ResearcherWriter Costs of Green Conflict

PartTime Consultancy

The Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) seeks a Researcher/Writer to support a project on the costs of companycommunity conflict across the renewables sector. This research will attempt to assess and quantify through literature review case analysis and primary interviews the costs to companies when their operations are delayed or disrupted due to conflict with local communities and other stakeholders. These costs may be operational reputational or opportunity related and require the successful candidate to have a solid grasp both of the renewables value chain across a diversity of technologies as well as both quantitative and qualitative research methods.

ABOUT THE ORGANISATION

IHRB was founded in 2009. Our vision is to achieve a more just regenerative global economy where:

• Workers and communities are free and able to use their voices effectively to ensure their rights are respected.
• Businesses demonstrate respect for the rights of workers and communities and the natural systems they depend on in their purpose operations relationships and value creation.
• Financial actors use their leverage to positively impact the scale and performance of their partners human rights and environmental responsibilities.
• Governments actively implement a smart mix of longterm incentives and disincentives that drive rightsrespecting and planetaligned business.

IHRBs mission is to make respect for people and planet part of everyday business. We advance our mission through human rightsbased research targeted convening and development of collaborative action with businesses governments and civil society to shape policy advance practice and strengthen accountability at all levels.

PROJECT BACKGROUND

Clean energy systems are required urgently and at enormous scale. In a sign of things to come the planet will for the first time breach 1.5C warming in 2024. Governments arent moving fast enough with a significant gapbetween their climate commitments and actual action taken. Extraordinary growth in renewable energy uptake and infrastructure is required over the next six years to achieve our allimportant 2030 interim targets toward netzero.

But with great speed and scale comes significant risk to workers communities indigenous peoples and marginalised and vulnerable groups. The growth of renewable energy projects around the world is already bringing with it significant distress disruption and dissent from indigenous groups communities and workers for example in Colombia Kenya Indonesia and beyond.¹

Social disruption in response to insufficient and poorly planned climate action could quickly become our greatest threat to achieving netzero in time.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

There is an urgent need to convey to the renewable energy industry the costs of getting the energy transition wrong.²Through desk research case analysis expert interviews and multistakeholder dialogue this project will seek to demonstrate the operational and reputational costs to renewable energy companies of failing to secure or maintain their social licence to operate.

This research and analysis will focus on the conflicts between workers communities and indigenous groups and public and private companies that can arise from:

• mining of transition minerals for renewables technologies
• renewables infrastructure and production rollout
• grid improvements/expansion

Quantifying the costs of companycommunity conflict is not an exact science nor is there one size that will fit all companies. But the attempt to quantify even anecdotally the financial value at stake forcompanies provides an additional tool and language by which to convey the importance of early ongoing and meaningful stakeholder engagement to prevent conflicts and minimise any escalations.

(1) For example in the transition out of coal and other fossil fuels many workers stand to lose their jobs as part of this process of climate mitigation and they are not always those who stand to gain from the considerable business opportunities of green and sustainable net zero economies. The transition in to new economic opportunities brings risks of land grab threatened livelihoods loss of sacred land or agriculturally productive land ecosystem and habitat destruction as part of the green rush to renewables as has been observed in diverse contexts from Colombia to Kenya and Canada. And mining for transition minerals and sourcing other raw materials needed for renewables technology such as copper and cobalt from the Democratic Republic of Congo and balsa wood from Ecuador are seeing widespread and growing impacts such as harsh working conditions poverty wages and contamination of water supplies as demand mounts.

(2) Historical research into fossil fuel extraction betweenexplored the case for conflict to be considered as a further means through which environmental and social risks are translated into business costs and decision making. This research found that companycommunity conflict at hydrocarbon extraction sites could cost a business: as much as $10000/day during initial exploration; up to $50000/day during advanced exploration; and as much as $20mill/week during operations.

WHAT YOULL BE DOING

The Researcher/Writer will lead the development of the project methodology to analyse and quantify the costs of companycommunity conflict across the renewables sector in line with the following broad project phases (in close coordination and collaboration with IHRBs Head of Just Transitions Just Transitions Programme Manager and strategic input from IHRBs wider team):

• Literature Review (Q1/2 2024): Desk review of relevant industry scientific and policy literature to understand the extent to which the renewables sector is included as a key set of actors driving the global energy transition and shaping socioecological systems around the world.

• Case Analysis (Q2/3 2024): Analysing publicly available information about cases of companycommunity conflict around transition minerals renewables production and grid improvements. This analysis would be used to characterise the types of companycommunity conflicts affecting renewables sourcing or production the point at which conflict emerged within the project cycle and the effects that conflict appeared to have on projects.

• Quantitative Analysis (ongoing): A central aspect of the project is the task of making sense of the quantitative and financial data that comes through in the literature review case analysis and interviews. This will require developing a method for achieving equivalency to identify an overall figure (or series of figures) that convey the financial value at stake for companies when they fail to meaningfully engage local affected groups and this leads to conflict disruption and delay. Financial equivalency over time across companies and across currencies will be a core aspect of the role.

• Interviews (Q4 2024): A series of indepth and confidential interviews with corporate finance legal and sustainability professionals across a range of renewable energy companies in particular transition minerals mining wind solar green hydrogen battery storage and grid construction/operations. Here we will stress test our initial findings and better assess the costs resulting from different types of conflict at different stages of the project cycle or from certain business activities. These interviews will also seek to better understand how renewables companies are interpreting accounting for and responding to these conflicts.

• Convenings and multistakeholder dialogue (Q1/2 2025): Further validate the projects draft findings through the coordination and chairing of 12 multistakeholder convening(s) with a range of relevant industry actors and experts. These will also be used to build a broader community of practice around the projects final findings recommendations. The ideal date/location for a for these dialogues will be identified and announced later in 2024.

• Drafting the final report (ongoing concluding in Q3 2025): Drafting of the final research report in a compelling and accessible format (to be jointly developed and agreed with the wider project team). This includes both the longform report as well as working with IHRBs communications team to distill key findings into shortformats such as infographics and data visualisations podcast or webinar discussions as part of a cocreated project communications and dissemination strategy.

Other key activities will be agreed on an asneeded basis throughout the ongoing collaboration.

TIMEFRAME AND CONTRACTING

• Timeframe: The project runs from January 2024 to January 2026. The individual or agency will be recruited for a oneyear period initially with a view to extending for another year dependent on performance and quality. The level of engagement is expected to be 0.5 FTE equivalent as a parttime consultancy and candidates must be able to commit up to 10 days per month to the project. Exact working patterns will be agreed with the successful candidate.

• Contracting: This post will have a consultancy agreement subject to UK law.

• Compensation: IHRB can offer a day rate of up to 300/day including VAT for a maximum of 112 days per year.

REQUIREMENTS

Experience & Knowledge

• At least 57 years experience in research and writing functions particularly those balancing quantitative and qualitative analysis.
• Demonstrable knowledge of the renewable energy industry across a diversity of technologies including:
  • Wind
  • Solar
  • Geothermal
  • Green hydrogen
  • Transition minerals
  • Battery storage
  • Grid
• Demonstrable knowledge of the renewable energy industry at an operational level preferred in particular:
  • mining of transition minerals
  • infrastructure and production rollout
  • grid improvements/expansion
• Experience writing compelling communications content (long and shortform) to suit and engage different audiences.
• Demonstrable commitment to working on human rights climate or development economics issues preferred.
• Experience undertaking work that requires awareness of political sensitivities and careful diplomacy.

Skills and Abilities

• Strong quantitative research skills and abilities with experience applying quantitative approaches to highly qualitative fields (such as human rights and social impact) preferred.
• Demonstrable interview and presentational skills particularly with senior corporate practitioners across a range of business functions in particular finance legal and sustainability.
• High capacity to organise and manage multiple priorities and work under time pressure and with a fully remote team demonstrating entrepreneurialism adaptability and a positive approach to problem solving.
• A fluid natural and clear communicator who has experience writing and presenting solutionsoriented analysis and recommendations.
• Ability to read write speak and understand English required. Additional language skills desirable but not essential.

Location and Travel

• Location is homebased and therefore flexible globally but timezones within 12 hours of GMT will be preferred in order to coordinate well with the rest of the project team.
• Willingness to travel long distances up to 2 times a year.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Click on the Apply Now button to answer some specific application questions.

Deadline for applications: 5pm (GMT) onSunday 25 February 2024.

Interviews: Shortlisted applications will be invited to an initial 3045 min video interview via TeamTailor. The first round of interviews will take place on the 4th and 5th March between the hours of 26pm GMT.

Expected start date: As soon as possible ideally in March 2024. A consultancy offer will be subject to receipt of two satisfactory references.