The Just Transition at Expertise France
At the global level, humanity is facing the consequences of climate change. Communities around the world are forced to cope with the impact of extreme weather events, caused or exacerbated by climate change, and must adapt to slow-onset climate changes that affect their way of life.
Climate change also represents a socio-economic challenge. Its consequences have an impact on individuals, economies, the labor market, jobs, health, territories, income distribution, inequalities etc. Worldwide, vulnerable groups are most affected by the direct and indirect consequences of climate change, as well as by ill-prepared decarbonisation and ecological transition policies aimed at reducing the pace and impact of the climate crisis. It is estimated that approximately 3.3 to 3.6 billion people live in contexts highly vulnerable to climate change. We are facing a paradoxical situation in which the populations least responsible for ecological crises are also the first victims of its consequences, and can suffer from the transition policies put in place. It is therefore logical that in countries where the main challenges are those of poverty reduction, inequalities and social development, adaptation to climate change and ecological transition do not appear as priorities in political agendas and hinder this process. Consequently, the climate crisis poses new challenges for social protection, labour and employment policies and makes social justice and inclusion a condition for the success of the ecological transition.
Climate change and the increase in CO2 emissions are not the only environmental challenges that the ecological transition must address. The collapse of biodiversity, water scarcity and pollution are all issues that have significant human impacts and will require broadening the ambition of the ecological transition beyond the issue of the climate crisis.
Beyond voluntarist policies, it is also a question of thinking about the transitions in lifestyles that are imposed on all and which will be necessary to ensure decent living conditions for all people on the planet.
Faced with this observation, the challenges of ecological transition are multiple and it is necessary to consider it in a global and holistic approach:
- Ensure that the ecological and energy transition policies implemented do not have negative social impacts that would reinforce existing inequalities and vulnerabilities
(support for climate change mitigation, social support that aims to accompany policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions)
- Ensure that the ecological transition is co-constructed, affordable and desirable by making it a lever for improving living and working conditions, economic and social inclusion, and social cohesion (social, economic and environmental co-benefits of the transition as desirability factors of the transition)
- Develop new forms of social protection against risks related to the climate crisis, whether they are linked to disasters or the chronic impact of climate change (support in facing the direct consequences of ecological crises, adaptation to climate change)
- Make social justice and inclusion the drivers and accelerators of ecological transition
- Rethinking the logic and structure of social policies and solidarity to rebuild a social contract by placing the environmental dimension at the heart
Moreover, many countries around the world have been facing the effects of the climate crisis for decades, in its multiple, changing and unpredictable consequences. As a result, whether at the level of public policies or societies, multiple innovative initiatives and adaptation strategies have been designed. These socio-ecological responses can feed into a horizontal public policy dialogue, also serving Western countries that face similar issues.
Context of the creation of a consultant pool on Just Transition
Expertise France is engaged in a global reflection on the notion of Just Transition, through the prism of skills issues, decent employment, social protection and inclusion, citizen participation, territorial innovations, and adaptation to the climate crisis.
In this context, Expertise France is actively looking for consultants with knowledge and experience in the field of just, inclusive, and participatory ecological transition. Due to the transversality of the theme, the expertise sought is multidisciplinary and multidimensional.
The consultant pool will strengthen Expertise France’s capacities to implement its ambitions on Just Transition in its cooperation projects. They will help to identify, develop and implement cooperation activities in favour of just transitions as well as to transverse this approach into cooperation projects. Based on the needs identified by the Expertise France teams, the consultants will be recruited to support the development and implementation of cooperation projects. They may also be mobilized to participate in the reflection of Expertise France and in the capacity building of the agency’s staff on these themes.
Each country is today faced with specific challenges and has developed reflections, initiatives and public policies in favor of the transition. Expertise France is committed to building cooperation on the basis of reciprocal and horizontal dialogue to share learning and experiences of just, inclusive, and solidarity-based ecological transition. To do this, the constitution of this pool should allow the recruitment of international consultants from all regions of the world to contribute to this dynamic.
The areas of cooperation in terms of Just Transition at Expertise France
The various and varied areas of cooperation may concern (non-exhaustive list):
- Planning for a just and inclusive ecological transition: support for the design of public policies that transverse climate, ecological, social justice and solidarity issues; long-term planning; institutional coordination and between the different territorial levels; transparency and monitoring-evaluation of public policies; support for strengthening data collection and analysis capacities, etc.
- Public policies for social protection: mapping of vulnerabilities and intersection of socio-economic, climatic, vulnerabilities to the ecological transition;
targeting vulnerable populations for social benefits related to the impact of climate change and ecological transition/adaptation to climate change; adaptation of existing social systems and registers, interoperability of information systems; development of social protection mechanisms for workers impacted by transitions etc.
- Support for key economic sectors for the ecological transition with job protection and retraining of workers: Just energy transition towards low-carbon models and critical minerals, sustainable mobility and transport, agriculture, blue economy, building and construction, tourism, etc.
- Green professions and skills: Analysis of the labour market and needs for jobs and skills in ecological transition professions; adaptation of skills to new needs; development of business frameworks and transformation of professions; greening of jobs
- Initial and vocational training: development and adaptation of training curricula; training for trainers; integration of social and environmental issues in a transversal manner into existing training courses; support for access to employment and training for gender minorities, young people and marginalized social groups
- Decent green jobs: Formalization of the green jobs created and extension of social protection coverage; supervision of working conditions in these new sectors of activity; prevention and management of occupational risks related to the impact of the climate crisis; social protection for informal workers.
- Adaptive social protection: Establishment of social safety nets for vulnerable populations affected by climate shocks or transition policies; integration of climate adaptation into national social protection strategies; design of collective risk pooling strategies; capacity building for local communities and resilience against climate shocks
- Social justice and inclusion: Fight against inequalities in access to resources and the benefits of transition, integration of marginalized groups (women, young people, indigenous people, etc.), territorialization of economic benefits and in terms of job creation from transition
- Social dialogue: strengthening of social dialogue by integrating civil society and tripartite dialogue frameworks; tools for trade unions and employers’ organizations; sharing of good practices; integration of informal workers and gender minorities in social dialogue bodies
- Citizen participation and governance: Mechanisms for consultation and co-construction of transition policies with individuals and territories at the local level (involving vulnerable/marginalized social groups); popular ecology; management of commons; co-construction of transition projects with local communities and indigenous peoples
- Territorial innovations and resilience: Support for local communities to experiment with adapted solutions (resilient agriculture, water management, circular economy, etc.); mapping of local initiatives; mapping of vulnerabilities at the local level; territorialisation of employment-skills-vocational training and integration policies, etc.
- Social food security: Development of production systems, alternative supply adapted to the effects of climate change and ensuring fair remuneration for workers and affordable access to healthy food for individuals
- Financing and inclusive economic models: Access to climate finance for local actors; development of inclusive economic models; economic diversification and rebalancing of territorial inequalities; support for the structuring and strengthening of public-private; mobilization of the private sector in the transition
ecological and the development of inclusive economic opportunities.
- Environmental health: Links between pollution, biodiversity and public health, adaptation of health systems to climate risks; infrastructure adaptation and access to healthcare systems threatened by climate risks;
- Transition of lifestyles: Support for changes in behavior (mobility, consumption, diet, etc.); study on the accessibility, particularly financial, of the transition for vulnerable households
- Human rights and ecological transition: Integration of human rights (right to a healthy environment, right to housing, etc.) into transition policies; environmental justice
- Social and solidarity economy: Promotion of cooperatives, mutuals and social enterprises as levers for transition; structuring of the SSE and legal framework
- Intersectional approaches: Taking into account multiple discriminations (gender, class, ethnicity, disability) in transition policies; equitable access to green jobs; development of care work in support of workers in transition
- Fair green taxation: Redistributive impacts of taxation and correction of inequalities; anticipation of tax risks related to the transition and the climate crisis; fiscal sustainability and social stability
- Public finances: multiannual programming ensuring debt sustainability; socio-environmental tagging budget of public expenditure; evaluation of the use of public funds for the socio-ecological transition
- Migration and displacement of populations: Support for population movements, particularly domestic and international ones due to climate shocks and the impact of the climate crisis on living conditions and earnings (rehousing of communities and social ties, guarantee of access to basic public and social services and the continuity of social protection, support for territories impacted by population decrease/increase etc.)
- Research: development of research on socio-ecological transition and the integration of social and gender issues in climate change adaptation policies; strengthening ties between the research community and public institutions to inform public policies
Objectives of consultancy missions in the field of Just Transition
Just Transition consultants integrated into the pool can be mobilized for missions aimed at (non-exhaustive list):
- Accompany the development of cooperation projects on just transition
- Carry out diagnostics and analyses, for example:
- Diagnosis of social challenges and opportunities of the ecological transition (documentary review, collection and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data, participatory dialogue, cross-mapping of vulnerabilities etc.)
- job market studies and skills needs
- Conduct a mapping of actors in the just transition
- Design and formulate public policy recommendations:
- support for the design of national or local just transition strategies
- analysis of public policies and legal frameworks for just transition
- alignment of public policies between the different institutions
o recommendations on institutional structuring, regulatory frameworks; mitigation of the negative social and economic impacts of transition
- design of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms for socio-ecological transition public policies
- Strengthen the capacities of actors on just transition issues institutions, CSOs, local actors, social partners etc.
- Support the development and implementation of pilot projects
- Evaluate the current coordination, experiment with inclusive governance schemes and coordination mechanisms and facilitate multi-stakeholder dialogue spaces
- Create and run networks and spaces for sharing experiences and good practices
- Produce studies and conduct research: production of knowledge on the links between ecological transition and social justice
- Assess the social, economic and environmental impacts of just transition projects
- Conduct benchmark studies of practices in different countries
- Develop communication strategies, deploy communication and advocacy campaigns
- Create training curricula, train trainers.
- Doing scientific mediation around the issues of just transition
- Create a matrix of cooperation activities from the different technical and financial partners
- Develop a gender audit of ecological transition policies
- Accompany learning exercises and capitalization of experience on just transition for Expertise France
Expériences / Formation
- University degree relevant to the terms of reference (e.g. political or social sciences, economics, international cooperation, climate change adaptation, applied statistics, public finance management, green finance, environmental science, education science, public administration, statistics, international law etc.);
- Minimum 10 years of professional experience, including 5 years in at least one of the listed areas of cooperation with an integrated approach and 3 years in a context of international cooperation (various contexts);
- Proven experience in the formulation and development of technical cooperation programmes for various donors
- In-depth knowledge of the social challenges of the ecological transition and the climate crisis as well as the essential international strategic framework (ILO, etc.)
- Understanding and taking into account the gender approach, inclusion of marginalized social groups and human rights in any expert mission
Transversal skills
- Required languages: fluent French and English. Other desired languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Russian etc.
- Strong capacity for institutional dialogue and ease in discussions with different types of actors (institutions, private sector, CSOs, NGOs, donors, etc.)
- Excellent writing skills
- Ability to work in a multicultural environment, diplomacy
- Autonomy and technical leadership
- Experience in facilitating working groups and workshops in collective intelligence / design thinking with multiple actors
- Good knowledge of data collection software (Kobo Tool Box, Survey CTO, ODK, etc.), data analysis (R, SPSS, Stata, etc.) and data visualization (PowerBI)
- Ability to work in a multidisciplinary and intercultural team, management experience
- Experience in project management
Salaire
Types of missions and methods of mobilization
Different types of mission, with different modalities and duration may be proposed: short or long-term beaded expertise mission, expert. e referent. e, field mission of several months, permanent project team (project leadership, key expertise etc.). Depending on the type of mission and project needs, consultants may be recruited with a service provision contract, under a PEO, CDDU.
By agreeing to be part of the consultant pool, job offers may be sent to you based on your suitability for projects. We invite you, however, to regularly follow the recruitment site of Expertise France to keep you informed. and new opportunities.
Applications
Consultants interested in joining the Just Transition pool will need to submit their CV or fill out the individual application form highlighting relevant training, skills and experience with regard to the types of mission, areas of expertise and geographical areas covered by this call for expressions of interest. It is strongly recommended to include in the application examples of work, shareable publications to illustrate these experiences.
Applications are to be sent to the following addresses: barbara.chancrin@expertisefrance.fr and Alicia.lecompere@expertisefrance.fr as well as on the spontaneous application form on the Expertise France site: https://expertise-france.gestmax.fr/cv/upload/vacancy/100. All applications must necessarily go through these two channels.