Climate Finance and Carbon Markets Expert

About Palladium
Palladium is a global company working to design, develop, and deliver positive impact on the lives and livelihoods of people around the globe; broaden access to health, water, power, and infrastructure; build enduring, sustainable, and transformative institutions and market systems to address global challenges; and conserve the natural world. We operate in over 90 countries and have a workforce of 4,000 talented, motivated, and diverse staff of all religions, races, languages, and gender identities.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities


The UK PACT (Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions) programme aims to improve the effectiveness of key institutions (public, private, and civil society) in partner countries so that they can deliver accelerated emission reductions and raise the ambition of their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) targets. Through its focus on NDCs, the programme supports the UK’s COP26 efforts that aim to review NDC commitments and strengthen ambition.

Palladium is seeking a Climate Finance and Carbon Markets Expert to support South Africa's National Treasury in enhancing the country’s climate finance ecosystem. This full-time role, based in Pretoria, will be for a fixed term of 12 months, with an estimated start date in November 2024, depending on the candidate's notice period.
The selected individual will contribute to policy support, development, and implementation in the areas of climate finance, transition finance, and carbon markets in South Africa. The work will involve coordinating outputs and approaches for domestic climate finance, developing policy frameworks, and supporting specific projects that utilise or implement these frameworks.

Key Responsibilities


Policy Support and Development

• Conduct stakeholder engagement aimed at implementing and embedding South Africa’s green finance taxonomy and enhancing climate finance-related policies for investment schemes, banks, and institutional investors.
• Develop policy frameworks in the area of transition finance planning and related areas.
• Contribute to policy enhancements relating to the framework for collective investment schemes, banks and other institutional investors relating to climate finance across the National Treasury.
  Integrate learnings from domestic and international experience.

Project Design and Implementation

• Develop and implement projects which pilot different use cases for various climate finance frameworks and demonstrate their real-world usability.
• Work with stakeholders to develop demonstration transactions which utilise the green taxonomy, other regulatory frameworks, and JETP funding mechanisms.
• Work with multi-lateral development banks on demonstration transactions to illustrate the scaling potential of catalytic climate finance projects.
• Design financial interventions for SMEs, including green mortgages and a blended finance instrument for SMEs.
• Implement recommendations to improve carbon market efficiency, as part of National Treasury’s carbon markets activities.

Project Support

• Support activities which extend and scale National Treasury’s sustainable finance programmes including for SMEs.
• Support activities which extend and scale National Treasury’s sustainable finance policy instruments including carbon markets project, with a focus on South Africa’s G20 preparation.
Provide support to various units within National Treasury (including teams working on financial sector policy, infrastructure finance reform, and asset and liabilities management), as well as with regulatory institutions (such as the FCSA and Prudential Authority).

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Carbon Market Development

• Develop common standards for carbon markets, implement carbon markets efficiency improvements, and contribute to carbon markets development.
• Operationalise carbon credit market reforms recommended through the National Treasury led process.
• Engage with stakeholders with a view to scale carbon markets and support advocacy work leading up to G20.
• Support ongoing domestic reforms, to be informed by emerging best practice and global learnings.

Required Qualifications

• Extensive knowledge of the South African financial market ecosystem, including regulatory and domestic policy expertise.
• Experience in financial structuring, financial modelling, and designing climate-related finance models and infrastructure.
• Understanding of institutional financial balance-sheets (e.g., insurers, institutional investors, commercial banks).
• Experience working in multicultural environments and with diverse stakeholder groups.
• Higher education qualifications in finance, commerce, or economics are preferred. A Master’s level focus on carbon markets would be advantageous. Extensive experience will be sufficient.
• Understanding of policy or public administration is beneficial.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.

The role may require travel within South Africa and internationally.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and interested candidates are encouraged to submit their CVs via the portal as early as possible.

Palladium provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or genetics.