Request for Proposals. Agriculture and Forestry Technical Expert GHG Assessments of Policies

Transcription

1 Request for Proposals Agriculture and Forestry Technical Expert GHG Assessments of Policies 1. INTRODUCTION 26 October 2016 The Initiative for Climate Action Transparency (ICAT) seeks two qualified consultants or consulting teams to provide technical input into the development of methodological guidance for greenhouse gas assessments of policies and actions in the agriculture sector and forestry sector (the components, or guidance documents ) or a single consultant to provide technical input to both components. These components are two of 10 components that comprise the methodological framework ICAT will develop to help countries measure and assess the GHG, sustainable development and transformational change impacts of their climate policies and actions. The final product will be a published guidance document that helps countries estimate the GHG impacts of their climate policies and actions and will provide more comprehensive guidance for the agriculture and forestry sectors for those following the WRI GHG Protocol Policy and Action Standard. This RFP document has six further sections and an appendix. Section 2 provides an overview of ICAT, and Section 3 describes the methodological framework and the development process. Section 4 sets out the scope of work for the consultant(s), followed by the deliverables, and milestones and timelines, in sections 5 and 6, respectively. Section 7 provides the process for submitting proposals. An appendix gives information on the proposed structure of the guidance document that comprises the component. 2. INITIATIVE FOR CLIMATE ACTION TRANSPARENCY The Paris Agreement marks a historic turning point in global action on climate change. It commits all countries to play a part in limiting global temperature rise and adapt to the changes already occurring, and requires them to increase their efforts regularly over time. In the wake of the Paris Agreement, countries are devising strategies to implement their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) through various policies and actions. In order to show that they are achieving their goals, countries will need a way to measure and demonstrate their progress. However, many countries lack the tools and well-designed institutional arrangements to comprehensively assess the impacts of national climate policies and actions. There is no common methodological framework to measure, report and verify progress. In response to this need and the call to support improved transparency and capacity building under the Paris Agreement, the Children s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) in 2015 founded ICAT. In

2 early 2016 they were joined by the Italian Ministry of the Environment (IMELS) and ClimateWorks Foundation. ICAT will develop tools and provide support that will ultimately improve the availability and quality of data and enable countries to promote efficient, cost-effective policies. The Initiative has two work streams. First, ICAT is building a methodological framework for countries to transparently measure and assess the greenhouse gas, sustainable development and transformational change impacts of climate policies and actions. Second, ICAT will build expertise and capacity in developing countries by working closely with governments, public agencies, higher education institutions and civil society bodies. After mapping out relevant institutions and stakeholders within each beneficiary country, ICAT will support domestic capacity-building programmes by developing resources, organising trainings and creating opportunities for knowledge sharing and lessons learned among countries. Implementing partners of the initiative are UNEP DTU Partnership (UDP), Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and World Resources Institute (WRI). The Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance and Rainforest Alliance are also supporting partners and will contribute to specific aspects of the initiative. The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) manages the trust fund through which the work is funded. Further information about the Initiative is available at and in the Overview - Initiative for Climate Action Transparency document. 3. ICAT METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK AND DEVELOPMENT PROCESS 3.1 Methodological Framework The methodological framework will include the following components: Energy -- sector-level accounting for the greenhouse gas impacts of policies and actions Transport -- sector-level accounting for the greenhouse gas impacts of policies and actions Agriculture -- sector-level accounting for the greenhouse gas impacts of policies and actions Forestry -- sector-level accounting for the greenhouse gas impacts of policies and actions Sustainable development -- guidance for assessing the sustainable development impacts of policies and actions, including social, environmental and economic impacts Transformational change -- guidance for assessing the extent to which policies and actions bring about transformation to low carbon and sustainable pathways and disrupt business as usual highcarbon development Stakeholder participation -- guidance on involving stakeholders in the design of policies and actions, and the assessment of their impacts Finance -- guidance on designing, implementing and assessing policies and actions to best access sources of finance Verification -- guidance on approaches for verifying the impacts of policies and actions Non-State action -- guidance on integrating the impacts of non-state and subnational action into national mitigation assessments 2

3 A Framework Guide document will introduce the methodological framework and its objectives, and describe the various components of the framework and how they are used. The components will be designed to work together in a flexible way with all elements being optional, and will leverage existing methods and approaches. 3.2 Development Process The Methodological Framework is being developed following an inclusive, multi-stakeholder process. The Governance Plan and Terms of Reference, Development of Methodological Framework describes in detail the roles and responsibilities of the Secretariat, Technical Working Group, Drafting Team, as well as the Review Group, Pilot Test Group and the ICAT Governance Bodies. In its role as Secretariat for the agriculture and forestry components, VCS will manage the development process for the components, facilitating and coordinating meetings, conference calls and follow-up for both the Technical Working Group and the Drafting Team. VCS will bring its expertise in framework and standards development to its management of the component to ensure quality and consistency across all chapters and the components integration into the methodological framework. VCS will also bring its experience in developing the VCS AFOLU Requirements and Jurisdictional and Nested REDD+ Requirements to guide the strategic direction of the component. The consultant(s) will work in close coordination with VCS, the agriculture and/or forestry Technical Working Groups, and their respective Drafting Teams. 4. SCOPE OF WORK 4.1 Objectives The consultant(s) will provide strategic input and technical leadership into the development of the component(s). The component(s) will: Be consistent with the WRI GHG Protocol Policy and Action Standard; the provisional chapter outline is provided in Appendix 1. Focus on assessment of the GHG effects of 2-3 key activities for each sector (ie, agriculture and forestry). The activities will be selected in the coming weeks by the Technical Working Group. For the agriculture component the guidance will likely focus on activities that reduce emissions from enteric fermentation, reduce N2O emissions from fertilizer application, and increase soil sequestration in pasture, grazing and crop lands. The forestry component will likely focus on emission reductions and removals from reforestation and timber and forest land management. Provide a synthesis of existing (and relevant) tools and methods for the key activities. The component will draw from existing methods and tools to provide guidance on how to set a baseline scenario, estimate GHG effects ex-ante, assess GHG effects ex-post, and performance over time for the key activities at the policy level. All guidance should be practicable and easily usable by country users and practitioners Possibly provide multiple options for assessment with increasing level of accuracy (eg, Tier 1 and Tier 2 approaches) and allow flexibility for users to meet their accounting and assessment objectives. 3

4 4.2 Responsibilities The consultant(s) will work together with VCS to determine and fine-tune the responsibilities (in respect of the Drafting Team and the Technical Working Group) based on its interest and expertise. The responsibilities are somewhat flexible, allowing the consultant(s) to coordinate with VCS and members of the Drafting Team to determine the extent to which they each undertake research and draft guidance. The principle tasks and responsibilities of the technical expert include the following: Review relevant existing guidance, tools, methodologies and practices Develop initial draft text for sections of the guidance document for review and discussion by the Technical Working Group, including synthesizing existing tools and methods available for the relevant sub-sectors and developing guidance using those tools and methods to assess GHG impacts at the policy level Develop proposals and presentations on key technical topics for Technical Working Group discussions Participate on conference calls and lead discussions to gather feedback from the Drafting Team and Technical Working Group on key technical topics and draft text Assist VCS in writing the final guidance document Assist VCS in responding to feedback on draft chapters from the Governance Bodies and Review Group (see Governance Plan and Terms of Reference, Development of Methodological Framework for a description of these) The bulk of the work for this role will take place during the first six months focusing on the development of the first draft of guidance for public consultation. Following the development of the first draft, input into the later drafts is expected to require a lower level of effort, as the consultant(s) will participate in technical discussions to resolve issues. The consultant(s) will work with VCS to develop a project plan, keeping in mind the deliverables, milestones and timeline set out below. The responsibilities may be fulfilled by a single consultant for both the agriculture and forestry components or by separate consultants providing input for each. 4.3 Expected qualifications The consultant(s) is expected to have experience in the subject matter of this proposal, including for example: Experience designing, implementing or assessing policies or actions, INDCs or NAMAs Understanding of baselines for the AFOLU sector Understanding or experience in monitoring and measuring GHG emission reductions and/or removals, particularly at large-scales (eg, jurisdictional or policy-level) Experience with modelling and data analysis (eg, computer models for GHG, GIS or remote sensing) Experience developing AFOLU GHG emission reduction projects or methodologies (under VCS, CDM, or other GHG program) 4

5 Experience applying IPCC guidance 4.4 Value of contract A single consultant or consultant team may fill the role of agriculture and forestry technical expert or the technical expert can be fulfilled by two separate consultants or teams. The value of the contract for an agriculture technical expert is USD 74,709 (seventy-four thousand, seven hundred and nine dollars). The value of the contract for a forestry technical expert is USD 73,509 (seventy-three thousand, five hundred and nine dollars). The value of the contract for both is USD 148,218 (one hundred and forty-eight thousand, two hundred eighteen dollars). 5. DELIVERABLES The main deliverables for this assignment are to contribute to the development of the first, second, third and final drafts of the components (see timeline table below). The consultant(s) shall provide the following deliverables for delivery of the first draft: Feedback on initial outline List of existing guidance, methods and tools (eg, excel sheet) Criteria and process established for selecting the relevant methods and tools to include in the components (eg, excel sheet) Detailed outline drafted with the content of the chapters bulleted out, with the relevant methods and tools selected and initial guidance for assessing policies sketched out First draft written based on outline and feedback collected from the TWG Finalized first draft for first public consultation based on feedback collected from the TWG Deliverables for second, third and final drafts will be agreed to at a later time. 5

6 6. MILESTONES AND TIMELINE Development of the methodological framework will run from 2016 to mid There will be stages of drafting guidance documents, conducting public consultation and running pilot testing. The figure is the estimated timeline for developing and releasing the framework. The duration of the development process for the component is expected to be from November 2016 to December An indicative timeline for key milestones is given below. Milestone Indicative Timeline Submit draft guidance document to Technical Working Group to attain broad agreement among members February 2017 Assist VCS in the delivery of first draft of the guidance document for public consultation April 2017 Assist VCS in the delivery of second draft of the guidance document for pilot testing December 2017 Assist VCS in the delivery of third draft of the guidance document for public consultation September 2018 Assist VCS in the delivery of final draft of the guidance document for publication December APPLICATION PROCESS Applicants are requested to submit the following documents (in English): 6

7 Technical proposal, outlining the key considerations and steps for developing the component(s) to ensure it will provide concrete guidance on using existing tools and resources to measure and monitor GHG impacts of government policies and actions. A description of the expertise and experience the consultant will bring to the project, including Resumes/CVs of consultant or consulting team (not to exceed two pages each), and links to or attachments of relevant work. Cost proposal, to include total estimated costs and a daily rate All documents should be submitted to Carolyn Ching via at cching@v-c-s.org by close of business on 18 November VCS will conduct interviews of short-listed candidates by 2 December 2016 and finalize the selection by 9 December

8 APPENDIX 1: CONTENT OF SECTOR GUIDANCE The following topics will be addressed in each sector guidance document, maintaining compatibility with the WRI GHG Protocol Policy and Action Standard. Chapter Introduction Objectives Overview of steps and key concepts Accounting and reporting principles Defining the Policy or Action Identifying Effects and Mapping the Causal Chain Defining the GHG Assessment Boundary Estimating Baseline Emissions Chapter content Provides an overview of the component and its relationship to Framework and other components. List of potential objectives of undertaking the assessment of GHG impacts Helps users understand why they might be interested in undertaking an assessment of GHG impacts of a policy/action Provides a high-level overview of steps and key concepts in the guidance document Provides an explanation of the following principles for GHG accounting and reporting: relevance, completeness, consistency, transparency, accuracy and comparability May include interpretation of principles relevant to the sector Explains the activities (or policies/actions) that the guidance is applicable to Provides guidance to the user for describing the policy or action that will be assessed Provides a method for identifying all potential GHG effects of the policies/actions Where appropriate, provides a method for identifying and categorizing injurisdiction effects and out-of-jurisdiction effects Provides a method for identifying all source/sink categories and greenhouse gases associated with the policy or action Provides guidance for developing a map of the causal chain for the relevant policies/actions Provides a method for identifying all significant GHG effects, source/sink categories and greenhouse gases in the GHG assessment boundary Provides guidance for defining the GHG assessment period based on the GHG effects included in the GHG assessment boundary Provides a method for defining the baseline scenario that represents the conditions most likely to occur in the absence of the policy or action for each source or sink category included in the GHG assessment boundary Provides a method for estimating baseline emissions and removals over the GHG assessment period for each source/sink category and GHG included in 8

9 the GHG assessment boundary, or identifies an equivalent comparison group for each source or sink category included in the GHG assessment boundary Provides a method for estimating emissions and removals from the comparison group and the policy group over the GHG assessment period for each source/sink category and GHG included in the GHG assessment boundary Estimating GHG Effects Ex-Ante Estimating GHG Effects Ex-Post Assessing Uncertainty Monitoring Performance over Time Verification Reporting Provides a method for defining a policy scenario that represents the conditions most likely to occur in the presence of the policy or action for each source or sink category included in the GHG assessment boundary Provides a method for estimating policy scenario emissions and removals of the GHG assessment period for each source/sink category and GHG included in the GHG assessment boundary, based on the GHG effects included in the boundary Provides a method for estimating the GHG effect of the policy or action by subtracting baseline emissions from policy scenario emissions for each source/sink category included in the GHG assessment boundary Estimate policy scenario emissions and removals over the GHG assessment period from each source/sink category and GHG included in the GHG assessment boundary Apply the same GWP values used to estimate baseline emissions Estimate the GHG effect of the policy or action by subtracting baseline emissions from policy scenario emissions for each source/sink category included in the GHG assessment boundary Provides methods for assessing the uncertainty of the results of the GHG assessment, either quantitatively or qualitatively Identifies the key performance indicators that will be used to track performance of the policy or action over time (and parameters for ex-post assessment, if relevant) Provides guidance for developing a monitoring plan Provides guidance for monitoring in accordance with the monitoring plan Refers to Verification guidance, will not likely need more in this chapter Recommends information to report on the results, methodology, and assumptions 9