region), and 5 years of experience in Brazil (country) 
• Development cooperation (DC) experience: previous experience in DC projects is considered an advantage 
• Other: previous relevant experience with sustainable taxonomies 

Benefits

Fees  

CBI will pay the Consultant a daily rate fee, excluding potential travel costs. In case there is any extra costs, these will be covered separately and only expenditure for reasonable, approved, and documented costs agreed with CBI’s Head of Taxonomies. 

Payments will be made quarterly upon (i) submission by the Consultant and approval by Climate Bonds of the deliverables described in item 3, according to the timeline outlined in item 4 above; (ii) presentation of monthly timesheets at the end of each calendar month detailing the work undertaken, the time spent on each task and the corresponding payable amount for each period, following Climate Bonds' template.