Climate Action Consultants

at  Sustainability Solutions Group Workers Cooperative

OVERVIEW

SSG seeks Climate Action Consultants with expertise in one or more key areas: implementation, analysis, engagement, adaptation, and project leadership. We’re looking for versatile and adaptable team members to contribute to our climate action projects across the Americas, working with communities, local governments, and organizations to drive meaningful change. The ideal candidates bring strong capabilities in areas such as climate action planning and implementation, data analysis, public engagement, combined with excellent communication and collaboration skills. These roles combine technical expertise with hands-on project work in a collaborative, mission-driven worker cooperative.

ABOUT THE POSITION

At SSG, we expect all consultants to work as versatile team members across our full range of climate action projects. This means every consultant, regardless of specialization, should be ready to engage in client management, analyze data, write reports and plans, and contribute to various project types.

In addition to these core consulting responsibilities, we are seeking consultants with expertise in two or more of sixthese key areas:

• Analysis: Interpreting financial, energy, and emissions data; writing reports and plans for cCity cCouncils, university and corporate leaders, and the public; monitoring industry progress and policies; and conducting research.;
• Public Engagement: Supporting climate action plan engagement with diverse interested and affected parties and government staff, explaining technical details to a broader, non-technical audience, and connecting engagement to the analysis.;
• Regional Context Expertise: Understanding the unique dynamics of climate planning in the USA, Canada, or French Canada (with a focus on Québec).
• Implementation: Navigating municipal structures, developing system change models, identifying funding mechanisms and staffing recommendations, and developing cross-sector policies to achieve climate goals.
• Project Leadership: Serving as primary client contact, managing SSG project teams and working with subconsultants, and leading report and plan development.
• Adaptation/Vulnerability/Resilience: Analyzing technical modeling outputs, researching climate hazards and vulnerabilities, and reviewing municipal policies and documents.

For a detailed description of day-to-day responsibilities and typical project tasks, please see Appendix A.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FORRequired Qualifications and Attributes:

• Passion for, and commitment to, climate action planning and social justice
• Collaborative, kind, and motivated self-starter with a problem-solving mindset
• Strong written, verbal, and analytical communication skills in English
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and contribute to project teams
• Comfort in a virtual, distributed work environment across multiple time zones and cultures
• Flexibility to adapt to shifting workloads, priorities, and schedules

ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATIONS:

Candidates must have at least one, and ideally multiple, of the following:

• Municipal government or consulting experience in the US or Canada, with preference for experience in French Canada, particularly Québec.
• Project management experience with budgets exceeding $50,000.
• Strong data analysis and visualization capabilities.
• Background in financial or economic analysis of climate action scenarios and plans.
• Fluency in French.

The following qualifications and attributes are considered assets but are not requirements for successful candidates:

• Familiarity with and/or enthusiasm for worker co-operatives.
• Experience with city planning.
• Experience with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and GIS software such as QGIS.
• Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP) or American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) designation.
• Project management professional (PMP) designation.
• Experience with municipal asset management planning.
• Experience with energy utilities data.
• Experience with corporate-scale energy analysis.
• Experience with community-level climate resilience/adaptation planning.
• Experience with diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, particularly in small organizations.
• Familiarity with electricity grid electrification.
• Excellent negotiation skills.
• Experience working with communities experiencing marginalization and disproportionate climate impacts, particularly lived experience.
• Other languages spoken, particularly Spanish and Indigenous languages of the Americas.

Education:

• Bachelor’s Degree (preferred

Experience:

• Project management: 1 year (preferred

APPENDIX A: TYPICAL RESPONSIBILITIES

The tasks and responsibilities of SSG consultants evolve with our projects, clients’ needs, and the rapidly changing climate action landscape. Below are examples of typical tasks that consultants in this role may carry out, though this list is not exhaustive and will continue to develop over time.

TYPICAL TASKS CARRIED OUT BY ALL SSG CONSULTANTS

• Building relationships with clients and interested and affected parties;
• Leading and actively participating in meetings with SSG staff and with clients;
• Interpreting, analyzing, and reporting on financial, energy, and emissions data;
• Interpreting, analyzing, and reporting on climate risks, vulnerabilities, and adaptation opportunities;
• Report writing for audiences including local governments, industry and corporate leaders, andas well as the public;
• Monitoring industry progress, political perspectives, and policies that will impact climate action planning;
• Communicating about climate action in ways that encourage, support, and empower clients to move forward confidently;
• Preparing for and participating in engagement sessions with diverse interested and affected parties;
• Quality control to ensure reports and data are accurate, precise, and complete;
• Knowledge management to ensure project insights are available to all SSG workers; and
• Other duties such as data collection, research, report writing, and project and task management.

TYPICAL TASKS IN ANALYSIS

• Assisting SSG technical staff on data needs and collection for adaptation modelling;
• Analyzing and interpreting modelling outputs;
• Analyzing and researching qualitative climate hazards and vulnerabilities;
• Developing GIS models to assess threats, exposure, vulnerability (sensitivity and adaptive capacity), and risk;
• Carrying out financial assessments of risks;
• Writing and editing project reports;
• Completing background reviews of municipal policies, reports, and other published documents to gain insight into cities’ current and future risks;
• Researching provincial/state and federal policies and determining how they relate to climate-related risk management;

TYPICAL TASKS IN CLIMATE ACTION PLAN IMPLEMENTATION

• Understanding municipal government structures and developing system change models required to implement climate action plans in their organizations;
• Identifying applicable and available funding mechanisms to support policy implementation;
• Developing policies and actions for implementation across these sectors to achieve climate goals;
• Assessing current municipal, provincial/state, and federal urban planning, buildings, land use, energy, waste, industrial, agriculture and forestry, and transportation policies and programs;
• Performing energy, emissions, and financial calculations for these sectors; and
• Facilitating or engaging with interested and affected parties and advisory groups to support policy development and implementation.

TYPICAL TASKS IN ENGAGEMENT

• Supporting the project eEngagement lLead with creatingto create engagement plans;, when required.
• Understanding and responding to the cultural, historic, political, and socioeconomic context of each community in which we work;.
• Understanding and responding to the outcomes of engagement as they relate to analysis;.
• Supporting the project team in the implementation of the engagement plan, including . This includes:
• Attending engagement sessions to listen, take notes, and respond to questions;.
• Supporting facilitation of small group discussions;.
• Developing and help deliver informational presentations for a range of audiences; .
• Helping develop questions for various engagement techniques; and.
• Report writing.

TYPICAL TASKS IN PROJECT DELIVERY LEADERSHIP

• Being a primary point of contact with clients, including leading meetings;
• Building relationships with clients while managing project scope, project risks, and client expectations;
• Combining knowledge of best-practice climate actions with each client’s unique circumstances (e.g., governance structure, political constraints, their authority to enact change, etc.) and opportunities revealed by technical modelling to create a compelling strategy for each client’s plan or project;
• Leading and managing interdisciplinary teams to deliver climate action plans and related projects on time and on budget;
• Coordinating with and supporting project team members to produce excellent information and tools for clients, and to grow in their own roles;
• Liaising with policy makers at all government levels on policy and program development;
• Attending or leading project engagement workshops with interested and affected parties, in supporting or facilitating capacities; and
• Writing reports for audiences such as city councils, policy-makers, academics, large organizations, and the general public.

TYPICAL TASKS IN CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION/VULNERABILITY/RESILIENCE PROJECT DELIVERY

• Scoping appropriate climate hazards for the project based on historic hazards and background review
• Scoping appropriate systems for the project based on existing frameworks and input from the client
• Analyzing hazard likelihood trends based on relevant climate indicators for different SSP/RCP scenarios
• Assessing community vulnerability by assessing the sensitivity and adaptive capacity of systems in scope through standard scoring frameworks and engagement activities
• Assessing the consequence of different hazards on systems in scope
• Facilitate engagement activities in order to inform and validate risk assessment results
• Assisting SSG technical staff on data needs and collection for adaptation modelling;
• Analyzing and interpreting modelling outputs;
• Developing GIS models to assess threats, exposure, vulnerability (sensitivity and adaptive capacity), and risk;
• Carrying out financial assessments of risks;
• Writing and editing project reports;
• Completing background reviews of municipal policies, reports, and other published documents to gain insight into cities’ current and future risks;
• Researching provincial/state and federal policies and determining how they relate to climate-related risk management;
  Job Types: Full-time, Permanent
  Pay: $68,700.00-$110,201.00 per year

Benefits:

• Casual dress
• Company events
• Dental care
• Disability insurance
• Employee assistance program
• Extended health care
• Flexible schedule
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Profit sharing
• Vision care
• Wellness program
• Work from home

Education:

• Bachelor’s Degree (preferred)

Experience:

• Project management: 1 year (preferred)

Language:

• English (preferred)

Work Location: Remote
Application deadline: 2025-02-0

In addition to these core consulting responsibilities, we are seeking consultants with expertise in two or more of sixthese key areas:

• Analysis: Interpreting financial, energy, and emissions data; writing reports and plans for cCity cCouncils, university and corporate leaders, and the public; monitoring industry progress and policies; and conducting research.;
• Public Engagement: Supporting climate action plan engagement with diverse interested and affected parties and government staff, explaining technical details to a broader, non-technical audience, and connecting engagement to the analysis.;
• Regional Context Expertise: Understanding the unique dynamics of climate planning in the USA, Canada, or French Canada (with a focus on Québec).
• Implementation: Navigating municipal structures, developing system change models, identifying funding mechanisms and staffing recommendations, and developing cross-sector policies to achieve climate goals.
• Project Leadership: Serving as primary client contact, managing SSG project teams and working with subconsultants, and leading report and plan development.
• Adaptation/Vulnerability/Resilience: Analyzing technical modeling outputs, researching climate hazards and vulnerabilities, and reviewing municipal policies and documents