Project Advisory Manager- NDC Partnership

Job Highlight

This is an excellent opportunity to contribute to Mexico's climate action efforts by providing technical expertise in carbon pricing and policy integration. The position offers exposure to high-level policy discussions, collaboration with national and international partners, and the chance to make a significant impact on the country's sustainable development strategy.

About The Project Office
WEC Background:
The Water, Environment and Climate (WEC) portfolio, based in Vienna, and with offices based globally is part of the UNOPS Global Portfolio Office. The Portfolio has built strong partnerships and is effectively managing a portfolio of over 500 million USD over the last 15 years to support key initiatives with fund management, project implementation and administrative support. WEC effectively operationalizes partners' agendas with global approaches, as well as regional and country specific activities focused on climate action, protection and conservation of the environment. Partners profit from WEC's ability to operationalize and/or scale up their important substantive agendas, including in support of key multilateral environmental and climate agreements, such as the Paris Agreement, the Cartagena Convention as well as the Sustainable Development Goals.

About The Group
The NDC Partnership:
The NDC Partnership is a global coalition, bringing together more than 250 members, including more than 130 countries, developed and developing, and more than 110 institutions to deliver on ambitious climate action that helps achieve the Paris Agreement and drive sustainable development. Governments identify their NDC implementation priorities and the type of support that is needed to translate them into actionable policies and programs. Based on these requests, the membership offers a tailored package of expertise, technical assistance and funding. This collaborative response provides developing countries with efficient access to a wide range of resources to adapt to and mitigate climate change and foster more equitable and sustainable development. The NDC Partnership Support Unit is jointly hosted by the World Resources Institute (WRI), the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the UN Climate Change Secretariat (UNFCCC). For this project, the Consultant will be contracted through UNOPS.

Role Purpose
The Project Advisory Manager's role focuses on advancing Mexico's carbon pricing strategy through rigorous analysis and policy integration. It involves evaluating and harmonizing existing instruments—like carbon taxes and emissions trading systems—while developing decarbonization models, optimizing emissions allowances, and promoting methodological alignment across agencies. The position also provides technical leadership in data management, impact assessments, stakeholder capacity-building, and climate-aligned fiscal planning. The manager will interact with other officials both within the Ministry and with other ministers.

The Project Advisory Manager will coordinate closely with the Coordinator of the NDC for Mexico at the General Directorate for Policy and Climate Action (DGPAC), which is part of the Undersecretariat for Sustainable Development and Circular Economy at SEMARNAT.

Under the supervision of the Stakeholder Development Specialist at UNOPS, the incumbent will maintain fluid communication to effectively monitor the proper fulfilment of objectives by the consultants who will be part of the EIU.

Functions / Key Results Expected

• The Project Advisory Manager's role focuses on advancing Mexico's carbon pricing strategy through rigorous analysis and policy integration. It involves evaluating and harmonizing existing instruments—like carbon taxes and emissions trading systems—while developing decarbonization models, optimizing emissions allowances, and promoting methodological alignment across agencies. The position also provides technical leadership in data management, impact assessments, stakeholder capacity-building, and climate-aligned fiscal planning. The manager will interact with other officials both within the Ministry and with other ministers.
• Support the development and refinement of decarbonization pathway models, including input-output matrix analysis, marginal abatement cost curves, and sectoral emissions projections.
• Develop technical proposals to integrate the social cost of carbon and other environmental externalities into public investment project evaluation frameworks, ensuring alignment with international best practices and the social carbon price methodology that is currently being developed by SEMARNAT in collaboration with the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
• Provide technical inputs to support the definition of emissions allowance allocations under the Emissions Trading System (ETS) and is relation with the National Compensations Program based on NDC-aligned sectoral carbon budgets.
• Build, update, and manage ETS-related databases, ensuring data integrity, accessibility, and consistency with national MRV (Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification) systems.
• Prepare technical reports, presentations, and policy briefs on the performance and evolution of the ETS and other carbon pricing instruments.
• Contribute to the design of methodologies for evaluating the economic and distributional impacts of carbon pricing instruments.
• Develop proposals for harmonization, optimization, and integration of national climate and fiscal policies by conduct a comprehensive analysis of existing carbon pricing instruments in Mexico—including carbon taxes, emissions trading systems (ETS), and offset mechanisms.
• Assist in the development of training materials and capacity-building sessions for public officials and stakeholders on carbon pricing and climate finance.
• Collaborate with other units and agencies to ensure consistency in data, assumptions, and policy alignment across climate-related economic analyses, to develop stronger portfolios of climate projects to facilitate climate action by supporting their implementation (NDC country platform).
• Maintain detailed documentation of modeling assumptions, data sources, and analytical methodologies to ensure transparency and reproducibility.
• Provide technical support to the Project Advisory Director in modeling, stakeholder engagement, and policy development.
• Prepare summary reports and technical notes on activities and deliverables, as requested by DGPAC or other coordinating bodies.

Impact of Results

• Strengthened technical foundation for the design and implementation of Mexico's carbon pricing strategy, including the ETS and complementary instruments.
• Improved alignment of emissions allowance allocations with 2030 and 2035 NDC targets and sectoral carbon budgets, enhancing environmental integrity and economic efficiency.
• Enhanced transparency and accountability in the operation and performance monitoring of the ETS.
• Increased capacity to evaluate and communicate the economic implications of carbon pricing reforms to policymakers and stakeholders.
• Better integration of the social cost of carbon into public investment decisions, leading to more sustainable and climate-aligned infrastructure planning.
• Improved coordination between economic and environmental policy domains, reducing policy fragmentation.
• Strengthened institutional knowledge and data infrastructure for carbon pricing and climate finance.
• Increased stakeholder confidence in the fairness and effectiveness of carbon pricing instruments.
• Accelerated progress toward Mexico's climate targets through more coherent and data-driven economic instruments.
• Enhanced ability to respond to international reporting requirements and climate finance opportunities.
• Greater institutional resilience through documentation, knowledge sharing, and internal capacity building.
• Timely and relevant technical support to national authorities and inter-institutional working groups.

Required
Education Requirements

• An advanced degree (Master's or higher) preferably in Economics, Public Policy, Environmental Engineering, Sustainable Development, Finance, Climate Change, Environmental Science, or related field
• Bachelor's degree preferably in a related discipline with an additional 2 years of relevant work experience (7 total) may be accepted instead of an advanced university degree.

*Required
Experience Requirements*

• Minimum 5 years of experience in climate economics, public finance, or policy analysis.

Desired

• Demonstrated experience with carbon pricing instruments and economic modeling tools.
• Familiarity with Mexico's fiscal and environmental policy frameworks, including the ETS and PECC.
• Experience in stakeholder engagement, policy communication, and inter-agency coordination.
• Knowledge of international carbon markets and climate finance mechanisms.
• Experience managing or contributing to the development of emissions allowance allocation methodologies.
• Experience working with large datasets and developing or maintaining economic or environmental databases.
• Experience preparing technical documentation and reports for government or multilateral institutions.