Carbon Pricing Unit: Senior Operations Associate

INTRODUCTION TO GGGI

The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) is a treaty-based international, inter-governmental organization dedicated to supporting and promoting strong, inclusive and sustainable economic growth in developing countries and emerging economies. To learn more please visit about GGGI web page. 

BACKGROUND

Based in Seoul, Republic of Korea, the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) is an international intergovernmental organization founded to support and promote a model of economic growth known as “green growth”, which targets key aspects of economic performance such a poverty reduction, job creation, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability. GGGI works with countries around the world, building their capacity and working collaboratively on green growth policies and projects that can impact the lives of millions. The organization partners with countries, multilateral institutions, government bodies, and private sector to help build economies that grow strongly and are more efficient and sustainable in the use of natural resources, less carbon intensive, and more resilient to climate change. 

The Paris Agreement provides a comprehensive framework for signatory Parties to reach an ambitious commitment to limit the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C, and to pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C in a cooperative manner. This framework covers a number of instruments including cooperative approaches under Article 6 which allows signatory countries (and private sector entities authorized by these countries) to engage in international carbon transactions.

The Carbon Pricing Unit (CPU) of GGGI is a global leader in Article 6 international carbon trading technical assistance, implementing several programs since 2019 related to preparing and supporting countries in trading, opening up international carbon markets. The resultant flow of transactions is envisaged to build a robust and reliable global price for carbon, something many areas of the private sector have long called for as a way to motivate the transformational change needed to achieve the ambitious goals of Paris.

The Carbon Transaction Facility (CTF) is expected to be launched in October 2024 and will be the main delivery vehicle for GGGI’s Article 6 support to its’ member and partner countries. It will be a collection of single and multi-donor funds aimed at further developing and scaling up Article 6-based carbon markets. The CTF will not only support the readiness of countries to participate in Article 6 cooperative approaches through a learning by doing approach, but also enable transactions of Article 6 compliant mitigation outcomes, also known as ITMOs. GGGI will act as trust fund manager for all trust funds within the CTF. CTF participants are sovereign parties looking to support potential seller countries in readiness. Several fund participants also seek to purchase ITMOs for meeting their own NDC or for higher ambition purposes such as carbon neutrality targets.

The GGGI Carbon Pricing team currently consists of 17 staff members, with a further 15 staff working through the matrix management structure on carbon. It is a global team with a vision to open up Article 6-aligned carbon markets to provide countries access to funding needed to implement their green growth paths and economic efficiencies that markets enable, helping the in the efforts to meet the global climate goals. We believe in excellence in our delivery and aligning to the highest levels of environmental integrity; our track record has enabled us to become a global leader in this space. We are a diverse and participatory team that believes in a culture of growth. Our goal is to drive delivery of first to market transactions and to scale these by supporting our growing number of members and partner countries to access international Article 6-aligned carbon markets.   

 

POSITION SUMMARY

The Senior Operations Associate will be responsible for managing various administrative processes under the CTF, including procurement, invoicing, travel, events logistics, and recruitment, in line with GGGI established rules and regulations. This includes procurement contract management for both firms and individual consultancies under global or centrally-managed Readiness projects and support for in-country Readiness projects as needed, as well as monitoring of financial obligations under donor contribution agreements.

 

PURPOSE

• Lead the contracts management, including procurement and invoicing for outsourcing contracts for Readiness Activities and current and future earmarked projects managed by the Carbon Pricing Unit.
• Manage, in coordination with project managers and other relevant staff, the engagement of consultants (terms of reference verification, contracting, payment and delivery logistics) for Readiness Activities and current and future earmarked projects.
• Support logistics required under the Readiness Activities and the Carbon Trust Funds, including events and travel under the CTF.
• Support the Carbon Pricing Senior Portfolio Officer on budgeting of CTF projects.

 

ENGAGEMENT

• Support the Carbon Pricing Senior Portfolio Officer and Carbon Pricing Unit staff on implementing the procedures, policies, and tools for procurements, consultant contracting and relevant financial and operational transactions for project/output delivery.
• Identify issues and risks that will affect consistent program and delivery and report said risks to the Senior Portfolio Officer.
• Identify issues across projects and workstreams and advise project staff on remedial measures in order to maintain integrity of delivery.
• Advise and provide training when needed to the CTF project teams on GGGI rules and procedures to ensure quality of delivery and compliance.

• Support the Readiness Facility Manager and Carbon Trust Fund Managers to comply with the obligations and procedures in the Readiness Facility Rules and Contribution Agreements.
• The Senior Operations Associate contributes to ensure process integrity in CTF operations in compliance with established institutional policies, standards and donor requirements across procurement and administration processes implementation with internal and external stakeholders.

 

DELIVERY

• Lead multi-step procurement processes of medium and high value, including quality control and review of submitted documents from users and tenderers, to ensure GGGI policy and CTF rule compliance as stated in the Article 6 Readiness Facility Rules, donor Contribution Agreements, Trust Fund Agreements and the Operational Guidelines.
• Lead the timely engagement of individual consultants according to GGGI policies and procedures.
• Monitoring and follow-up on procurement actions taken in ERP system as well as e-GPP (Procurement Software).
• Send fund disbursement requests and keep track of funds received versus balance, and propose any contract amendments to ongoing contracts in a timely manner;
• Implement and manage systems to effectively manage the requirements of all Contribution Agreements, Funding Agreements, Mitigation Outcome Purchase Agreements and related contracts to ensure the notifications, payments and reporting are all completed on time within other areas of the operations team or by alerting the Fund Managers when appropriate.
• In close coordination with the relevant carbon fund managers, support the Carbon Pricing Senior Portfolio Officer to setup an internal system for successful delivery of ITMOs from project/host country registry to buyer registry and subsequent related payments from buyer to carbon trust fund to seller’s account.
• Provide timely support CPU staff to monitor correspondence from country/regional offices and bidders received at Procurement Unit email account as well as at e-GPP procurement portal
• Lead training for OED focal points and country staff, as needed.
• Support data inputs required for operations into GGGI systems including ERP and GGGI Online.

 

REQUIREMENTS:

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelors degree or equivalent in business administration, finance, accounting, human resources, or other related field of study required.
• Preferably 3 years of program experience in the development sector.
• Certifications in procurement, project management, human resources management, database management, information technology systems, knowledge management/communications, is an advantage.
• Minimum 3 to 5 years of professional work experience relevant to this position.
• Experience working with an international organization preferred.
• Excellent written and spoken English.

FUNCTIONAL

• Demonstrated experience in procurement, project or contract management, and human resources management.
• Demonstrates strong organizational skills, time management, multi-tasking.
• Practical experience with MS Office, particularly Excel.

CORPORATE

• Demonstrates a high level of integrity in handling privileged information and in stewardship of public resources.
• Demonstrates ability to take on significant responsibilities in the workplace.
• Demonstrates initiative in problem-solving.
• Values the importance of promoting environmental sustainability within the workplace and green growth within society as a whole.

WORKING CONDITIONS

• The Senior Operations Associate is a X7, Korean national grade level in GGGI’s salary scale. For an X7 national grade, the base salary starts from USD 58,452. Determination of base salary is subject to candidate’s experience, academic background, and internal equity. Terms and conditions are to be reviewed in a case-by-case situation.
• GGGI is committed to providing a work environment that is sufficiently flexible to accommodate diverse life-cycle challenges and assist Staff members to achieve a better balance between work and personal/family commitments, thus ensuring high performance, long-term productivity, and well-being of Staff members.

• GGGI provides 13% of base salary towards retirement plan/long-term savings, 27 days of annual leave, and private health insurance that covers dental and vision.

• The chosen candidate is expected to be based in GGGI’s Seoul headquarters and will report directly to the Carbon Pricing Unit Senior Portfolio Officer.

Child protection – GGGI is committed to child protection, irrespective of whether any specific area of work involves direct contact with children. GGGI’s Child Protection Policy is written in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.