ROLE

Climate Impact Partners, a leading provider of high-quality carbon credit programmes, is actively searching for an experienced and dynamic Regional Director to lead our African based operations.

As a vibrant and essential hub for our business operations, Kenya serves as an epicentre for all aspects of the supply side of our business. Situated strategically, our Kenyan presence grants us proximity to our high-quality supply sources and enables us to bring deep technical experience to our strategic partners. It provides a gateway to regional climate innovation and affords us a unique vantage point to engage in and influence emerging government carbon policies  across Africa. In this dynamic landscape, our Kenyan hub brings strong expertise within a critical region, bolstering our market position and elevating our impact.

The Kenya hub underpins three primary activities in our business:

• Sourcing high-quality carbon credit supply from the strongest project developers across the region, supporting rigorous due diligence to curate portfolios of superior quality for our clients.
• Originating and nurturing new carbon projects in Kenya and target countries within Africa, for both voluntary carbon markets and the evolving Article 6 market, with a forward-looking perspective towards innovative product development.
• Providing technical carbon expertise to regional development partners, while effectively commercializing the resultant carbon assets within our unparalleled global client base.
• Serves as a base of African policy knowledge and influence both for our internal strategy and external positioning. 

As a key member of our team, you will report directly to the Global Director of Project Development and indirectly to the Director of Product Development, while working closely with the head of Global Sourcing. You will provide regional leadership across the key supply-side and innovation activities of our business.

Our vision is ambitious - to cultivate regional supply through strategic sourcing and project development, pioneer ground breaking products revolving around Article 6, and fortify our commitment to diligent quality practices. This journey necessitates a continual enhancement of our brand, bolstered influence, and an unwavering commitment to attracting top-tier regional talent. Presently, our Kenyan team comprises five dedicated professionals, including three technical project developers who will report directly into this position.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Project Development / Product Development

• Leading origination of high quality development partners and projects that meet the requirements of our target Article 6 buyer countries, working closely with the Product Development team (including technical and policy capabilities); these are expected to be household devices, energy, transport and infrastructure-led projects.
• For agreed priority project opportunities, shaping the commercial proposition and managing the regional partner relationship to progress opportunities to contracting; this will require leadership of development of the associated documentation (with support from the Project Development Commercial team and technical input from the Kenya team), and engagement with the host Government(s)
• Leverage your networks to identify potential new products for the company, drawing on the climate innovation in the region, in line with the strategy of the company; development of these ideas would be supported by the Product Development team
• Supporting senior relationship management for VCM project and innovation opportunities in the region.  

Execution and Delivery

• Timely and high quality Energy CAD delivery, including
  1. Knowing what high quality Energy projects look like; remaining informed about standards, ratings and media and
  2. facilitating effective PD/GS governance and interface and supporting the team in escalation and resolution of issues 
• Leveraging networks to enable quality sourcing, qualifying partners and projects, and providing commercial direction and coaching to support the regional sourcing team.
• Working with the relevant teams, guide commercial and go-to-market strategies to leverage our technical capabilities in the region to secure access to high quality credits and innovative opportunities.

Regional strategy, brand and influence

• Define the hub strategy for Kenya, in line with the corporate growth strategy
• Be a visible and respected climate thought leader in the country and region enabling us to attract the best employees, suppliers and consultants to work with us
• Bring insight into Government policy activities in Kenya and the region; inform and help implement our local engagement strategies and wider supply strategies
• Lead marketing and brand-building initiatives in the region, including event sponsorship, ensuring Climate Impact Partners speaker representation at key events; pro-active sponsorship of the Nairobi Climate Network 

Team and office management

• Coaching of, and input to, the performance and development needs of the team in Nairobi;  ensure strategic coherence and community in the Nairobi team. 
• General management of NBO office.  The role will liaise with finance and HR as needed, and will ensure legal entity compliance in Kenya. 

CAPABILITIES AND EXPERIENCE

• Demonstrated commercial business development experience, including successful contract negotiation within a relevant context.
• Leadership experience, showing the ability to lead and foster growth within teams.
• Knowledgeable of carbon markets, encompassing understanding of trends and key dynamics
• Respected and credible figurehead with an extensive professional network within the country/region
• Meticulous understanding of quality standards in this market
• Ambitious mindset focused on business growth and providing regional leadership within a rapidly changing market.
• Strong business development acumen and commercial instincts, enabling you to spot opportunities and make strategic decisions that drive commercial success.
• Creativity in identifying new opportunities and effectively overcoming challenges.
• Highly collaborative, putting company and team first; comfortable working across teams to solve problems and create new opportunities.
• Extensive and influential network within the carbon project development market, enabling collaboration and fostering impactful partnerships.
• Step my communication skill across a globally networked company, both in support of the local team on the ground and supporting the evolution of global strategies of the company.
• Your work is driven by a deep-rooted passion to make a difference and deliver impact on the ground.

ABOUT CLIMATE IMPACT PARTNERS

Climate Impact Partners delivers solutions for action on climate. We believe that carbon markets have a critical role to play in delivering action by putting a price on carbon and funding carbon reduction projects to meet our global climate goals. Together with the world’s leading companies - including Microsoft, PwC and Bain & Co - and quality project partners - including offices in Brazil, Kenya, United Kingdom, and United States - we will reduce 1 billion tonnes of CO2 by 2030 to transform the global economy, improve health and livelihoods and restore a thriving planet.

We do this by developing and delivering the highest quality carbon financed projects and delivering custom portfolios of carbon offsets and energy attribute certificate. This enables organizations to offset the emissions they can’t reduce, put a price on carbon to incentivize change, and meet their ambitious climate goals.

Climate Impact Partners builds on the expertise, integrity, and innovation of two companies that have led the voluntary carbon market – Natural Capital Partners and ClimateCare. Fuelled by a relentless drive for rapid action and results, our global team continues to pioneer the market’s growth, and set the standards for quality that will maximize its impact. ClimateCare and Natural Capital Partners have recently merged to form a world leading voluntary carbon market organization, Climate Impact Partners.

Leading organizations and governments trust us to solve complex climate and sustainability issues. With us by their side, they can be confident on their journey to net zero.

Climate Impact Partners is led by a dynamic management team, with a new CEO, Sheri Hickok, and new CFO, ShanMae Teo joining in January 2023. The business is on a strong growth trajectory and the Senior Management Team is focused on building an excellent operational platform for future growth. The Company is private equity owned by Averna Capital.