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Climate Neutral Cities Advisor

Organisation

Eurocities, the network of major European cities, is recruiting for two Climate Neutral Cities Advisors to work with cities on NetZeroCities.

The candidate would start ideally in June 2023.

Eurocities is a dynamic and international team where we trust in people, value constructive exchanges and collaborative work. We help people thrive in a friendly, open and healthy environment while promoting a work/life balance.

About the project

NetZeroCities (NZC) is an initiative launched as part of the European Green Deal and directly supporting the European Commission’s Mission for 100 Climate-neutral and Smart Cities by 2030. NZC is being implemented by a 33-member consortium comprising diverse partners from across Europe, supporting the 112 Mission cities to achieve the Mission objectives through expertise, tools and guidance, capacity building and knowledge sharing, and innovative approaches to systemic change.

We are looking for two experienced city advisors to work directly with Mission cities to support them on their journey to climate neutrality by 2030.

Responsibilities

As Climate Neutral Cities Advisor, you will be a key conduit between cities and the NetZeroCities (NZC) services and expertise within the project consortium. You will connect cities with the appropriate support for their needs via the One Stop Shop Platform and consortium expertise. In cooperation with other Climate Neutral Cities Advisors, you will support cities to find systemic solutions that significantly increase the speed and scale of climate action and suit the respective context of a city by:

  • Linking city counterparts to individuals from the consortium or other cities that have relevant expertise or experience
  • Supporting the first cohort of cities through the CCC process, facilitating the development of commitments, and action and investment plans. The matching of Climate Neutral Cities Advisors to individual cities and/or clusters of cities will be determined when the first cohort have joined NZC and been clustered
  • Helping pilot cities advance systemic, high-impact work with support from across the consortium
  • Supporting identification, development, and coaching of municipal change makers for them to increase their impact
  • Coordinating and supporting the implementation of the Learning Programme with Twin Cities, including peer learning between the Twin Cities, and their interactions with their mentor Pilot Cities with whom they are twinned
  • Contributing to co-design and input into sense-making and learning events
  • Helping cities access the Platform for systemic, Mission-level support, and answering day-to-day questions.

In this role, you will:

  • Provide support and advisory services to Mission cities, focusing on knowledge transfer and guidance for achieving climate neutrality
  • Support cities to practically apply the tools and services available through the Mission Platform in their respective contexts in support of their climate-neutral ambition
  • Forge high-trust relationships with cities (Pilots, Twins and CCC cities), to enable and encourage those cities to develop systemic approaches to their climate action, and work with each city to effectively deploy expertise and capabilities available through the Mission Platform in support of climate neutral actions. Contribute to co-design and participate in meetings with cities and their key stakeholders
  • Provide strategic advice and information to cities involved in the CCC process, facilitating the development of climate-neutral commitments and, action and investment plans
  • Provide support to Pilot cities enabling them to build capacities on systemic innovation, covering innovative governance across silos, unlocking social innovation and participatory approaches with citizens, as well as innovative finance and policy
  • With the cohort of Climate Neutral Cities Advisors, help animate a network of cities, supporting them to learn from and inspire each other, as well as assist them to develop relationships between cities for them to pursue in-depth learning for specific solutions
  • Implement the learning programme for Twin Cities, supporting and challenging the Twin Cities to scale up their ambition and progress, ensuring that the exchanges between cities are constructive, and contribute to the synthesis of lessons learned from cities for wider dissemination
  • Contribute to the governance and organisation of the Mission Platform through: provision of feedback on cities’ needs to inform consortium partners for the development of new content and/or services; knowledge sharing and learning with the cohort of Climate Neutral Cities Advisors; attend regular training on new approaches, services and tools to share with cities; provision of ad hoc advice and responses to cities’ enquiries via the Mission Platform, ensuring coordinated interactions with the support of the Customer Relationship Management system.

Profile

You are an experienced professional who is full of initiative, self-driven, curious, creative, flexible and results-oriented. The skills and experience to do this job successfully include:

  • Advanced degree – ideally multi-disciplinary – in one of the following areas: Environmental Sciences, Sustainable Development, Urban Planning, Political Studies, Public Administration, Urban Economics, Urban Engineering, or similar disciplines
  • Minimum of 5-8 years of post-graduation working experience in urban climate change mitigation and adaptation, urban governance, or related areas, involving multiple sectors and government institutions
  • Experience in one or more of the following areas is highly desirable: city climate action, systems thinking, cross-sectoral innovation and multi-lever approaches (policy, finance, technologies, stakeholder engagement, citizen engagement)
  • Excellent relationship management and diplomacy skills, demonstrated within city or regional governments and inter-departmental processes
  • Strong problem-solving abilities and a can-do attitude
  • Experience of working with or in city administration/s, preferably in strategy or management roles
  • Experience in liaising with city officials at different levels, including senior staff and politicians
  • Experience in facilitation and coaching techniques (in person and online)
  • Experience in capacity building and peer learning activities (in-person and online)
  • Enthusiasm for learning new skills from consortium partners and peers (i.e., other Climate Neutral Cities Advisors)
  • Excellent oral and written communication skills in English required; and fluency in any other EU language(s) is highly desirable
  • Good knowledge of European cultural diversity and experience in working with multi-cultural teams
  • Knowledge of EU policies and functioning of the EU institutions is a plus
  • Willingness and ability to travel for intensive working sessions with city teams
  • Strong intrinsic motivation to support cities to become carbon-neutral by 2030, including the continuous learning this requires

We offer

  • a full time contract, either as:
    • an employee, under Belgian legislation. The selected candidate will need to either live in Belgium or be willing to move to Belgium for the duration of the contract (candidates need to provide a Belgian address and must have the legal right to live and work in Belgium). Or
    • freelancer, based in any EU country and able to prove freelancer status as natural person (candidates must have the legal right to live and work in their nominated EU country).
  • An open-ended contract linked to the length of the project (3 years), starting on 1 June 2023
  • €4,000 – €4,400 monthly gross salary, according to profile and experience
  • flexible working hours
  • part-time teleworking

Benefits

Meal vouchers, pension plan, hospitalisation insurance, public transport costs, 13th month, éco-chèques, 90€ net per month of teleworking allowance, training opportunities.

How to apply

Applicants are requested to send a letter of motivation, explicitly describing their relevant experience and linking it to the requirements for the position, in one page maximum, together with a CV with at least two referees (including your current or last employer) by 23:59 CET on 16 April 2023 to: Patricia de Wouters, Head of HR, at jobs.climate@eurocities.eu.

Please send the documents in pdf format and mention ‘climate neutral cities advisor’ in the subject line.

Interviews will be held in person or online on 28 April 2023.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for an interview. CV and personal data of non-selected candidates are not shared with anyone outside Eurocities and will be deleted immediately after the recruitment process. For more information, read our privacy policy.

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