Opportunity Title: Energy and Climate Intern

LOCATION :

Home Based (Reports to Office in New York, USA), UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

TYPE OF CONTRACT :

Internship

STARTING DATE :

01-Apr-2024

APPLICATION DEADLINE :

14-Feb-24 (Midnight New York, USA)

POST LEVEL :

Intern

DURATION OF INITIAL CONTRACT :

4 months

TIME LEFT :

9d 14h 49m

LANGUAGES REQUIRED :

English  

EXPECTED DURATION OF ASSIGNMENT :

6 months

Background
UNDP is the knowledge frontier organization for sustainable development in the UN Development System and serves as the integrator for collective action to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNDP’s policy work carried out at HQ, Regional and Country Office levels, forms a contiguous spectrum of deep local knowledge to cutting-edge global perspectives and advocacy. In this context, UNDP invests in the Global Policy Network (GPN), a network of field-based and global technical expertise across a wide range of knowledge domains and in support of the signature solutions and organizational capabilities envisioned in the Strategic Plan.

Within the GPN, the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) has the responsibility for developing all relevant policy and guidance to support the results of UNDP's Strategic Plan. BPPS's staff provides technical advice to Country Offices, advocates for UNDP corporate messages, represents UNDP at multi-stakeholder fora including public-private dialogues, government, and civil society dialogues, and engages in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas. BPPS works closely with UNDP's Crisis Bureau (CB) to support emergency and crisis response. BPPS ensures that issues of risk are fully integrated into UNDP's development programmes. BPPS assists UNDP and partners to achieve higher quality development results through an integrated approach that links results-based management and performance monitoring with more effective and new ways of working. BPPS supports UNDP and partners to be more innovative, knowledge and data driven including in its programme support efforts.

BPPS’s Hubs on Nature, Climate, Energy and Waste, with the support of the Vertical Fund Programme Support, Oversight and Compliance Unit, works with governments, civil society, and private sector partners to integrate nature, climate, energy and waste related concerns into national and sector planning and inclusive growth policies, support country obligations under Multilateral Environmental Agreements, and oversee the implementation of the UN’s largest portfolio of in-country programming nature, climate change, energy and waste.

The newly established UNDP Climate Hub is the arrowhead of UNDP’s commitment to the “Climate Promise” that aims to support programming countries designing and implementing pledges under the Paris Agreement, including ambitious National Determined Contributions, with climate change mitigation and adaptation interventions fully embedded in the national development planning and budgetary processes. The Climate Hub will build on UNDP’s existing over USD 4 billion country-level climate portfolio on Climate Change Policies and Strategies, Climate Change Adaptation, Climate Change Mitigation, Climate and Forests, covering over 142 countries, as well as on UNDP’s Nature portfolio, UNDP’s Sustainable Finance Hub, UNDP’s Digital offer and other relevant portfolios on youth, gender, health, climate security among others.

The UNDP Climate Hub is responsible for:

Thought leadership on Climate and to be the custodian of UNDP policy positions on Climate;
Strategy and vision formulation;
Pipeline development in coordination with the other hubs and the Vertical Fund Programme Support, Oversight and Compliance Unit;
Provision of integrated policy and programme support to Country Offices;
Global engagement, advocacy in collaboration with BERA;
Integration across thematic areas;
Strategic Partnerships development and resource mobilization;
Lead and Support global flagship initiatives and partnerships on Climate;
Serve as focal point with relevant UN coordination mechanisms and Conventions (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change);
Cross-organization knowledge and learning; and Innovation
UNDP is the knowledge frontier organization for sustainable development in the UN Development System and serves as the integrator for collective action to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNDP’s policy work carried out at HQ, Regional and Country Office levels, forms a contiguous spectrum of deep local knowledge to cutting-edge global perspectives and advocacy. In this context, UNDP invests in the Global Policy Network (GPN), a network of field-based and global technical expertise across a wide range of knowledge domains and in support of the signature solutions and organizational capabilities envisioned in the Strategic Plan.

Within the GPN, the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) has the responsibility for developing all relevant policy and guidance to support the results of UNDP's Strategic Plan. BPPS's staff provides technical advice to Country Offices, advocates for UNDP corporate messages, represents UNDP at multi-stakeholder fora including public-private dialogues, government, and civil society dialogues, and engages in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas. BPPS works closely with UNDP's Crisis Bureau (CB) to support emergency and crisis response. BPPS ensures that issues of risk are fully integrated into UNDP's development programmes. BPPS assists UNDP and partners to achieve higher quality development results through an integrated approach that links results-based management and performance monitoring with more effective and new ways of working. BPPS supports UNDP and partners to be more innovative, knowledge and data driven including in its programme support efforts.

BPPS’s Hubs on Nature, Climate, Energy and Waste, with the support of the Vertical Fund Programme Support, Oversight and Compliance Unit, works with governments, civil society, and private sector partners to integrate nature, climate, energy and waste related concerns into national and sector planning and inclusive growth policies, support country obligations under Multilateral Environmental Agreements, and oversee the implementation of the UN’s largest portfolio of in-country programming nature, climate change, energy and waste.

The newly established UNDP Climate Hub is the arrowhead of UNDP’s commitment to the “Climate Promise” that aims to support programming countries designing and implementing pledges under the Paris Agreement, including ambitious National Determined Contributions, with climate change mitigation and adaptation interventions fully embedded in the national development planning and budgetary processes. The Climate Hub will build on UNDP’s existing over USD 4 billion country-level climate portfolio on Climate Change Policies and Strategies, Climate Change Adaptation, Climate Change Mitigation, Climate and Forests, covering over 142 countries, as well as on UNDP’s Nature portfolio, UNDP’s Sustainable Finance Hub, UNDP’s Digital offer and other relevant portfolios on youth, gender, health, climate security among others.

The UNDP Climate Hub is responsible for:

Thought leadership on Climate and to be the custodian of UNDP policy positions on Climate;
Strategy and vision formulation;
Pipeline development in coordination with the other hubs and the Vertical Fund Programme Support, Oversight and Compliance Unit;
Provision of integrated policy and programme support to Country Offices;
Global engagement, advocacy in collaboration with BERA;
Integration across thematic areas;
Strategic Partnerships development and resource mobilization;
Lead and Support global flagship initiatives and partnerships on Climate;
Serve as focal point with relevant UN coordination mechanisms and Conventions (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change);
Cross-organization knowledge and learning; and Innovation
 

Duties and Responsibilities
UNDP is recruiting highly motivated and skilled Energy and Climate Intern to join as a part of the Climate Hub’s Climate Change Policies and Strategies Team. The successful candidate will play a pivotal role in advancing UNDP’s understanding of global energy trends, specifically focusing on the review of energy targets outlined in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). As a member of the team, he/she will contribute to UNDP’s efforts to conduct research and analysis of sustainable energy policies and solutions, globally.

3.     Scope of Work

Comprehensive analysis of the energy targets in the NDCs
Support to conduct an in-depth review of energy targets specified in the NDCs.
Provide insightful thematic trends and summaries, with a particular emphasis on renewable energy, electrification, clean cooking, energy efficiency, transportation, and other relevant areas.
 

Energy and NDC dataset
Help with day-to-day management and updating of the team’s energy and NDC dataset, ensuring data accuracy and relevance.
Collaborate with internal teams to streamline data collection processes and enhance dataset efficiency.
 

Research and analytical contributions
Contribute to research and analytical work on energy and NDCs, showcasing how UNDP actively supports countries in these critical areas.
Help in conducting thorough reviews of current and past UNDP projects and work plans to extract valuable insights.
Undertake literature reviews, extract energy data from global and regional reports and datasets, and perform related tasks, as requested by the team.
 

Global and regional data collection and knowledge dissemination
Support in gathering data on energy and climate from existing global and regional datasets, ensuring a comprehensive and up-to-date understanding of the landscape.
Utilize analytical tools to derive meaningful insights from data.
Help in contributing to the creation of policy briefs, thematic summaries, and research papers on energy and climate, as requested.
 

Competencies
Thematic Area

Name

Definition

Business Development

Knowledge Generation

Ability to research and turn information into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to a stated need

Business Management

Communication

Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience

Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media and other appropriate channels

Business Management

Working with Evidence and Data

Ability to inspect, cleanse, transform and model data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions and supporting decision-making

Digital & Innovation

Data Collection

Being skilled in Data Sorting, Data Cleaning, Survey

Administration, Presentation and Reporting including

collection of Real-Time Data (e.g. mobile data,

satellite data, sensor data).

Digital & Innovation

Data Analysis

Ability to extract, analyze and visualize data (including

Real-Time Data) to form meaningful insights and aid

effective decision making

2030 Agenda: Planet

Nature Climate and Energy

Energy: Renewable Energy

Required Skills and Experience
Applicants to the UNDP internship programme must at the time of application meet one of the following requirements:

Be enrolled in a graduate school programme (second university degree or equivalent, or higher) in fields such as sustainable energy, energy planning, engineering, renewable energy, or other related disciplines;

Be enrolled in the final academic year of a first university degree programme (minimum Bachelor’s level or equivalent) in fields such as sustainable energy, energy planning, engineering, renewable energy, or other related disciplines;

Have graduated with a university degree (as defined above), and, if selected, must start the internship within one-year of graduation.

Required skills:

Required skills

Strong data analysis and visualization skills using analysis tools and modelling software such as PowerBI, Tableau, Python and/or R
Strong written and verbal communication skills, with a demonstrated ability to convey complex concepts in a clear and accessible manner. 
Proven experience in conducting research and analysis in the energy, climate and sustainability domain.
 

Desired skills in addition to the competencies covered in the Competencies section

Published articles, blogs, reports or think pieces in the field of energy or sustainability.
Experience working with a wide set of energy stakeholders, such as the private and financial sector, government, and civil society is an advantage;
Field experience in energy-related projects in developing countries is desirable;
Knowledge of, and/or prior experience within, the UN system is considered an advantage.
Fluency in French or Spanish is considered an asset.
 

Strong written and verbal communication skills in English.