Support to the Government of Ukraine on updating its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC)

Support to the Government of Ukraine on updating its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC)

Location:Ukraine
Business sector:Other, Sustainable Resources and Climate Change, , Municipal and environmental infrastructure, , Financial institutions, Power and energy
Project number:73790
Funding source:SWUK - SIDA-EBRD Ukraine Energy Efficiency and Environment Consultant Cooperation Fund
Contract type:Consultancy Services
Notice type:Invitation for expressions of interest (CSU)
Issue date:30 May 2018
Closing date:20 Jun 2018 at 23:59 London

Project Description:

The Paris Agreement entered into force on 4 November 2016, with 150 countries having ratified to date.Building upon the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (the “UNFCCC”), the Paris Agreement brings all nations into a common cause to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects, with enhanced support to assist developing countries to do so (Article 2).

According to Article 4 of the Paris Agreement, each Party to the Convention must prepare, communicate and maintain successive nationally determined contributions (the “NDCs”) that it intends to achieve. Parties will need to pursue domestic mitigation measures, with the aim of achieving the objectives of such contributions.1

Article 13 of the Paris Agreement also establishes an enhanced Transparency Framework for action and support with the aim to build mutual trust and confidence and to promote effective implementation. This means Parties need to increase the frequency and quality of information on Greenhouse Gas emissions (the “GHG”) and climate support for some of the Parties and provide clearer guidance in some areas, especially NDC accounting.2

All of the countries of operations (the “COOs”) of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the “EBRD” or the “Bank”) have signed the Paris Agreement3, out of which 24 have ratified and put it into force. All the countries have submitted their intended NDCs, and except for Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Uzbekistan, at the time of this writing, all others have submitted their first NDCs to UNFCCC interim NDC registry.4

There are wide discrepancies in the compositions of the NDCs of the EBRD region, which in itself demonstrates a large gap, but more importantly the COOs generally lack the infrastructure needed to develop and implement NDCs effectively

In the light of the above; EBRD through its “NDC Support Programme” (the “Programme”) intends to support the development and implementation of the Paris Agreement and Nationally Determined Contributions in the countries of the EBRD region (the “Project”).

Assignment Description:

In the context of the Project and following a request from the Ministry of Environment of Ukraine, the Bank now intends to engage a consultant (the “Consultant”) that will work closely with the Bank’s Project Team in order to provide support to the Government of Ukraine with the update of its current NDCs submitted to the UNFCCC on 19th September, 2016 (the “Assignment”)

This Assignment will build on the relations between Ukraine and the EBRD. The Consultant will also take on board the EBRD’s previous work on PETER project and current works under the Partnership for Market Readiness (the “PMR”) and other internationally supported capacity building activities with the broader donor community active in Ukraine, to ensure coordination.

EBRD intends to select and contract a Consultant to perform the following services (the “Services”), by assisting the Government of Ukraine (the “GoU”) in the following 3 areas in order to:

(1) Assess and draft:

- all available options to achieve the NDC targets, including stakeholder consultation and adoption of appropriate market and fiscal mechanisms, and provide substantiation of those options for government consideration;

- key policy, regulatory, fiscal and economic (market-based) instruments aligned with the options, including clarification of the overarching climate legislation that considers carbon budget and mainstreaming of transparency (MRV), responsibilities and accountability to meet the NDC targets;

- and Identify required policies on adaptation to climate change and include them in an updated NDC;

-the updated NDC and inform and involve relevant stakeholders for its adoption;

(2) Review:

• - the updated NDC; the GHG emissions profile in a context of existing and planned national strategies and policies, as well as economic forecasts, and provide options for increased ambition in terms of GHG emissions reduction targets (in line with a below 2°C pathway);and
• - Provide more information on its demand for climate finance, for both mitigation and adaptation, and access to market mechanisms, including carbon market, in relation to emissions reductions scenarios; and

(3) Engage with various local and international shareholders, in order to develop and facilitate policy dialogue and local capacity building and implementation of national climate policies and low carbon emissions action plans and strategies on national and international level.

Status of Selection Process:

Interested firms or groups of firms are hereby invited to submit expressions of interest.

Assignment Start Date and Duration:

The assignment is expected to begin in August 2018 and has an estimated overall duration of 12 months.

Cost Estimate for the Assignment:

EUR 350,000 (exclusive of VAT). Subject to availability of funding, the performance of the selected Consultant and the specific needs of the Bank the Assignment may be extended beyond the current scope.

The Consultant must determine whether any VAT would be chargeable on the services and the basis for that determination, without taking into consideration the special status of the Bank as an IFI and state this to the Bank in their response to the Invitation for Expressions of Interest. To the extent that a Consultant incurs input VAT on goods and services purchased in connection with the provision of services (e.g. VAT on airline ticket) which is not otherwise recoverable by the consultant from the local tax authority, the gross cost to the consultant of such expenses shall be treated as a reimbursable expense.

Funding Source:

It is expected that the Assignment will be funded by the SIDA-EBRD Ukraine Energy Efficiency and Environment Consultant Cooperation Fund (the “SWUK”).

Please note selection and contracting will be subject to the availability of funding.

Eligibility: There are no eligibility restrictions regarding consultants’ nationality.

Consultant Profile:

Corporate services are required. The Consultant will be a firm or a group of firms preferably with previous projects experience related to:

- Developing analysing and proposing NDCs GHG emissions inventories and/or appropriate national strategies, including Project financing and financial/economic assessment on environmental and social projects for international institutions, on climate actions and low-carbon Development at country and sector level for international climate negotiations and meeting obligations under the UNFCCC agreements;

- Stakeholder engagement and working with various stakeholders in order to facilitate public dialogue on developing national action plans/strategies, and capacity building on climate policy development, implementation and planning specifically on climate policies and low-carbon emission strategies on national and international level; and

- Monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) activities of national climate measures/actions, including activities in relations to the preparedness for market readiness;

The Consultant’s expert team is expected to include the following key experts (the “Key Experts”):

Key Expert 1: International Climate Policy and/or Legal Expert and Team Leader:

Possessing deep experience in project management on both policy-advisory and technical projects, in the field of low carbon development and international climate policies and experience in providing programme support and policy advice on major climate policy and carbon issues at different levels and on cross-sectorial national plans on low-carbon development policies, including both climate mitigation and adaptation and understanding of the UNFCCC international climate negotiations and communication framework and process; strong understanding of climate finance and investments; analysing regulatory processes, climate policy development and advice, drafting of legal documentations and regulation; and the development of regulatory compliance systems; with experiences in working with international institutions and national governments in Ukraine and/or countries of the EBRD. Fluent in both English and Russian.

Key Expert 2 : Macro Economics Expert:

Deep knowledge of applied policy oriented economic analysis for topics related to green investment and climate change policy; practical applications of economic data analysis and assessment to develop climate and environmental policies; publications on climate change and environmental economics, and sustainable development; designing market-based mechanisms to allocate carbon emissions budgets across various sectors; estimating strategic infrastructure investment needs.

Key Expert 3: Sustainable Development Expert:

Deep knowledge in sustainable development projects supporting the preparation of national reports and/or the integration of global sustainable development goals into national and local level planning relevant to the Ukrainian context; ability to review actions/measures/processes under the NDC and propose considerations to make in order to better articulate and enhance the social and environmental impacts of those actions/measures, in the context of longer term sustainable development of the country

Key Expert 4:Scenario Modelling Expert:

Deep knowledge in the developing country-level GHG emissions reduction scenarios; delivering strategic low-emissions development research and data analysis project; well-versed in policy mapping and ability to translate these into entity- relationship diagrams; data analysis and developing and implementing frameworks and methodologies and mathematical modelling tools to gain strategic insights into the evolution of low-carbon technologies, ideally in the context of NDCs development; identifying and analysing trends and developments in global energy economics, supply and demand of commodities, consumer behaviour, and climate policies that can impact Ukraine’s GHG emissions pathways; Familiarity with international best practices and methodologies to develop national carbon budgets Experience and their allocation to the various sectors of the economy.

Key Expert 5: Technical Climate Mitigation and Resilience Expert(s) (max 2 CVs per Expert):

Deep technical knowledge in the field of energy and resource efficiency of different key economic sectors, including energy and renewables, industries, transport, agribusiness and buildings; as well as technical expertise in climate adaptation and climate resilience, including developing sector specific adaptation objectives and measures, such as in a climate adaptation strategy or action plan; knowledge and understanding of the UNFCCC discussions and shaping of the Paris Agreement Rulebook on the subject of climate mitigation and adaptation and others key economic sectors of Ukraine; and supply and demand of energy and resources expertise in energy and resource efficiency, renewables, technological solutions for decarbonisation (in various key economic sectors, particularly of high energy and carbon Intensities); understanding of the domestic and international energy, resource and environmental policy/regulatory landscape and relevant markets and business models of each sector; certificate in Energy/Resource Auditing or Energy/Resource Management from an accredited institution.

Key Expert 6: Monitoring Reporting/ Verification Expert:

Deep knowledge on Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) related to climate change with deep understanding of the UNFCCC country requirements under international transparency obligations, as well as other international best practices on MRV, including those of the private sector, climate negotiations and the discussions around global stocktake and transparency framework; experience in designing MRV components to a national climate change plan or mechanism, including deep understanding for climate finance tracking methodologies and how to integrate them into the overall MRV system; knowledge of GHG emissions inventories, specifically of buildings, and how to set up related MRV systems is desirable Understands technical and policy considerations, as well as challenges in the national development of NDCs and MRV systems, which requires comprehensive knowledge of information technology and ability to apply it to work assignments; plan and conduct technical trainings to address MRV implications of climate change policy and in particular obligations related to national communication under the Paris Agreement.

Key Expert 7: Climate Finance/ Carbon Market Expert:

Possessing deep experience in climate finance and economic analysis, international climate policies, preferably in design and analysis of market-based mechanisms; international climate funds and climate finance mechanisms, as well as private sector led initiatives mapping innovative financing mechanisms and assessing and linking the flow of climate finance to specific sectors of the economy; abreast with carbon market developments (including EU ETS, Paris Agreement Article 6 and Corsia); experience in carbon market transactions MRV frameworks; understanding of compliance-based and voluntary carbon markets both in Ukraine and internationally; understanding for financial models and understanding for a wide range of financial products and familiarity of project finances in both public and private sectors, especially climate and environmental projects.

Local and Communications & Stakeholder Expert(s) (max. 2 CVs per Expert):

Possessing good knowledge in climate change and/or environmental related subjects; developing strategies, key messages and vehicles for communication by serving as a spokesperson to internal and external audiences supporting climate policy focused programmes with excellent coordination skills; working with wide-range of experts and stakeholders as well as an in-depth knowledge of climate related issues in Ukraine and the policy development process; excellent stakeholder engagement and communications with experience in technical data collection, analysis across various sectors in relations to climate policies and actions, reviewing of legal documentations and understanding of the national institutional and regulatory context; experience in developing and drafting action plans, indicators, monitoring plans in the local language; Fluent in English and/or Ukrainian and/or Russian.

Submission Requirements:

In order to determine the capability and experience of Consultants seeking to be selected for this Assignment, the information submitted should include the following:

1) Company/group of firms’ profile, organisation and staffing (max. 2-4 pages);

2) Details of previous project experience or similar assignments undertaken in the previous five years, including information on contract value, contracting entity/client, project location/country, duration (mm/yy to mm/yy), expert months provided (if different from duration) , main activities, objectives

3) Summaries of CVs of key experts who could carry out the Assignment outlining qualifications, experience in similar assignments including information on contracting entity/client, project location/country, duration (mm/yy to mm/yy), experts months provided, assignment budget, main activities, objectives (max 3 pages each);

4) Completed Consultant Declaration Form and Contact Sheet, the template for which is available from the following web-link:

http://www.ebrd.com/pages/workingwithus/procurement/notices/csu/contact_sheet.doc.

The above information should not exceed 30 pages excluding CVs and contact sheet.

The complete expression of interest (including CVs, Consultant Declaration and Contact Sheet) should be submitted, in English electronically through e-Selection, to reach the Bank not later than the closing date. The expression of interest shall be one file (pdf). The EBRD reserves the right to reject applications of firms submitting more than one file. Only if the permissible file size is exceeded (4MB), the Consultant may split the expression of interest into further files.

Bank Contact Person:

Aspasia Tsekeri

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

One Exchange Square

London EC2A 2JN

United Kingdom

Tel: + 44 20 7338 7729

E-mail: tsekeria@ebrd.com

(submissions should be sent through eSelection and NOT to this email address)

Notes:

1. Following this invitation for expressions of interest, a shortlist of qualified firms will be formally invited to submit proposals. Consultant selection and contracting will be subject to availability of funding.
2. The shortlist criteria and weightings are as follows:
3. Firm’s previous project experiences in developing and/or implementing national climate action plan(s) – both mitigation and adaptation -, relevant strategies and policies, low carbon development roadmap for sectors, climate investment plans, carbon markets and other financial instruments, GHG accounting and MRV, UNFCCC requirements and national-level stakeholder engagement, including engagements with businesses, civil society and academia: 30%
4. Firm’s experience in EBRD countries of Operations, especially Ukraine, and/or developing countries on the subject of low carbon development and climate change mitigation and adaptation: 30%
5. Qualifications/CVs of the Key Experts proposed for the assignment: 40%