NRDC is seeking a Climate Advisor to work with the City of San Antonio, within their Office of Sustainability, as part of the American Cities Climate Challenge (ACCC). The American Cities Climate Challenge is an unprecedented opportunity for 20 ambitious cities to significantly deepen and accelerate their efforts to tackle climate change and promote a sustainable future for their residents. The City Advisor will work with city officials to assist with the execution of initiatives designed to advance carbon reductions through policies and programs focused primarily on building and energy policy development including Benchmarking, Retrocommissioning and Disclosure Requirements, EV, Solar Ready, and Zero Net Energy (ZNE) policies, Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE), and 100% renewable energy plans for municipal electricity demand.. The City Advisor will be part of a network of similar positions located in cities across the country to support these building, energy, and transportation initiatives and will therefore be engaged at the local, regional, and national levels to advance the city’s goals. The position will interface with key influencers and decision-makers within city government, the real estate and/or transportation sector, utility companies, industry, and other organizations in the community.
- Project Management: Develop and execute a detailed work plan to implement the city’s plans for climate mitigation through transportation and buildings policies and programs with expertise in performance management.
- Stakeholder Outreach and Management: Lead various work streams including but not limited to outreach to stakeholders, both internal to city government and the broader community of private sector, non-profit, philanthropic, and community partners; drafting internal and public-facing documents; navigating internal city processes in coordination with our partners; develop public outreach and engagement strategies for priority energy and building policies and projects including Benchmarking, Retrocommissioning and Disclosure Requirements, EV, Solar Ready and Zero Net Energy (ZNE) building policies, Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE), and 100% renewable energy plans for municipal electricity demand. Experience incorporating the perspectives of multiple communities, including communities of color, in the consideration of impacts and outcomes of a decision-making process.
- Education and Policy Engagement: Educate city stakeholders and the local community on the importance of addressing climate change through energy andbuildings policies and programs. Successfully support sustainability measures in the face of competing city priorities. Provide legislative review and policy research and analysis, with a focus on high impact energy and building initiatives.. Develop an engagement strategy to better represent San Antonio residents and stakeholders on climate issues, focusing on frontline communities that are often underrepresented in civic forums.
- Network Development: Develop and manage strong relationships with the city government, key stakeholders, and partners in the community. Maintain appropriate communication and information flow with community partners.
- Challenge Participation: Actively participate in the ACCC network of cities. This includes joining regularly scheduled calls, participating in online trainings, and attending in-person convening Identify ways to leverage relationships with other ACCC cities, especially the City of Austin to increase impact.
- At least 3 years of advocacy and policy development experience related to building energy efficiency, benchmarking, and renewable energy..
- Experience working at the city level preferred
- Exceptional strategic thinking, analytical, and interpersonal skills
- Familiarity with innovative financing tools as well as fiscal justification including cost benefit analysis and life cycle cost models.
- Experience managing projects in a team setting, including developing project plans and managing timelines
- Experience working at the intersection of equity and environment preferred
- Experience collaborating with diverse stakeholders to achieve goals.
- Experience with performance metrics tracking and reporting.
- Excellent writing skills, strong verbal communication, and confident public speaker with an ability to present to diverse audiences, specifically racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse communities.
- Proficiency in reading, writing and speaking Spanish preferred