Associate

The Climate Action Reserve is the most trusted, efficient and experienced offset registry for global carbon markets. The Reserve encourages action to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by ensuring the environmental integrity and financial benefit of emissions reduction projects.

The Reserve establishes high quality standards for carbon offset projects, oversees independent third-party verification bodies, issues carbon credits generated from such projects and tracks the transaction of credits over time in a transparent, publicly-accessible system.

The Reserve offsets program demonstrates that high-quality carbon offsets foster real reductions in GHG pollution, support activities that reduce local air pollution, spur growth in new green technologies and allow emission reduction goals to be met at lower cost.

Primary Responsibilities

Associates on the Reserve’s Analytical Team are expected to contribute to administration and operation of Reserve’s carbon credit programs, as well as to policy work such as the development, maintenance, and refinement of offset protocols.

With respect to the Reserve’s programmatic functions, an Associate’s primary role is to provide technical and administrative guidance to account holders throughout the offset project reporting and verification process.

This includes conducting reviews of offset project verification documentation under the Reserve’s voluntary offset program standards and the California Air Resources Board compliance offset program and collaborating across teams on policy matters. An Associate will also provide similar functions for projects in the Reserve’s Climate Forward program.

With respect to the Reserve’s policy work, an Associate will be responsible for maintaining, and updating existing protocols, and assisting in the development of new offset protocols and Climate Forward methodologies. The Associate will also contribute to broader GHG policy and technical work related to climate finance and a variety of other ad-hoc contractual work undertaken by the Reserve.

Note: The information below and should be viewed as a starting point; the position will evolve and grow according to the successful candidate’s interests and aptitude, and with the Reserve workflow.

PROGRAM SERVICES (40%)

• Serve as a technical resource to project developers and verification bodies and provide guidance with respect to policy conformance, interpretation, and clarification issues related to the Reserve’s program and protocols, and compliance offset programs and protocols.
• Serve as implementation lead for one or more protocols.
• Review project submittal and verification documents to ensure compliance with the applicable protocols and program rules.
• Draft clarifications to project developers and verification bodies on the findings of their project reviews.
• Conduct conflict of interest reviews between project developers and verification bodies.
• Will support the development written materials and resources to assist reporting, verification, auditing and project activities.
• Respond to general inquiries about the Reserve’s reporting and verification program
• Undertake and complete research assignments, as available. Develop training curricula and deliver project developer and verification trainings.
• Review and make determinations on protocol variance requests.

POLICY SERVICES (40%)

• Contribute to the management and ongoing refinement of existing Climate Action Reserve protocols under the direction of senior staff as needed. The Associate will develop subject matter expertise on the content and implementation of specific Climate Action Reserve protocols and technical sectors.
• Conduct research as necessary for the development of new protocols or for the update of existing protocols. This will include activities like literature reviews, regulatory analysis, financial modeling, statistical analysis, and drafting and editing of protocol documents, as well as facilitating stakeholder workgroups.
• Respond to inquiries about content and application of protocols.
• Provide research and technical support for ad-hoc consulting and policy related projects as needed.

ADMINISTRATION (20%)

• Serve as lead on a variety of program areas, such as verification trainings and Reserve communications.
• Help manage resources including database of guidance provided to account holders, policy and protocol clarifications, and verifier/technical assistance provider program updates.
• Support the development and implementation of the Reserve’s Program Manual, Verification Program Manual, internal operating procedures, and User Guide.
• Support the development and maintenance of the programmatic portions of the Reserve’s websites.
• Complete other administrative tasks as needed.

Qualifications

Desired Competencies:

• Takes personal responsibility for the quality and timeliness of work and achieves results with little oversight.
• Organized and able to balance multiple priorities at once. Discerns what is crucial from what is less urgent. Prioritizes tasks by importance and deadline and adjusts priorities as situations change.
• Able to take prompt action to accomplish objectives. Meets and exceeds deadlines.
• Remains aware and takes care of details that are easy to overlook or dismiss as insignificant.
• Takes responsibility for errors or problems. Acknowledges and corrects mistakes.
• Is committed to providing excellent service by showing an interest in and responding timely to our stakeholders’ needs. Can describe our stakeholders’ expectations.
• Knows and supports teammates’ work and deliverables. Helps teammates who need or ask for support or assistance and acknowledges and celebrates the achievements of teammates.
• Honesty and professionalism in all internal and external interactions.
• Ability to understand, evaluate, and describe methods for quantifying GHG emissions or carbon sequestration in a range of human-designed and biological systems.
• Ability to clearly and precisely communicate policy and technical concepts, both in writing and orally.
• Ability to self-teach complicated technical subjects in a limited amount of time. Ability to build constructive internal and external working relationships characterized by a high level of acceptance, cooperation, and mutual respect.

Requirements:

• BA/BS degree in environmental science or management, public policy, or related degree, or two years of experience working with GHG accounting or carbon markets and performing emission calculations.
• Any amount of educational experience or prior work experience in agriculture, engineering, ecology, biology, chemistry, forestry, or a related field is desired, but not required.
• Strong written and oral communication skills.
• Ability to review and understand technical documents and present materials in an understandable fashion.
• Strong experience with Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, etc.) and databases.
• Fluency in English. Fluency in second language desired, but not required.

The Climate Action Reserve is an equal opportunity employer. The Reserve does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, ethnic origin, or any other classification protected by law, and encourages applications from all qualified individuals.

The Climate Action Reserve respects and celebrates all forms of diversity in its personnel, programs, and procedures. The Reserve believes it is critical to foster a welcoming and inclusive space for staff, to support diversity and equitable opportunities in the environmental field, and to operate programs that are culturally responsive and benefit all communities.