Investment Solutions Specialist – Climate (5661)

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is a multilateral development bank whose mission is to finance the Infrastructure for Tomorrow with sustainability at its core. We began operations in Beijing in January 2016 and have since grown to 109 approved Members worldwide. We are capitalized up to USD100 billion and Triple-A-rated by the major international credit rating agencies. Working with partners, AIIB meets clients’ needs by unlocking new capital and investing in infrastructure that is green, technology-enabled and promotes regional connectivity.

The Sectors, Themes and Finance Solutions Department (STF) Department drives the development of technical excellence and the expansion of financing knowledge across sectors and themes to support AIIB’s sovereign and non-sovereign investment operations. It performs a forward-looking role in shaping the direction and impact of AIIB investment operations, initiating and carrying out upstream work to support and incubate new initiatives in frontier technologies, public-private partnerships (PPP) advisory, and other productive sectors. STF focuses on ensuring that investment operations fully align with the Bank’s Corporate Strategy and support the Client Departments (CDs) in implementing relevant sectoral strategies and thematic priorities to maximize development impact. It plays a leading role in introducing and operationalizing new products and financing modalities before they are mainstreamed by the CDs. STF represents the Bank in international fora to discuss sectoral, thematic, and financing issues, establishing and branding AIIB as a premier development institution by actively networking with other development partners and contributing to the global development agenda. STF contributes to cross-bank roles including reporting, branding, and upstream engagement.

The Investment Solutions Specialist will be responsible for supporting climate finance delivery by the Investment Operations teams to achieve AIIB’s climate-related commitments, i.e., achieving at least 50% climate finance share by 2025 and full implementation of aligning all its new financing operations with the goals of the Paris Agreement. The position involves activities to:
•    Support the implementation of the Bank’s climate commitments at the operations level relating to climate and disaster risk screening, assessment, and management for projects.
•    Assess projects against the requirements related to Paris Agreement alignment and climate finance, and conduct internal climate determinations (Paris alignment and climate finance)  throughout the project cycle.
•    Collaborate with other AIIB specialists, such as policy officers and environmental and social specialists, and build relative to experience, to help project teams deliver comprehensive solutions and value-add to Clients.
•    Provide technical inputs on activities related to upstream engagement with members/clients on climate risk and adaptation-related diagnostic work that can inform National Adaptation Planning and country programming processes, including identification of adaptation activities.
•    Provide technical support to ensure that good practices and the latest developments in climate science are reflected in AIIB’s climate risk management-related business processes, tools, and knowledge resources.
•    Support, at the operations level, the setting up of any climate-related monitoring and reporting provisions as part of overall environmental and social monitoring and reporting as agreed with the Client.
•    Provide inputs on any further development of internal methodologies, policies, and tools by reflecting operational experience.
•    Establish and manage operational climate databases for climate and other related data, including processing and analysis of climate model data.

Responsibilities

•    Support AIIB with the implementation of its Paris Agreement alignment commitment at the operations level along the project cycle by participating in the identification, appraisal, design and implementation of investment programs and projects from the climate perspective and supporting Clients in conducting the relevant assessment.
•    Appraise the climate risks (both transition and physical risks) and assist with the development of appropriate response measures as part of the investment projects/programs, both Sovereign-backed Financings (SBF) and Non-sovereign-backed Financings (NSBF), including financial intermediaries (FI) projects, against the requirements of Bank’s policies and guidance.
•    Conduct climate determinations for the projects assigned and reflect findings in the Project Documentation.
•    Provide guidance and support  the design of proposed mitigation and adaptation actions in investment operations, including assessing the climate impacts of projects, and supporting the tracking and reporting on climate finance.
•    Support the Bank-wide capacity-building activities on climate and the broader environmental agenda.

Requirements

•    Master’s degree or equivalent in atmospheric science, applied climatology, climate informatics, earth science (hydrology), physical geography, geographic information systems, civil engineering, or related fields; or University degree in atmospheric science, applied climatology, climate informatics, earth science (hydrology), physical geography, geographic information systems, civil engineering, or related fields and at least 5-8 years specialized experience relevant to the position can be considered.
•    Experience in natural hazard or climate impact modeling and research; climate risk assessment; adaptation and disaster risk reduction planning and practices; and application of risk information for research, investments and/or policy in developing countries.
•    Competence and experience in the statistical analysis and application of climatic and related data, inclusive of trend analysis and extreme value analysis.
•    Competence and experience in generation and use of geospatial information, databases, and tools.
•    Past involvement in projects involving development of software, digital tools, or databases, adopting agile and user experience design approaches will be an advantage.
•    Relevant professional experience, including international work experience in designing and implementing climate change projects and/or research. 
•    Excellent project management skills, with the ability to plan, self-manage, and lead initiatives independently and with multi-disciplinary teams.
•    Strong stakeholder engagement, report-writing, oral and written communication skills in English.
•    Able to work collaboratively with teams as a constructive team member.
•    Experience working with other multilateral development banks is advantageous.

AIIB is committed to diversity, transparency and inclusion. We believe our strength comes from having a team with the right diverse skills, experiences and abilities selected through a merit-based competitive process. We actively encourage applications from people from both within and outside AIIB members, regardless of nationality, religion, gender, race, disability or sexual orientation.

Join us and help create a prosperous and sustainable Asia while growing your career in a diverse and innovative environment.

Previous experience and qualifications will determine the grade and job title at which successful applicants will enter AIIB.