Carbon Project Lead

Are you a carbon markets professional looking for a more impactful role? Do you wish to focus your professional efforts on advocating for local communities participating in carbon markets?

The Hampshire & Montpelier Foundations are looking to appoint a Carbon Project Lead on their new initiative for the Voluntary Carbon Markets. The project aims to provide regular updates and assistance on Voluntary Carbon Markets (VCM) to local communities in Africa, to ensure their greater awareness and appreciation of critical aspects, as land-based carbon projects are developed.

The role focuses on supporting local communities, providing them with pricing and structuring guidance so that they engage more effectively in the carbon markets and negotiate fairer agreements, leading to greater community earnings for ultimate project success.

The Hampshire & Montpelier Foundations are philanthropic organisations founded by the Cournoyer family. Established in 2000, the Foundations have a background in supporting smallholder farmers in South America, Africa, and Asia with access to finance, agricultural inputs, and markets. In 2020, the Foundations have started a new strategy focused on climate change, working with partners on ecosystems protection, land restoration, and Global GHG Emissions reduction projects.

In this role, you will be focusing on:

• Developing regular updates to help communities in Africa better understand carbon project opportunities.
• Helping communities identify the carbon project opportunities that best work for them. Support local communities in their carbon price negotiations, by sharing VCM pricing advice (e.g. based on market data) and expertise on contracts and benefit-sharing agreements.
• Allocating funding available to help communities pay for early-stage project development and source third-party providers.
• Travelling to East Africa twice a year to engage with the Foundation's project partners.

In this role, you will be able to leverage the following skills:

• The role will be ideal for a land-based carbon credit project developer who has strong experience with local communities in the Global South and who is keen to work on behalf of underserved groups.
• This person will be proactive, entrepreneurial and a strong communicator. They will have experience making such projects a reality and a solid understanding of what holds local communities back in taking part fairly.
• Proven experience in sourcing VCM projects in the Global South, as well as negotiating and closing transactions. Work to secure offtake arrangements and carbon credit trading would be a plus.
• A thorough understanding of both risks and opportunities inherent in the carbon markets as they affect the supply side.
• A strong network to remain current with evolving trends within the carbon space, exhibiting a proactive approach to identifying emerging opportunities and challenges.
• Strong motivation to put contractual and pricing expertise in the Carbon Markets to the service of on-the ground communities delivering environmentally sound land-based projects.
• Excellent communication skills to 'translate' complex transactions and structures for unspecialised audiences and to support them in their negotiations.

This is a highly impactful role for a carbon markets specialist to support local communities on fair participation in the voluntary carbon markets, through leveraging their commercial knowledge and experience. Hybrid working is on offer, and you are expected to work in the Company's Knightsbridge offices three days a week. Get in touch with Canace Wong at canace.wong@acre.com should you be interested/ have any questions about the role.