Consultancy - Lessons Learnt from UNDP-GEF Energy Efficiency in Building Portfolio

Buildings are responsible for a very large share of GHG emissions worldwide: the IEA estimates that residential, commercial and public buildings account for 30% - 40% of the world’s energy consumption and for 25% - 35% of current world energy-related CO2 emissions, and that such emissions are rapidly growing, especially in developing countries. The building sector also presents some of the most cost-effective GHG emission reduction potential. Many recent studies, notably from the IPCC and IEA, have estimated that up to 30% of the baseline CO2 emissions in buildings by 2020 could be reduced cost-effectively.

To help developing countries realize these vast, but largely untapped, opportunities for cost-effective GHG emission reduction, over the last decade UNDP, with financial assistance from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), has been implementing a large and coherent portfolio of projects aimed at promoting policies, technologies, institutional structures and financial models to spearhead the transition towards low-carbon buildings in over 35 developing and transition economies around the globe. During the GEF-4 programming period, UNDP adopted a programmatic approach to promote low energy and GHG emission buildings which focuses on the following six thematic areas (of which one is a crosscutting area of intervention):

1. Establishing Requirements for Policy Implementation;
2. Promoting and Increasing the Uptake of High Quality Energy Building Regulations;
3. Using Public Buildings and Municipalities as Promoters of Energy Efficiency;
4. Developing and Promoting Energy Efficient Technologies, Building Materials and Construction Practices for Housing;
5. Providing Indicators and Financing for ESCOs and EE Buildings;
6. Climate proofing the built environment: boosting synergies between mitigation and adaptation activities in buildings.

The purpose of this assignment is to take stock of UNDP-GEF's experience, results and lessons learnt in both the design and implementation of energy efficiency in buildings projects and programmes, and in doing so, to inform on-going global and national dialogues and decision-making processes concerning policies, technologies and financial models that are best suited to achieving the transition to a low-carbon building sector, specifically in the context of developing countries and countries in transition. The main output of this work will be used as a guide to better design future UNDP-supported energy-efficiency projects, taking into account the experiences gained, best practices and lessons learned.

Objectives:

The main objective of this consultancy is to undertake an analysis of the UNDP-supported GEF-financed portfolio of projects on energy efficiency in buildings and to prepare a report summarizing the main results and lessons learnt from these projects' design and implementation. It is expected to identify good practices and assess if and how the projects have achieved what they intended. The target audience of the report will be the GEF Secretariat, UNDP staff, project managers, other international development partners, as well as national authorities and the expert community. The main themes/topics to be covered in the report include (the list of topics/questions will have to be refined based on the consultant's analysis and consultations as detailed below):

Summary of the portfolio of projects on Energy Efficiency (EE) in Buildings:

• Geographical coverage and volume (GEF and co-financing);
• Key barriers addressed (common and specific);
• Portfolio distribution per programmatic focus area of the Global Framework for Promoting Low Greenhouse Gas Emission Buildings;
• Proposed policy/financing/technology mix to promote EE in buildings;
• Implemented demonstrations/pilots and the specific EE technologies/techniques showcased;
• Partnerships, sources of co-financing and baseline initiatives that were included in the project.

Results and achievements:

• Policies: adoption and enforcement of EE policies and regulations;
• Technologies: demonstrated technological solutions for EE in buildings, their effectiveness including their cost-effectiveness (per geographical/climate regions);
• Institutional models to promote EE in buildings;
• Leveraged financing (public and private) and experience with new business models;
• Capacity building;
• Energy savings and GHG emission reductions (cumulative and by break-down into direct/indirect/post-project as per relevant GEF Guidance);
• Market transformation impacts (e.g. increased share of EE buildings in the buildings sector/ improvement in average specific energy consumption of the country’s buildings sector) and examples of successful replication and scaling-up of the GEF-supported pilots;
• Social and economic impacts, such as gender, and the contribution of institutional arrangements and project design factors to enhancing these impacts.

Lessons learnt (LL) and best practices:

LL from the project formulation stage, including but not limited to the following questions:

• How to ensure project relevance to national development priorities and country buy-in;
• Were the key barriers related to energy-efficiency in buildings adequately identified and addressed in the project design?
• What is the optimal time-frame for project development?
• How to design the ideal policy/technology/financing mix to promote EE in buildings?
• Where to start, e.g. public versus residential buildings or new versus retrofits?
• Who are the key stakeholders and how to identify and secure their co-financing commitments?

LL from the implementation stage, including but not limited to the following questions:

• How to ensure the eventual adoption and effective enforcement of proposed policies?
• What is the "ideal" policy/technology/financing mix to promote EE in buildings and key LLs for its implementation?
• How to balance cost-effectiveness of energy efficient measures with ambitious energy saving targets in the building sector?
• What is the minimum sufficient time-frame to achieve market transformation impact?
• How to ensure sustainability and scaling-up and what are the critical success factors?
• What is the role of various stakeholders, national and local authorities, private sector, homeowners and their associations
• The magnitude of private sector (building owners/developers, building practitioners, building materials manufacturers/suppliers, equipment/appliance manufacturers/suppliers) involvement in the realization of project objectives
• What are the key lessons from logframe application for project management and monitoring and recommendations for improvement

Conclusion, recommendations and the way forward:

• Aggregated summary of portfolio results and lessons learnt;
• Emerging themes and priorities: gaps and barriers that are not being addressed but which offer significant opportunities for climate change mitigation and socio-economic development; persistent barriers that need to be addressed; new barriers that emerged;
• Recommendations to: a.) UNDP: how to promote and support the implementation of specific interventions that contributed to, or facilitated, or brought about the improvements achieved; b.) Governments: how to ensure sustainable implementation of the established and/or facilitated policy, regulatory and institutional frameworks that support EE applications in buildings after the GEF project; c.) GEF and other funding agencies: what are the specific aspects of EE building projects that should be supported by donor funds.

Specific responsibilities and intended outputs of this consultancy are:

• Conduct a desk review of available background documentation, such as UNDP-GEF project documents, mid-term and final evaluation reports, lessons learnt reports from individual projects, regional and earlier global lessons learnt report , data/information from project web-sites, etc. There are a total of 44 projects to be analyzed, bearing in mind that the previous review of UNDP-GEF EE Building portfolio undertaken in 2008 covered some 20 projects, completed and on-going by that time, and for those a comprehensive summary of lessons learnt is already available. Also note that some of the projects were designed prior to the Programmatic framework that was approved in 2008 and that has guided the design of the more recent projects that have been approved since then.
• Based on the findings of desk review:  Develop draft outline of the report; identify a number of case studies and propose particular focus/scope; propose a methodology that will be used to obtain information that will provide support and structure to the assessment and to evaluate identified projects;
• Consult with the UNDP-GEF team (Principal Technical Advisor, Senior/Regional Technical Advisors, Results and Knowledge Specialist) and GEF Secretariat regarding the envisaged scope, objectives and key messages for the report as well as its design, and finalize the report outline and case study selection based on solicited inputs and comments;
• Collect additional data, information and inputs, including via interviews with relevant UNDP-GEF team members and projects, and prepare the draft report;
• Facilitate internal and external peer review for the report, including liaison with the IEA peer review group;
• Present the review findings, conclusions and recommendations to the UNDP-GEF team and finalize the report.

Key deliverables and time-line:

• Deliverable 1: Draft outline and research methodology - 1 week after contract signature;
• Deliverable 2: Finalized outline and case study selection - 3 weeks after contract signature;
• Deliverable 3: 1st Draft report - 7 weeks after contract signature;
• Deliverable 4: 2nd Draft report - 10 weeks after contract signature;
• Deliverable 5: Final report - 12 weeks after contract signature.

Implementation arrangements:

• The review will be coordinated by the Head of EITT, the UNDP-GEF MDG Carbon Facility and the EITT Results and Knowledge Specialist. They will provide necessary technical and operational guidance to the Consultant, ensure timely delivery of expected products, and facilitate access to UNDP/GEF documentation and the project database;
• The consultancy period will run from June 4, 2012 for a 12 week period. We estimate the time needed to complete this consultancy to be up to 40 working days to meet the required deadline and deliverables;
• Weekly email and phone updates will be expected;
• Two trips to UNDP New York will likely be necessary: an initial in-person briefing with the EITT management team and a second meeting for the Consultant to present his/her final outputs. The cost of these trips should not be included in the Consultant’s proposed rate as these will be covered separately in line with UNDP's rules and regulations;
• The report should be 30- 40 pages in length excluding annexes;
• We ask that the applicant send a CV, 3 references, writing sample/published materials, proposed project rate (lumpsum) and the proposed methodology that will be used to obtain information that will provide support and structure to the assessment and to evaluate identified projects. (This methodology may also include a proposed outreach questionnaire that will be sent to RTAs, Government liaisons, Country Offices and Project Managers). The Consultant is also requested to identify the particular inputs and amount of time needed to invest in this process. Please kindly limit your proposed methodology to 2 pages.

• Ability to provide technical input on, and full familiarity with, design and implementation of policies and programs on energy efficiency in building sector;
• Ability to analyze and address problems with full technical competency, leading to fact-based and practical recommendations and creative solutions;
• Ability to produce high-quality outputs in a timely manner while understanding and anticipating evolving needs;
• Exemplary writing skills.

Education:

• Masters degree in energy, engineering (civil, electrical, mechanical), architecture, or related fields of physical science.

Experience: 

• Extensive knowledge of international best practices and practical experience with designing and implementing energy efficiency policies and projects in the building sector;
• At least 10 years of international experience in the area of building energy efficiency, of which at least 5 in developing countries and/or countries in transition;
• Familiarity or prior involvement with the UNDP-GEF portfolio of building energy efficiency projects will be an additional advantage;
• Strong analytical abilities.
• Excellent English writing skills.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English, knowledge of other UN languages will be additional asset.

Evaluation method:

• Combined weighted scoring (technical/financial: 70/30).