Energy and Emission Specialist

Position Overview:

The Energy and Emission Specialist position within ICIMOD’s Action Area B focuses on addressing the complex challenges of air pollution in the HKH region. Collaborating with the World Bank and government representatives from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan, the specialist contributes to developing a roadmap for collective action on air pollution mitigation. This includes establishing localized air quality monitoring mechanisms and policy tools, as discussed in science-policy dialogues held in Kathmandu and Thimphu. The specialist’s role is pivotal in addressing knowledge gaps on air pollutant emissions in the HKH by developing emission inventories based on energy data. These inventories serve as critical benchmarks for assessing mitigation strategies and informing evidence-based policy changes. Working closely with the Air Pollution Mitigation Specialist, the Energy and Emission Specialist supports the identification of priority sectors for action, strengthens institutional capabilities in air pollution monitoring, and promotes cleaner technologies to reduce pollutants and greenhouse gases, aligning with ICIMOD’s strategic interventions.

Background

The Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region stretches 3,500 km across Asia, spanning eight countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan. Encompassing high-altitude mountain ranges, mid-hills, and plains, the zone is vital for the food, water, and energy security of around two billion people and is a habitat for countless irreplaceable species. It is also acutely fragile and at the frontline of the impacts of the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss.

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), based in Kathmandu, Nepal, is an international organisation established in 1983, that is working to make this critical region greener, more inclusive and climate resilient. For more information, read our Strategy 2030 and explore our website.

About SG 1: Reducing climate and environmental risks

This SG focuses on managing the risks, including those that are transboundary, relating to water, cryosphere, land, and air. It works on improving the understanding and communication of risks and their implications for the mountain peoples’ health, livelihoods, and safety, as well as on what they mean for policy responses and for future-proofing development investment. In addition to the testing and piloting of solutions to reduce these risks, in close collaboration with our RMCs (Regional Member Countries) and partners, a key feature of this SG is to build more regionally consistent and coherent enabling environments for risk management, whether through dialogues or networking, or through national and regional policy solutions. The transboundary elements of this SG are especially important but also challenging to manage. The work of this SG has also links with relevant areas of SG2 and SG3.

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