Project Manager - Environmental Finance

FOREST TRENDS is an international not-for-profit forest conservation organization based in Washington, D.C., that works to achieve sustainable forest management and conservation by capturing market values for ecosystem services; supporting innovative projects and companies that are developing these new markets; and enhancing the livelihoods of local communities living in and around those forests.

Summary.  Opportunity to design large scale innovative public-private partnerships for sustainable natural infrastructure investing and climate friendly agricultural models. Be a pioneer in integrating PES values into traditional land based economic models.  Develop a deep understanding of the policy and project risks inherent in making private sector investment in these areas.  Work closely with two private sector specialist who have been leaders and pioneers in this field as well as leverage and have exposure to the broader political and technical network of specialist practioners in the Katoomba Network, a unique model of Forest Trends.  Significant travel is expected.

Roles and Responsibilities.  The candidate will report directly to the COO and will work closely with other senior staff and specialists at Forest Trends and its network of partners to:

• Use third party technical analysis and economic analysis to complete financial models to understand the financing  gaps of  change in land use practices  and investment in climate friendly land opportunities;
• Utilize and develop risk matrices to identify and quantify the risk mitigation requirements to stimulate private investment per above;
• Review existing public sector incentives and risk mitigation tools available in land use sector and other comparable sectors (energy) to make recommendations on how to best apply or adapt public sector tools to drive private sector investment ;
• Analyze demand for PES- based on private sector market demand factors, public sector commitments and  other mitigation requirements  against how PES accounting is expected to be addressed to determine best structures to maximize payment to the project activity to address gap funding identified;
• Review of funding disbursement models and public private financial architecture that are currently available and help make recommendations on efficient and effective public private structures to maximize private sector investment at a scaled up models;
• Work with insurance companies, lending institutions and supply chains to develop new business models for them in the public private structures being considered.

Skills and Qualifications. 

• Demonstrated experience with natural resource and land-based financial modeling;
• Demonstrated experience working in a team to deliver outcome-based results under tight deadlines;
• Experience working on public-private partnerships;
• Exposure to land-based carbon markets or projects and how carbon assets/credits are created;
• Exposure to REDD regulatory drivers and some of the public sector financing alternatives for climate change;
• MBA or equivalent plus 2 to 3 years of experience in banking or legal (project finance), or management consulting;
• International project management experience; and  
• Spanish and/or Portuguese fluency a positive.

 Location:                              Washington, D.C. preferred.  New York or London can be considered