Role overview
The Principal Environmental/Social Advisor is responsible for assessing Bank’s investments for their potential E&S risks and compliance with the E&S Policy and Access to Information Policy (AIP) requirements, with subsequent monitoring of Clients’ E&S performance. This role is critical in preventing occurrence of institutional liabilities of financial and reputational nature related to E&S impacts of Bank’s transactions, country and sector policies and broader initiatives. In pursuing this objective this role supports and closely interacts with Clients, Banking, Office of Chief Economist (OCE), Office of General Counsel (OGC), E2C2, Policy & Stakeholder Engagement units, regulatory agencies and other IFIs.

Accountabilities and Responsibilities
Plan, and formulate and manage due diligence approaches in line with the ESD Assurance processes and in liaison with Banking and other teams to ensure that projects are structured to meet the E&S Policy Performance Requirements and in line with the E&S Procedures.
Carry out in-house due diligence or coordinate external consultants’ delivery of the E&S appraisal, and subsequent monitoring activities across a broad range of sectors.
Prepare E&S Summaries, E&S Action Plans, Back to Office Reports on site visits and respective sections in the Bank’s documents for Low-Medium and High-Medium Risk projects in a broad range of sectors to ensure adequate assessment and communication of E&S risks, impacts, and benefits under the Bank’s mandate.
Lead and coordinate ESD specialists working on project teams when assigned as Lead or to other technical roles to ensure effective and efficient delivery of the Bank’s objectives throughout project cycle.
Work with other specialists in the team in identifying potential E&S components in projects (i.e. GET attribution or inclusion opportunities), and provide guidance to Banking on the development of sustainability activities (including additional investment and TCs) to strengthen the E&S impact of projects.
Work with Banking on the assessment on climate and nature-related risks, in line with TCFD (and potentially TNFD) recommendations.
Provide and/or coordinate specialists’ input to sector and country strategies/policies, papers or other initiatives.
Represent ESD, as required, at the technical/practitioner level at the OpsCom, Board, and other internal and external meetings with regulatory agencies, IFIs, project affected people, government officials and civil society organisations
Manage delivery of specific TC assignments or provide comments to the other teams’ TC work based on identified opportunities for broader Bank’s policy dialog and E&S benefits creation at project, sector or country levels.

Knowledge, Skills, Experience & Qualifications
Knowledge:
Knowledge and expertise of technical environmental and/or social issues
Knowledge of main EU and international E&S requirements, practices and guidelines (e.g. circular economy, EU BAT reference documents and conclusions, EU Habitats Directive, EU Taxonomy, World Bank’s EHS Guidelines, Equator Principles, etc.), as well as good international practice approaches to managing E&S risks (e.g., ISO 14001 ISO 45001, ISO39001, ISO 26000, HACCP, etc.);
Understanding of IFI’s working environment, policies and procedures, and ability for organisational alignment;

Skills:
Effective time management and organisational skills and ability to multi-task without losing attention to detail;
High-level English writing and verbal skills, and numeric, methodological and IT skills at the level corresponding for the role. Knowledge of at least one language native to COO(s) also recommended.
Negotiation, persuasion and influence skills in internal and external engagement activities to deliver the team’s and Bank’s objectives, based on strong interpersonal and effective communication skills;
Ability to work on a number of projects and TC Operations at a time (over 100 medium to medium-high risk projects per annum) at different life cycle stages: exploratory, under due diligence, implementation, monitoring, evaluation;

Experience:
Professional experience gained in the environmental, health and safety and social appraisal of projects, including ESIA, auditing, management systems and stakeholder engagement and familiarity of environmental and social due diligence for financial intermediaries.
Past work experience in and/or good understanding of the Bank’s countries of operation language, culture, and E&S context; work experience in Western Balkan countries is an advantage.
Practical experience in the assessment of particular topics related to the Banks PRs such as: ESG, biodiversity, ecosystems services, human rights risk assessments, gender equality and gender based violence and harassment.
Diversity is one of the Bank’s core values which are at the heart of everything it does. A diverse workforce with the right knowledge and skills enables connection with our clients, brings pioneering ideas, energy and innovation. The EBRD staff is characterised by its rich diversity of nationalities, cultures and opinions and we aim to sustain and build on this strength. As such, the EBRD seeks to ensure that everyone is treated with respect and given equal opportunities and works in an inclusive environment. The EBRD encourages all qualified candidates who are nationals of the EBRD member countries to apply regardless of their racial, ethnic, religious and cultural background, gender, sexual orientation or disabilities. As an inclusive employer, we promote flexible working.

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