Adviser (Lead Environmental Specialist)

At the World Bank, a member of the World Bank Group (WBG), you’ll join a diverse, global community working across cultures, disciplines, and borders to address the world’s most pressing development challenges. With 1.2 billion young people reaching working age in the decade ahead, the challenge of job creation has never been greater. Through partnerships across 145 countries and more than 182 offices worldwide, we work with governments, private sector, development partners and other stakeholders to invest in people, strengthen markets, and deliver scalable, data-driven solutions that generate more and better jobs and improve lives. For more information, visit https://www.worldbank.org/en/who-we-are/ibrd About the Global Environment Facility (GEF) The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is a multilateral financial mechanism created in 1991 to provide grant and concessional funds to recipient countries for projects and programs that address biodiversity loss, climate change mitigation and adaptation, degradation of international waters, land and forests, ozone depletion, elimination or reduction of persistent organic pollutants and mercury, all within the framework of sustainable development. The GEF unites 186 countries in partnership with international institutions, civil society organizations (CSOs), and the private sector to address global environmental issues while supporting national sustainable development initiatives. An independently operating financial organization, GEF is the designated financial mechanism for five international environmental conventions: the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Minamata Convention on Mercury. GEF is also a designated financial mechanism of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. The GEF Secretariat is a Vice-Presidential Unit (VPU) within the World Bank with approximately 100 staff. Duties and Accountabilities: The Adviser who will serve as Lead Environmental Specialist will strengthen the GEF Secretariat’s capacity to design, assess, and advance innovative financing approaches that mobilize public and private capital for global environmental benefits. Reporting directly to the CEO and Chairperson and supervising and coordinating the Blended Finance and Private Sector Coordination Unit, the position will operate at the intersection of nature, environment, climate, capital markets, and multilateral development finance, with a particular focus on blended finance, non-grant instruments, and private sector resource mobilization. The role will support implementation of the GEF-9 programming directions, which place increased emphasis on mobilizing private capital, mainstreaming blended finance approaches, and using scarce concessional resources strategically to catalyze larger investment flows for developing countries. • Provide strategic and technical advice to the CEO and Chairperson on nature, environmental, and climate finance, including opportunities to mobilize private capital, multilateral finance, and other sources of co-financing in support of GEF objectives and GEF-9 programming directions. • Lead, supervise, and coordinate the Blended Finance and Private Sector Coordination Unit, for the development, assessment, and refinement of blended finance and non-grant instrument proposals across GEF focal areas, Integrated Programs, and strategic initiatives. • Analyze transaction structures, financial additionality, concessionally, risk allocation, capital mobilization, expected reflows, and alignment with measurable global environmental benefits. • Engage with GEF Agencies, multilateral development banks, international financial institutions, institutional investors, asset managers, commercial banks, development finance institutions, philanthropic capital providers, and project sponsors to advance private sector resource mobilization and scalable blended finance solutions. • Support the development of replicable financial products and approaches that can reduce risk or the cost of capital for environmental investments in developing countries. • Advise on the use of instruments such as guarantees and guarantee fee support, first-loss and subordinated capital, equity and fund investments, outcome-based finance, repayable project preparation, convertible grants, risk-sharing facilities, hedging support, insurance and premium support, and sustainability-linked structures. • Assess market conditions, project bankability, capital-market constraints, and the suitability of proposed financing structures for different countries, sectors, and environmental objectives. • Lead and supervise the preparation of technical notes, financial analyses, term-sheet inputs, decision memoranda, presentations, and briefings for the CEO, senior management, and governance discussions, including on GEF-9 priorities related to blended finance and private sector mobilization. • Support dialogue and coordinate with other Division heads as part of the Country Engagement Strategy, in engaging with countries and partners on investment platforms, private sector engagement, and the integration of environmental priorities into financing strategies, including through country platforms and other approaches envisaged under GEF-9. • Contribute to knowledge products, guidance, portfolio learning, and staff capacity building on blended finance, capital markets, and non-grant instruments. • Monitor financial and environmental performance, risks, mobilization, and reflows associated with relevant operations and initiatives, with attention to lessons that can inform GEF-9 implementation and future private capital mobilization efforts. • In collaboration with the Operations and Policy division, lead the development of all policies related to NGI and blended finance, and coordinate all reporting and presentations to GEF council on topics related to Blended Finance. • Undertake other responsibilities consistent with the role.