Deadline: 16-Nov-23
The Initiative for Climate Action Transparency (ICAT), managed by UNOPS on behalf of the Donor Steering Committee (DSC), has announced a call for proposals to improve introductory guide for the ICAT Series of Policy Assessment Guides and update Renewable Energy Guide.
The ICAT series of 10 policy assessment guides provide a stepwise and integrated approach for estimating the greenhouse gas, sustainable development and transformational impacts of countries’ climate policies and actions.
The guides are free to use and include:
- Five guides to assess GHG Impacts in different areas and sectors (agriculture, renewable energy, transport pricing, forestry, and buildings efficiency);
- Three cross-cutting impact assessment guides (sustainable development, transformational change, and non-state and subnational actions), and;
- Two process guides (stakeholder participation, and technical review).
In order to continue improving the guides to make them more aligned to the needs of developing countries and more easily accessible, ICAT now seeks to initiate work on:
- a new, comprehensive Introductory Guide for the series of policy assessment guides.
- the update and improvement of one of the policy assessment guides focusing on GHG impact: the Renewable Energy Guide.
The Renewable Energy Guide is the most applied of the ICAT policy assessment guides that focus on GHG impacts, however, the renewable energy policy landscape is evolving, which has meant that there are new areas of policy coverage that can be included, and there is still a lot of potential to be gained from broadening its coverage and enhancing its usability.
Objectives
- The grantee(s) shall work on:
- Developing a comprehensive Introductory Guide, which could be used for all ICAT policy assessment guides, and would replace the existing Introductory Guide. It is envisioned that this Introductory Guide would replicate the approach taken by the introductory sections of the updated Agriculture policy assessment guide. This would enable a modular approach, where the Introductory Guide contains detailed explanations on aspects that are common across the policy assessment guides, and would enable these parts to then be removed from the individual policy assessment guides.
- Updating the content of the Renewable Energy Guide and expanding its policy coverage. New insights covered could potentially include: policy developments (e.g. shift from feed in tariffs in the power sector to more market based approaches), technology developments, and market developments (e.g. increase in gas prices). The guide should also assist with the assessment of the cost of policy implementation. The update would furthermore include improving the guide’s alignment to the needs of developing countries, ensuring better usability and clarity, such as through the development of templates, additional case studies, capacity building modules, and how-to videos.
- Restructuring the Renewable Energy Guide to improve usability with a modular approach, in line with the structure of the recently updated Agriculture policy assessment guide and development of the Introductory Guide above, enabling users to more easily select the exact part of the guide that they need. The new structure should facilitate users to access specific parts of the guide that are relevant for the policy type that will be assessed.
Funding Information
- The grant funding available under this Call for Proposals is up to USD 200,000.
- The expected duration of the grant/funding is 12-15 months.
Activities under Grant/Funding
- Activity 1: Information gathering and scoping
- Review the current ICAT Introductory Guide and Renewable Energy Guide, as well as the feedback already obtained from country applications of the guides;
- Conduct a literature review of relevant guidance developed by other initiatives and institutions, focusing specifically on the renewable energy sectors, climate policy design and implementation (e.g. International Renewable Energy Agency, International Solar Alliance etc.);
- Expected Outputs:
- Production of a report that provides an overview of the findings from the review.
- Estimated Timeline:
- 2-3 months
- Activity 2: Development of a detailed proposal and structure for each of the guides
- In parallel with Activity 1, develop a proposal for each of the guides which should include a clear structure and reflect key findings from the review.
- For the renewable energy guide, the proposal should integrate the following points for addition and expansion:
- Integration of country examples (to be provided to the grantee), other examples and case studies (actual or hypothetical). Examples should be practical and show step by step how to carry out the full scope of the policy assessment.
- Ensure alignment with 2006 IPCC guidelines and subsequent updates, and other relevant guidelines.
- Expected Outputs:
- Completion of a detailed proposal and structure for each of the guides.
- Presentation of the proposal and structure to reviewers and in expert forums such as the ICAT Country and Toolbox Group.
- Estimated Timeline:
- 2-3 months
- Activity 3: Production of drafts of the guides
- Complete the production of drafts of the two guides based on the agreed proposal and structure. This also includes updates and revisions to the renewable energy assessment reporting template, to improve its usability and facilitate its application. Drafts should be of a high standard, for the most part without typos and basic grammatical errors;
- Ensure the guides are easy to understand and straightforward to use, so that users are guided through each step of the assessment process. The guides should be developed with users from developing countries in mind; Additional templates to accompany the guides should also be considered, where relevant;
- Expected Outputs:
- Completion of drafts of both the introductory and renewable energy policy assessment guides, including updates to and development of relevant templates.
- Completion of a comprehensive review process for the drafts with subject matter experts.
- Estimated Timeline:
- 4-6 months
- Activity 4: Production of capacity building modules for the guides
- In parallel with Activity 3, develop capacity building modules for both guides in the same style as the existing capacity building modules for other policy assessment guides;
- Complete a draft of the CB modules for each of the guides, including instructional narrative to support their use;
- Expected Outputs:
- Completion of capacity building modules for the introductory and renewable energy policy assessment guides.
- Estimated Timeline:
- 1-2 months
- Activity 5: Finalization of the guides
- Complete the production of the guides, implementing review comments as appropriate, indicating how comments have been addressed and responding to reviewers if relevant;
- Finalize the guides to be ready for use, including proofreading and copyediting;
- Expected Outputs:
- Completion of the final version of the introductory and renewable energy policy assessment guides, including templates.
- Estimated Timeline:
- 2-3 months
- Activity 6: Accessibility and outreach, including webinars, presentations and preparation of related material
- Support outreach activities in coordination with ICAT, to enhance the visibility of the guides;
- Develop material to enhance the accessibility of the guides, particularly how-to videos and slide decks;
- Expected Outputs:
- Production of outreach material for the guide, including slides and how-to videos based on the context of the guides.
- Participation in webinars and presentation of the guide in relevant forums
- Estimated Timeline:
- 2-3 months
Target Beneficiaries
- Developing country governments and their partners who are planning and implementing policies, and/or assessing their impacts in the context of developing and implementing their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), national or subnational low carbon strategies, Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs), and other mechanisms.
Eligibility Criteria
- The following categories of applicants are eligible to apply under this Call for Proposals:
- Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
- Foundations
- Indigenous peoples organizations (IPOs)
- Civil society organizations (CSOs)
- Grass-roots organizations
- Institutions or federations
- Ethnic organizations
- Academic and research organizations
- For-profit entities (registered companies)
- For-profit entities are required to demonstrate their ability to undertake the grant activities on a not-for-profit basis. Recovery of indirect costs of up to 10% of the total grant funding are permissible.
For more information, visit UNOPS.