Objective and Purpose of the Assignment
 | The Knowledge and Support Technical Assistance (TA) on Promoting Sustainability Disclosure Standards for High-Quality Development aims to improve policies on sustainability disclosure standards. The TA’s outputs are (i) draft set of standards for key sustainability topics and related key industry application guidance in the context of the PRC proposed, (ii) research and continuous tracking on the developments of international sustainability disclosure standards conducted, and (iii) knowledge exchange on sustainability disclosure standards enhanced. ADB will administer the TA through the Finance Sector Office, Sectors Department 3 (SD3-FIN). The Ministry of Finance will be the TA’s executing agency and its Accounting Regulatory Department will be the implementing agency. |
Scope of Work
| The scope of work is to provide draft standards, application guidelines, and relevant key industry application guidelines for water and marine resources. |
Detailed Tasks and/or Expected Output
| Specific responsibilities include the following: (i) regularly report on work progress to MOF’s Accounting Regulatory Department, incorporate its feedback regarding the research content and direction, and support the delivery of the TA outputs. (ii) be available and willing to conduct field studies, participate in project workshops, and undertake other activities as required. (iii) provide draft standards, application guidance for the standards and related key industry application guidance for water and marine resources. (iv) provide analytical summaries and translated materials on the latest developments regarding IFRS sustainability disclosure standards (ISDS) and domestic disclosure standards of various countries during the service period; (v) provide practical tools and cases, such as disclosure templates, key metric methodologies, and industry examples; (vi) provide training and capacity building for staff in ISDS; (vii) provide support to MOF’s role in the ISSB; (viii) analyze and provide feedback on draft ISDS circulated by the ISSB; (ix) provide analysis and recommendations for the further strengthening of the China’s unified national sustainability disclosure standards system; (x) coordinate closely with other development partners such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to assure complementary technical assistance in this area; (xi) prepare semiannual progress reports; (xii) regularly report on progress of assigned tasks to the ADB project officer; (xiii) support EAPF’s wider engagement in the PRC on economic and finance sector related issues; and (xiv) carry out other tasks relevant to the TA as needed. Duration of the assignment and key deliverables. The assignment is planned for 3 person-months over the TA’s implementation period. The assignment will largely be home-based work, with possibly some field work which will be confirmed at implementation stage. Detailed planning of possible field visits will be done at a later stage. The consultant will coordinate with the project team and the other TA consultants in implementing the outputs. The consultant is expected to deliver the following outputs: 1. Inception Report; 2. Report on draft specific standards, application guidance for the standards and related key industry application guidance for the eight key sustainable disclosure topics applicable to the PRC; 3. Final Report. All reports will be submitted in English. The consultant will proactively deliver tasks and deliverables mentioned above. |
Minimum Qualification Requirements
| The consultant must have a university degree in economics, finance, management, environmental science, sociology, or related fields; at least 5 years of relevant work experience; and excellent oral and written communication skills in English. The consultants must possess good knowledge of the domestic and international sustainable development policies, and latest progress in the context of ESG. |
